Here are the 30 interesting photos showing the beauty of nature’s mysteries. The nature always surprise us with amazing miracles and mysteries. There are so many people always love to capture these hidden things and share with us on the internet. Here in this gallery you can find some amazing and interesting photos.
Scroll down and enjoy yourself. All photos are linked and lead to the sources from which they were taken. Please feel free to explore further works of these photographers on their collections or their personal sites.
#1 Sea sheep are one of the few animals that use algae to photosynthesize
Image Source: u/Bunnystrawbery
#2 This is a rare phenomenon, called ‘cross waves’
Image Source: u/crinnoire
#3 Beach Candy (Sea Rocks)
Image Source: u/Ok_Board_4331
#4 Newborn hedgehog puppies
Image Source: u/therra123
#5 The mossy lava fields of Iceland extend as far as the eye can see
Image Source: u/baiqibeendeleted17x
#6 An armadillo girdled lizard (Ouroborus cataphractus)
Image Source: u/therra123
#7 Close up of the fangs of a rattlesnake (left) and Gaboon viper (right)
Image Source: u/therra123
#9 The endangered wrinkled peach mushroom
Image Source: u/Mericanjoe1776
#10 Sailfish have been clocked at speeds in excess of 68mph/112km, some experts consider the Sailfish the fastest fish in the world’s oceans
Image Source: u/rosseepoo
#11 It looks like half of this building is missing
Image Source: Imgur
#12 This cloud looks like a spaceship that is about to land
Image Source: Imgur
#13 These two strawberries got married
Image Source: Imgur
#14 This pepper wants to fight
Image Source: Imgur
#15 Seedpods or skulls hanging on branches?
Image Source: Imgur
#16 What a lovely owl that is… Wow, it’s a mushroom
Image Source: Imgur
#17 This cliff on the beach has an exposed coal seam
Image Source: Imgur
#18 Different thumbs? Here is one very scientific explanation – This person sucked on one of them while going to sleep, as a child
Image Source: Imgur
#19 A sweet potato with a bird-like form. Or perhaps gods imprisoned it inside this vegetable millennia ago as punishment for rebellion
Image Source: Imgur
#20 This banana looks like it came from another planet
Image Source: Imgur
#21 This tree started growing inside a building, but it wanted to see the sun
Image Source: Imgur
#22 When a person went to get some butter for their bread, a parrot-shaped figure emerged
Image Source: Imgur
#23 There was a hailstorm, and the hailstones were the size of golf balls
Image Source: Imgur
#24 A bumblebee bat, that is. It is recognized as the world’s smallest mammal
Image Source: Imgur
#25 My sister found this tiny egg inside her hard boiled egg
Image Source: Imgur
#26 Some bees decided to make a hive in between the window and the shutters
Image Source: Imgur
#27 This person’s elderberry tree is home to the tiniest frog. Only the face is visible; the body and legs are hardly recognizable
Image Source: Imgur
#28 Newborn pigeons look so different compared to adult birds
Image Source: Imgur
#29 Have you ever seen a cat with 13 little fingers?
Image Source: Imgur
#30 We can’t decide if this moth is beautiful or scary. Can it be both at the same time? One thing is certain -it is mesmerizing
Three Kentucky men are preserving the state’s past through photography.
They’re bringing history to life in a new book called “Abandoned Kentucky,” using cameras and drones to capture abandoned properties across the Commonwealth.
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The book combines words and images to tell the story of long-forgotten locations like the former Merchant’s Ice and Cold Storage Tower in Smoketown.
Award-winning photographers and historians Sherman Cahal, Michael Maes, and Adam Paris traveled thousands of miles across the state to photograph a variety of vacant properties including homes, schools, and cemeteries.
They said the goal of documenting them is to show readers there is more to these sites than what meets the eye.
“We hope that people at least take away from the book that there is beauty in decay, and that there is more behind these walls than what people might envision,” said Cahal, who lives outside of Ashland.
Maes is from Louisville, and believes people are genuinely curious about the mystery behind abandoned properties.
“People try to put those pieces together to tell the story, and if you can do that with your photographs I think a lot of people will respond to that,” he said.
According to the photographers, each page of the book is designed to preserve the memory of a different historical site in case it is torn down in the future.
“What you see today, might not be here tomorrow,” Cahal said.
That is why they believe documenting Kentucky’s history is so important.
“I hope the book gives people an interest and inspiration to just remember the history of where we live,” said Paris, who lives in Owensboro.
All three photographers encourage people who read the book to venture out and find the beauty in the abandoned.
Abandoned Kentucky is available at local bookstores across the state, and is sold online by Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
READ THE FULL STORY:‘Abandoned Kentucky’ book preserves state history through photography
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Tech startup BOOM, which said it wanted to be the “Amazon for photography,” has allegedly failed to pay photographers that it inherited from its acquisition of LemonOne due to financial difficulties.
What are BOOM and LemonOne?
BOOM is a Milan-based tech startup that found early success due to its proprietary technology that allowed companies to purchase photos affordably on a global scale. This technology — which was the basis of a large $7 million investment in 2020 –is based on artificial intelligence and machine learning and allows Boom to supposedly trim down a photographer’s work to the “bare essentials” and handle everything else, from logistics to post-production.
LemonOne was a platform that intended to provide benefits to both photographers and companies. Using its network of professionals and internal technology, it matched companies with photographers to book shoots.
This past January, BOOM purchased LemonOne and the two former competitors became one company. Along with LemonOne’s team, Boom also acquired its network of photographers.
In the last week, PetaPixel became aware of a growing number of photographers who had not been paid by BOOM/LemonOne. Some of these disgruntled photographers have made their opinions known in reviews to LemonOne on Google, while others spoke to PetaPixel directly to air their grievances.
This week, PetaPixel received confirmation that the issue was not isolated to just a few photographers and that, unfortunately, a solution to the problem was not coming soon.
Financial Difficulties
In an email sent on November 9 to LemonOne photographers and seen by PetaPixel, LemonOne’s founders Lorenz Marquardt and Maximilian Schwahn explain what happened in the months after their company’s acquisition.
“Earlier this year, we wanted to take the next big step towards that vision and partnered with BOOM, our former competitor from Italy. As a result, we agreed to a deal for BOOM to acquire LemonOne and in the process, Lorenz and I relinquished our previous responsibilities as founders of LemonOne to the Italians and took on responsibilities in Italy instead,” the cofounders explain.
“Unfortunately, the world has changed in the meantime, with an emerging economic crisis, a war in Ukraine and continued Corona restrictions. Because of this, BOOM, contrary to expectations, was not able to get fresh money from investors and was therefore forced to cease operations of the previous LemonOne platform. In the course of this, all previous LemonOne team members were fired — including Lorenz and me. To our dismay, we have also heard from many photographers that BOOM has stopped paying outstanding invoices.
“In summary, the last few weeks must have been at least as frustrating and painful for you as they were for us.”
Backing up this statement, LemonOne’s website and URL are no longer active and instead reroute to Boom’s website.
The LemonOne cofounders say that this situation goes against everything they personally wanted to achieve with their photography platform and they are working with a provisional insolvency administrator in order to find a solution for photographers, editors, as well as for our customers of what was LemonOne.
“In concrete terms, this means that we can now initially carry out and pay for photo shoots again within the framework of the provisional insolvency proceedings. This means that the provisional insolvency administrator has announced that he will agree to payment for the shoots from 1/11/22 in order to secure our continued existence for the time being,” the email continues.
“Unfortunately, this also means that payments for previous services, including shoots from September and October, must be legally withheld by the provisional insolvency administrator until the insolvency proceedings are concluded. Only then can a distribution be made. The court-appointed preliminary insolvency administrator will contact you again in regards to this.”
The photographers that PetaPixel spoke to fall into that September and October timeframe, which means it does not seem likely that they will be paid for the jobs they were hired to complete for some time as the legal process moves forward.
BOOM did not respond to request for comment. Boom’s Facebook and Instagram accounts have also been deactivated.
Here are the 30 winning photos of Benjamin Mkapa African Wildlife Photography Awards 2022. This year the grand prize winner is Michelle Kranz of Boulder, Colorado, USA for his photo “Mountain Gorilla” captured in Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda.
African Wildlife Foundation is currently aiding the Rwandan government in a pioneering program to accommodate a vulnerable, but growing, mountain gorilla population. The vision is to enlarge gorilla habitat, boost biodiversity, and improve the tourism experience to benefit the great apes and the people who share their backyard.
Scroll down and inspire yourself. Check their website for more information.
You can find more info about MKAPA Awards:
#1 Grand Prize, Winner: Mountain Gorilla By Michelle Kranz of Boulder, USA
#2 Coexistence & Conflict, Winner: Masai Giraffe By Jose Fragozo of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
#3 African Conservation Heroes, Winner: Caregiver Mary Langees and African Elephant Orphan By Anthony Ochieng Onyango of Nairobi, Kenya
#4 African Wildlife At Risk, Winner: Chimpanzee and Baby By Marc Quireyns of Antwerp, Belgium
#5 Fragile Wilderness, Winner: Ostriches | Damaraland By Tomasz Szpila of Bulowice, Poland
#6 Africa’s Backyard Wildlife, Winner: Karoo Prinia on Gate By William Steel of Kasane, Botswana
#7 Art In Nature, Winner: Lesser Flamingos By Paul Mckenzie of Hong Kong
#8 Mobile, Winner: Caracal By Jon Warburton of Zululand, South Africa
#9 Creative Digital, Winner: White-Bellied Pangolin By Prelena Soma Owen of Hartbeespoort, South Africa
#10 African Wildlife Behavior: Winner, Dawn, Dust, and Duel By Vijayram Harinathan of Chennai, India
#11 African Wildlife Portraits, Winner: African Lion By Russ Burden of Parker, Colorado, USA
#12 Youth In Africa, Winner: African Lioness By Jaime Freeman, at age 15, of Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa.
#13 Youth International, Winner: Bare-faced Go-away-birds By Sadie Hine, at age 18, of Mountain View, California, USA
#14 African Wildlife At Risk, Highly Honored: Eastern Gorilla Baby By Tomasz Szpila of Bulowice, Poland
#15 African Wildlife At Risk, Highly Honored: Black-and-white Ruffed Lemur By Xin Zhong of Shanghai, China
#16 Fragile Wilderness, Highly Honored: Rüppell’s Vulture | Jinbar Waterfall By Marco Gaiotti of Genova, Italy
#17 Fragile Wilderness, Highly Honored: Gemsbok | Sossusvlei Salt Pan By Thomas Vijayan of Oakville, Ontario, Canada
#18 Fragile Wilderness, Highly Honored: Stone Coral Reef By Tobias Friedrich of Wiesbaden, Germany
#19 Art In Nature, Highly Honored: Gemsbok By Craig A. Elson of Los Angeles, California, USA
#20 Art In Nature, Highly Honored: Giraffes, Zebras, Ostriches, Springbok, and Gemsbok By Rian van Schalkwyk of Windhoek, Namibia
#21 Creative Digital, Highly Honored: Into the Wild By Elie Wolf of Orlando, Florida, USA
#22 Creative Digital, Highly Honored: Greater Flamingos By Jing Li of Fujian, China
#23 African Wildlife Behavior Highly Honored: African Lions By Alankar Chandra of Maasai Mara, Kenya
#24 African Wildlife Behavior Highly Honored: Cape Starling and African Mantis By Cameron Azad of La Canada, California, USA
#25 African Wildlife Behavior Highly Honored: Southern Masked-Weaver By Michiel Duvenhage of Bloemfontein, South Africa
#26 African Wildlife Portraits, Highly Honored: African Savanna Elephant Calf By Andrew Y. Liu of Austin, Texas, USA
#27 African Wildlife Portraits, Highly Honored: Cheetah Family By Laura Dyer of Cape Town, South Africa and Henley-on-Thames, England, UK
#28 African Wildlife Portraits, Highly Honored: Serval By Michel C. Zoghzoghi of Beirut, Lebanon
#29 Youth In Africa, Highly Honored: Common Tern By Ruben Jenkins-Bate, at age 18, Cape Town, South Africa
#30 Youth International, Highly Honored: Oustlalet’s Chameleon By Lefei Han, at age 15, Shanghai, China
Whether you like snapping photos for the ‘Gram or just keeping a library of memories, a smartphone that can take crisp, vibrant photos should be part of your arsenal.
One of OPPO’s latest midrange devices, the Reno8 Z 5G, fits the bill as a powerful handset that lets you unleash your creativity as you practice your phonetography. Armed with a triple rear camera and a capable Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 5G chip, this midranger packs a punch not only when it comes to pictures, but also for gaming.
Previously, we got our hands on the Reno7 Z, this device’s predecessor, but the Reno8 Z is shaping up to be a more stylish option for those looking for a new phone that won’t break the bank.
Design and specs
The Reno8 Z screams stylish with its frosted matte finish. Our test unit came in the Starry Black colorway, which is ideal for those who want a more muted design for their smartphone. In front is a vibrant 6.43-inch display with an in-screen fingerprint display for easy unlocking.
Despite most phones not having a 3.5mm audio jack anymore, this Reno still has one, making it easy to plug in your handy earphones for music listening and calls.
Under the hood, this device boasts 8GB RAM with 128GB internal storage paired with a 5G-enabled Snapdragon 695 processor. It also has a 4,500mAh battery capable of 33W fast-charging.
Watching videos is a treat on the Reno8 Z. On top of a wide, crisp display, this phone has loud speakers that can fill the room with sound. This makes gaming a treat as well.
After a while of not playing MOBAs, I tried my hand at Arena of Valor with this phone and I could not put it down. Gameplay was free of any hitches or lags and the long battery life allowed me to play for three hours straight before needing a charge.
When I’m not using it to play games, this phone’s battery lasts up to eight hours before reaching low. With the 33W SuperVOOC fast charging capability, it took about a little over an hour to get a full charge.
A cool feature is the Breathing Light, which illuminates the rim of the rear camera lenses when you’re charging or receiving calls.
The Reno8 Z is touted as a portrait star, and like the Reno7 Z, it took clear photos with creamy bokeh. The blur in the background of the photos looks so natural and I was even able to tweak it to be softer or sharper. Even in the maximum blur setting, the bokeh isn’t unnatural.
Meanwhile, for normal photos, the camera—equipped with a 64MP main, 2MP mono, and 2MP macro shooters—excels in well-lit environments. Colors are vivid and details are not washed out.
Selfies with the 16MP front camera are also better under natural light, and while the portrait mode also has nice-looking bokeh, some details look awkward. I had photos where I could see the spaces between my hair weren’t blurred out. It looked like my background was photoshopped.
But what impressed me the most is this phone’s feature-rich in-gallery editing. You could edit different aspects of the photo like erasing messy spots in the shot, changing the blur to put an object in focus, applying filters, and even adding text.
The verdict
The OPPO Reno8 Z 5G is a stylish smartphone that packs a punch as a daily driver. With its cameras and neat photo-editing features, it’s the perfect phonetography buddy. In addition, it’s more than capable for other tasks and as a gaming phone.
The Reno8 Z 5G is available in Dawnlight Gold and Starlight Black for P19,999 at OPPO stores, authorized resellers, and online via Lazada and Shopee.
This article OPPO Reno8 Z 5G REVIEW: Stylish mid-ranger that boosts your creativity in photography was originally published in PhilSTAR L!fe
Brodie Ledford says it was a Christmas gift he’d bought for his wife that led to his career in photography.
The 41-year-old Frederick native always loved video cameras and taking photos, but it wasn’t until he purchased a camera for his wife, Dara, a fine arts major in college with a focus on photography, that he became enamored with the art form.
For their Christmas together after she graduated college, Ledford “went out and bought her a brand new DSLR [digital] camera,” he said.
“The funny thing is, the second she opened it, I started playing with it,” he said during a phone interview. “And that camera then became mine. The rest, as they say, is history. That was nearly 17 years ago.”
Today, Ledford owns Brodie Ledford Studios in Frederick and was recently featured in a photography competition called Creator Series. Ledford was one of 10 photographers selected to be part of the 11-episode series, available to stream online.
In each episode, the photographers were challenged in various aspects of photography, from lighting to composition to posing — and they were given only 10 minutes to get the shot.
The web series, which can be viewed on YouTube, was judged by Canon Explorers of Light photographers: Sal Cincotta, an award-winning wedding and portrait photographer; Laretta Houston, who is known for shooting the Tyra Banks Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition; and Vanessa Joy, a renowned wedding photographer. The series was based in St. Louis, where Cincotta, the show’s producer and host, owns his studio.
Ledford entered the contest after seeing a promo for Creator Series at ShutterFest, a large photography conference. He admits he had reservations about entering a competition that would be broadcast worldwide. He considers himself a private person. But he decided to apply anyway.
After applying, Ledford was then interviewed. His portfolio and online presence also were reviewed before he got to the next round. Then he had a submit a 90-second video that explained “why us.” But after sending in the video, several weeks went by, and Ledford assumed he hadn’t been chosen.
“Then when I finally had lost all hope, I got an email saying ‘congratulations, you’re in,’” he recalled. “I was completely shocked, and I was excited and terrified all at the same time.”
He spent July shooting the series in St. Louis. It premiered online in August.
His biggest adjustment was learning how to use the Canon gear that was required for the series because, of course, it was sponsored by Canon.
Cincotta was each photographer’s assistant throughout the series.
“It’s a little bit intimidating because he’s absolutely fantastic,” Ledford said. “He’s one of those guys who expects the best because he is there as the best, and he’s known to be amazing.”
The photographers being allowed only 10 minutes to shoot their assignments for the day made it all the more challenging. Normally, setting up a studio shot can take up to an hour, Ledford said. “We basically had 10 minutes to pick the gear we wanted, set the shot up, talk to the model about what we were looking for, coach the model and then shoot it.”
Then, the photographers were asked to immediately hand over their memory cards.
It wasn’t until every photographer finished their shoot that the contestants could see the photos they’d shot and work on them further. They got 30 minutes to select and edit the images. But, Ledford said, realistically, by the time he would select his images, he would only have 15 minutes, on average, to edit.
“The images that were created are mind-blowing to me — that it was done in such a short period of time,” Ledford said. “That’s where the challenge was.”
The cards were given to the judges who then selected the best and the worst. Every week someone was sent home.
“My favorite competition was probably the reflections competition,” where a model was reflected in a mirror or window, for example, he said. “Because it was something that was outside of what I would normally do.”
The entire competition, he said, was challenging because it forced the photographers to try a type of photography they normally don’t do every day.
He said the series really showed that there’s more to photography than people realize.
“I think the biggest thing that is difficult for photographers is that people think that the cameras have a magic button because they don’t see the behind-the-scenes stuff,” he said. “People don’t see the editing process. They don’t see all the lighting. They don’t understand setting [the camera] on manual mode, not on auto mode.”
Ledford credits his wife for getting him into photography as a profession, and he dabbled in it while he held a full-time job as a store manager for Best Buy.
“My wife would take my photos, and she would make photo books for me and just keep, you know, pushing me and say, ‘Hey, look, it’s great stuff,’” he said.
He and his wife, who is also a photographer, cofounded Brodie Ledford Studios, and when someone asked if he did weddings, it became his first professional gig. After a while, his wife again encouraged him to take the leap full-time into his new passion.
“I walked away from that life, and I was able to do what I want to do now,” he said. “And it’s unbelievable.”
Ledford’s business is considered a luxury, service-based company, where he focuses on client relationships.
“There are a lot of people out there that take pictures, and there’s a huge difference between a picture taker and a professional photographer,” he said. “I really pride myself on the fact that we focus on the experience for the client, and our clients truly do become like friends and family.”
Lexar has announced the Lexar Professional CFexpress Type A Card Gold Series in 320GB capacity. It’s ideally suited for use in cameras such as the new Sony A7R V and Sony A7 IV which are compatible with CFexpress Type A cards as well as SD-type media.
The new 320GB Lexar CFexpress card is capable of read speeds up to 900MB/s and write speeds up to 800MB/s. It’s also rated as Video Performance Guarantee 400 (VPG 400), which means it has a minimum write speed of 700MB/s and video is captured without any dropped frames. The faster transfer times of the CFexpress Type A cards are required to enable the most advanced video features of compatible cards.
According to Lexar, the new card is temperature-proof and able to withstand an operating temperature range from -10ºC to 70°C (14ºF to 158ºF) and non-operating temperatures from -20ºC to 85°C (-4ºF to 185ºF). The card is also shock resistant and vibration resistant.
Lexar is selling the 320GB CFexpress Type A card bundled with the Lexar Professional CFexpress Type A / SD USB 3.2 Gen 2 Reader.
Lexar Professional CFexpress Type A Card Gold Series 320GB price
The 320GB Lexar Professional CFexpress Type A Gold Series card and Lexar Professional CFexpress Type A/SD Card Reader bundle is available immediately for £499.
If you often find yourself stressing about what to give loved ones as gifts for the holidays or for their birthdays, your smartphone may hold all the answers. And no, we’re not talking about online shopping; we’re talking about all the amazing photos it holds.
Nowadays, almost everyone has several thousand photos on their smartphone. Whether it’s vacation photos, landscapes, or family photos, you most likely own an impressive collection. And what’s even more fun, you don’t have to worry much about the photo quality. Just select the ones that look best, and half of your gift is done.
If you’re still puzzled by the idea, here are a few amazing gifts you could make using just the photos in your smartphone:
Offer a Unique Mug
If you’re preparing a gift for someone close to you (a friend, a sibling, or a partner), a mug can be an endearing and sweet gift. But, to make it even more endearing, you can use a funny picture of the person and print it on the mug. This way, whenever they drink coffee or tea, they’ll see the picture and think of you, or they’ll smile because the picture reminds them of a funny situation.
If you’re stuck browsing through the hundreds of photos you have of the person (or with them), try looking for inspiration in other people’s ideas for a gift – you might strike gold!
Create Personalized Calendars
A one of a kind calendar can be an amazing gift for grandparents, parents, or even office colleagues, depending on the pictures you decide to use. For instance, if you want to make a calendar for your grandparents or parents, they’ll love seeing your face plastered over each month of the year, but your colleagues may not be happy about that.
However, if you use a group photo with your colleagues for the cover, you can still create a beautiful and thoughtful gift for everyone at the office.
Make a Photo Puzzle
What better way to reminisce about your amazing summer vacation than to turn some of the most gorgeous landscape photographs on your phone into a puzzle? True, the images need to be high-quality (especially if you want a big puzzle with 1000+ pieces), but most smartphones nowadays shoot in HD (at least).
Plus, you can add valuable information to the image, such as the date and the destination of your vacation. This way, you can piece the puzzle together and turn it into a wall painting or art. As a result, you’ll have a gorgeous painting reminding you of a wonderful vacation you literally pieced together.
A Digital Photo Frame
If you’re not into arts and crafts but still want to impress your giftee, a digital photo frame can be a great option. However, the costs will be a bit higher than with the other ideas since you have to buy the frame.
However, there are plenty of options, so it all depends on your preferences and budget. Once you have the frame, you can upload your favorite pictures and decide on the presentation pattern and transitions.
This one’s a great gift for anyone who likes technology because it’s easy to use, looks amazing on a bookshelf or a desk, and can be refreshed with new images. It’s also a great way to keep track of your relationship by adding new pictures each year!
Wrap Up
The images we store on our smartphones or online can be a treasure for customized gifts, so don’t forget about them! Sort them out, edit the ones that need a bit of help, and bring them into the real world by turning them into unique gifts.
For much of the 20th century, LifeMagazine conquered mass media as the primary visual source for current events. From 1936 to 1972, the magazine presented the public with carefully crafted images that captured real-world social and political narratives. Henry Luce, the publication’s founder, was able to expose readers to a wide variety of images outside of their immediate community, shaping discussions about contemporary issues in the process. As the Museum of Fine Arts puts it in its new exhibit, “with its visually revolutionary brand of storytelling, Life fundamentally shaped how its readers understood photography and how they experienced and remembered events.”
The exhibit, “Life Magazine and the Power of Photography,” documents these crucial photographs, stories and histories. Through its well-crafted presentation of original negatives, contact sheets, vintage photographs and internal communications, viewers are taken on an immersive journey into not only the magazine’s history but America’s as well.
Walking into the exhibition, viewers are invited to sit down beside a vintage coffee table surrounded by suburban wallpaper reminiscent of the 1950s and flip through issues of Life from that era. Unlike most museum exhibitions, in this instance, the MFA is directly inviting viewers to interact with the exhibition’s subject of study. For young audiences not familiar with Life or its general structure, this display provides a fantastic opportunity to connect with and understand the publication’s appeal before continuing.
Subsequent rooms cover the publication’s founding and its early history. Viewers have the opportunity to read Henry Luce’s original telegrams describing the magazine’s purpose and analyze early “dummy” versions and drafts of Life’s first issue. Prints by Margaret Bourke-White, one of Life’s first photographers and its very first female photographer, are displayed, including “Fort Peck Dam, Montana,” the 1936 image that became the magazine’s first cover. Other iconic images on display include J.R. Eyerman’s “Audience watches movie wearing 3-D spectacles” and Yousuf Karsh’s famous portrait of Winston Churchill sitting with his cane and glaring into the camera with his powerful stare.
These photographs are complemented by a variety of text panels surrounding each section of the hall, which provide insight into the photographers and the processes involved in capturing some of the 20th century’s most influential images. Rather than simply presenting recognizable pictures to the viewer, the exhibit makes an effort to educate visitors about the journalistic process — describing how stories were assigned, how agency photographers composed their own shots and how scripts were involved in these visual narratives. Visitors who download the MFA’s mobile app have the opportunity to listen to interviews with Life reporters who share their first-person experiences with the photographs and stories presented.
Apart from simply describing these artifacts, “Life Magazine and the Power of Photography” also explores the magazine’s focus on the deeper, heavier themes that came to define its lasting influence. Photographs by W. Eugene Smith, grouped together, highlight the healthcare challenges faced by Black women in the poverty-stricken South. Images captured by Larry Burrows illustrate America’s harsh timeline of war — especially the Vietnam years and the trauma they inflicted. The visual groupings highlight the importance of these histories beyond the magazine itself and educate visitors about how these major topics were received and documented in American media.
Though it glorifies some of Life’s successes, the exhibit also carefully considers the magazine’s shortcomings too, especially regarding its “predominately white, male, middle-class perspective on politics, daily life, and culture.” In a section featuring images of civil rights protests, the museum makes an effort to highlight some of the inaccuracies promoted by Life, such as the magazine’s failure to describe police as aggressors in images of racially-motivated violence. The exhibit is conscious of the white, suburban bias of Life’s audience and of the people interviewed in stories as well. Presented with a holistic view of the publication, museumgoers are reminded that often, in journalism, key perspectives are excluded from mainstream narratives.
Beyond the magazine’s actual contents, the exhibit features several installations by contemporary artists Alfredo Jaar, Alexandra Bell and Julia Wachtel. Their artwork extends the dialogue presented in “Life Magazine and the Power of Photography” by highlighting contemporary shortcomings in journalism, including its biases and problematic narratives.
“Life Magazine and the Power of Photography” is one of the most interesting and insightful MFA exhibits in recent history. From the photos displayed to the supplementary materials provided, the exhibit tells an exciting narrative about the history of modern America and its relationship with media.
“Life Magazine and the Power of Photography” is open to the public from Oct. 9 through Jan. 16, 2023 at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
In photography, too much light can be a frustrating thing to deal with. There’s generally more than enough light around at lunchtime on a clear summer day, for example, but it’s hard and concentrated, and generally requires a bit of intervention in order to make it work for a picture.
But what about when there’s not very much light at all? How can you make the most of your camera in fading light or even in the middle of the night? While the best professional cameras (opens in new tab) are capable of recording stunning photos even in low light, you’ll need to time your shoot carefully depending on the results you want.
Night photos don’t tend to look their best if they’re taken in the middle of the night. By shooting earlier, when there’s still some color and brightness in the sky, you’ll be able to create more evocative shots, where the indigo-blue twilight hues provide a fitting contrast to the warm glow of streetlights, illuminated buildings and traffic trails (opens in new tab).
(Image credit: Getty Images)
For some types of night photography, shooting when the sky appears black may be unavoidable or necessary – if astrophotography (opens in new tab) is your aim then you’ll have to shoot when there’s a clear view of the stars. But it can be hard to capture everything in a single exposure when you’re faced with dense black areas and bright lights.
Shooting when there’s less of a contrast between the subject of a picture and the surroundings makes it easier to record more detail. Another option is to shoot a sequence of pictures from the same position, varying the exposure each time. You can then blend the best bits of each shot in photo editing software (opens in new tab).
Using a tripod at night
Avoid shots in the dark…
(Image credit: Marcus Hawkins)
If you’re shooting subjects that will be illuminated at night then you’ll get much better results if you start taking pictures at twilight, when there’s still some brightness and color in the sky and less contrast between the dark and bright areas. If you shoot when the sky is black rather than blue then it will be difficult to record detail across the scene in a single exposure. The two shots shown here were taken an hour apart, and the twilight image is much more balanced than the later shot.
One problem that there’s no escaping from is that low light levels lead to longer exposures. If you’re using the best tripod (opens in new tab) you can to support the camera then a camera shake won’t be a problem. Moving objects may still be blurred, though. If this is going to be a problem then you’ll need to use a faster shutter speed (opens in new tab). You can do this by either opening up the aperture to let more light into the camera, or increasing the ISO setting (opens in new tab) to essentially make the camera more sensitive to the light that is available.
If you’re shooting handheld then an image-stabilized camera or lens can give you more freedom when it comes to camera settings. Take the Canon EOS R7 (opens in new tab), for example, which is equipped with an image stabilizer that can work cooperatively with an image-stabilized lens to deliver up to 7 stops of shake reduction.
That can make a huge difference when you’re shooting at dusk or twilight, offering the potential of taking handheld photos free of shake at very slow shutter speeds – perhaps even a second or slower.
Of course, this only helps to cut the motion blur caused by camera movement and won’t make a difference to any blur caused by subject movement. Using a short, lightweight lens with a fast maximum aperture such as f/1.8 or f/1.4 will help when it comes to both kinds of blur, though.
A tripod will certainly come in handy for many types of night photography, although you’ll need to be careful where you position the legs so that they don’t turn into a trip hazard once it gets dark. In busy locations, it’s preferable to ditch the tripod altogether and take advantage of image stabilization and higher ISO settings. Regardless of whether you’re shooting with a tripod or not, it’s better to get to a location in daylight so that you can compose and focus a shot in time for dusk and twilight.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Shoot in RAW mode at night
Shoot RAW (opens in new tab) when you’re taking pictures at night, as this will give you the most flexibility when it comes to processing your images. Noise can be an issue when you’re shooting in low light and using high ISOs, and the controls available in RAW processing software allow you to fine-tune the strength of the noise reduction. The in-camera options for dealing with noise can be rather blunt tools, smudging fine details and flattening textures at the same time as hiding the noise.
As well as dealing with noise and adjusting the exposure, RAW files enable you to adjust the white balance (opens in new tab) of an image. This is a particularly important aspect of low-light photography, where there may be a strong color cast, such as the warm tones of a sunset or the cool blue of the night – that you want to correct, or even enhance. If you’re shooting a city scene then you’ll probably have many different light sources to deal with, but RAW gives you the option of trying different white balance settings later.
Using flash at night
If you’re using flash (opens in new tab) at night, consider blending a longer exposure with a burst of flash. The longer exposure will allow background details to be recorded in the picture, while the subject is illuminated by the flash. It’s a good option for shooting someone’s portrait at night; if you don’t use a slower exposure then you’ll probably end up with a pleasingly exposed person in front of a completely black backdrop.
For shots taken without a tripod, you’ll need to use a reasonably fast exposure to ensure the background isn’t blurred. To do this, switch off the flash and set the exposure for the background in Manual mode.
First, set the shutter speed is set to the ‘flash sync’ speed – this is often 1/200 sec, but check your camera manual – followed by your preferred aperture, then adjust the ISO to make the background exposure brighter or darker. Finally, switch on the flash and take the shot.
(Image credit: Future)
Camera exposure modes at night
You can choose any of your camera’s exposure modes (opens in new tab) when you’re shooting at night, but the lack of light means that you may have to make some manual adjustments. If you’re shooting with Aperture Priority (opens in new tab), for example, then you’ll probably have to shoot with the aperture at its maximum setting in order to let as much light into the camera as possible.
Even then, you may be dealing with exposure times that run into several seconds, so you’ll need to make sure that the camera is supported well if you want sharp results. To unlock faster shutter speeds, you can increase the ISO.
Your camera will be able to automatically work out the exposure when the shutter speed is up to 30 seconds long. If the combination of aperture and ISO requires a shutter speed longer than 30 seconds to record an image then you’ll need to use Bulb mode (opens in new tab) and time the exposure yourself. Use a shutter release or remote (opens in new tab) to avoid jogging the camera when you fire the shutter.
Discover why you should set a high ISO for better shots on your Canon camera (opens in new tab) and find out which flash mode (opens in new tab) is best on your Canon.
