Some of the most beautiful time-lapse photography you'll ever see, from an upcoming feature film

These pieces by photographer Tom Lowe are truly gorgeous, and the Timescapes site includes a blog with information about the locations and methods that are being used in making the film. Awesome and inspiring.

What dogs look like at 1,000 FPS

This video has been around a little while (at 3 million views currently maybe MORE than a little while), but I came across it again today, it's just plain fun to look at. (It's a commercial video, made with the amazing Phantom HD camera.)

Here's the link

Katy Perry not hot enough for Rolling Stone

Cover designers decided she needed some "help" from Photoshop. Here are the before and after shots:

The differences are obvious, but jeez! She wasn't good-looking enough already?

via Business Insider

Landscape shooters, take heart: This one sold for $1 million

Peter Lik, a self-taught Australian landscape photographer, has sold one of his photographs for a whopping $1 million to an anonymous private art collector. The photograph, titled “One”, was shot on the banks of the Androscoggin River in New Hampshire just after dawn. Only one print of the photo will ever be produced. Lik states,

I will never forget this morning for the rest of my life. It was calm, and the scent of the fall forest filled my lungs. The mist cleared, and a magical reflection in the river briefly appeared. White birch trees, black trunks, a kaleidoscope of foliage combining to reveal an illusion of three dimensions. I pressed the shutter – once – and then the scene vanished with the morning breeze, never to be seen again.”

Although the amount of the sale is a first for Lik, he’s no stranger to bringing in the big bucks with his photography — according to Wikipedia, Lik has sold over $150 million in limited edition prints to date.

(via PetaPixel)

The best of the best from 2010

Sean Heavey's photograph of a supercell thunderstorm in Montana won honorable mention in National Geographic's nature category

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The last week of the year is often one of the slowest weeks for news, so organizations prepare wrap-up stories and year-end features to fill the void. For you, the news consumer, it's a great opportunity to sample some of the best photography from the previous year. Here are some of the best collections from 2010 (click on the photos to go to the sites):

The best in photojournalism for 2010 from the New York Times:

 
We all know the interwebs have made it incredibly easy to find in-depth information about just about anything, and photography may be one of the best examples. Techniques, equipment, marketing, inspiration ... it's all there for the finding. The folks at Photo Shelter came up with a list of the best blog posts of 2010, and the amount and breadth of information is astonishing. Bookmark the post for ready-reference during the year:

The contest run by National Geographic consistently turns up some of the most stunning photography of the year. The winners in the People, Places and Nature categories have been selected:

Some of the best photojournalism happens on the playing field, and the editors at Sports Illustrated have a roundup of the best of 2010:  

The Guardian also has a terrific year-end wrap-up of its best imagery from 2010:

 Here's the collection that Reuters put together for 2010:

And the collection from Time Magazine:

Want to get into the act yourself? Pictures of the Year International is calling for entries in its 68th annual competition. Prizes and categories have been increased, including one for Multimedia Portfolio of the Year. Details are at the site (and the results from previous years' competitions are also fun to look at):

And speaking of getting into the act yourself: Google has a very cool new feature (still in beta) that gathers the best photographic moments from people in your social network and links it all together as a search result. So, if you searched for "Year in Pictures 2010," one of the results will be the collections of people you're connected with. (Let's leave the discussion of how they've collected this information for another day.)  Here are my results: 

Happy New Year, fellow photography enthusiasts. May your shutters never stick, may your light always be right, and may your backups never fail.