When Ansel Adams released his early photographs of Yosemite, he stunned the world with his sharp-as-a-tack focus. To the surprise of audience members, the faraway mountains in his pictures were just as crisp as the rocks at his feet. Back in the 1930s, he’d done something as radical as it was simple: he used a
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In 1797, the engraver and painter John Thomas Smith, who worked as the keeper of prints at the British Museum, came up with a revolutionary theory. In his view, landscape paintings worked best not when sky and land were given equal weight, but when one or the other took up an entire two-thirds of the
Strong geometric shapes, clean lines, and vibrant colors are trending in art, design, and advertising. While abstract photography was once the sole domain of art museums like MoMA in New York City—where, in 1951, Edward Steichen presented a collection of 150 abstract photographs—it has since expanded into the world of marketing and branding. When browsing
A few months ago, Swedish photographer Tobias Hägg spent a midsummer morning on the banks of the Li River in China. Accompanying him was a local cormorant fisherman, who had journeyed through the night to watch the sunrise. After much waiting and anticipation, Hägg wondered if the long trip was worth it—or if it had
“Food is good,” Food & Wine contributor Andrew Zimmern recently said. “Food with a story is better. Food with a story you’ve never heard of is best of all, and food with a story you’ve never heard of but that you can relate to is the holy grail.” For well over a century, these “food
Tamara is a Serbian photographer and videographer who shares a commercial photography business with her partner Davor. Working through a variety of genres, Tamara brings fresh creativity and experimentation to her commercial photography practice. Q: Your photography handle is artymotion_visuals, give us the backstory behind that name. A: When my partner Davor and I thought
According to research from the marketing company WebPageFX, it takes fewer than 90 seconds for customers to form subconscious judgments about products—with a whopping 85% citing color as the primary reason for purchasing a certain product and 80% saying color increases brand recognition. Furthermore, ads in color are read up to 42% more often than
In 1907, Auguste and Louis Lumière presented autochrome—a revolutionary method for reproducing color in photographs. The world was stunned and enraptured. “Soon the world will be color-mad,” photographer Alfred Stieglitz wrote that July from Munich. “And Lumière will be responsible.” We’ve come a long way in the last century, and we no longer need potato
Heinz once advertised their “hot ketchup” with a photo of a french fry—burned to a crisp at one end. A few years ago, the Van Gogh Museum Cafe in Amsterdam cleverly referenced the artist in an ad featuring a photo of a simple coffee cup with a broken handle. Colgate famously ran photos of fruits
In the 1930s, a young man named Goro Yoshida disassembled a popular Leica camera model. Raised in Tokyo, he’d been fascinated by cameras even in his youth—this wasn’t his first time taking a camera apart and rebuilding it. But as he examined the Leica, Yoshida had an epiphany: he had access to all the same
Several years ago, the popular blog Digital Photography School conducted a poll of more than 72,000 people to see what shooting mode is most popular among photographers. While most preferred manual or aperture priority modes, automatic mode accounted for a solid 14%. That’s the beauty of modern digital cameras; they’re good at “guessing” what settings
Junior is a photographer based in Ghana that uses his multidisciplinary approach within photography and video to help influence the visual aesthetic within his work. Q: You are based in Ghana; tell us a little bit about the arts and culture vibe there. A: Ghana is a country with over a hundred tribes, most of
500px is home to more than 120 million images from photographers across 195 countries, with new content added every day. Its commercial distributors have hundreds of millions of photos, and one of them, Getty Images, boasts more than a million customers—all looking to download images for their campaigns. Commercial Licensing is a great way to
How to make money with photography is a common question we get within our community. We’ve pulled together the Top 10 insights from our 500px Content Team on how to make money with photography. If you’re interested in licensing your photos with 500px and selling them through our distribution partners, these tips will tell you
High resolution. Fast autofocus. Low-light performance. Long battery life. Durability. These are just some of the advantages of upgrading to a DSLR (digital single-lens reflex) camera, considered by many pros to be a gold-standard in an industry that’s constantly evolving and rolling out new technologies. Because these cameras have been around for a while, your
Sameer Al-Doumy was in eighth grade when the civil war in Syria started. Along with his siblings, he photographed his everyday life — and the horror that unfolded around him. As a young citizen of Douma, he was able to capture the war as an insider, documenting moments of despair and hope as his neighborhood
In the last ten years, the market for newborn photography has reached new heights. Millennials are driving a whole new movement towards documenting these early memories — and sharing them with loved ones through social media. In 2015, Vogue reported that newborn photography had officially gone “mainstream,” and this year, viral baby photoshoots reminded us
Our global population takes more than one trillion photos a year—and 15 million of those photographers share their best work with the 500px community. You may have a strong aesthetic and well-defined point of view; you may know how to tell a story in a single frame. But in a world filled with content, how
The top questions on the minds of most commercial photographers these days are, “What kinds of images do buyers want right now?” and “How can I make my photos more visible?” To answer both of these questions, we can look at some of the trending search terms on 500px and Getty Images; their data shows
Perfectly balanced compositions are everywhere these days, with trending hashtags like #symmetricalmonsters, #symmetrykillers, and #symmetryhunters drawing anywhere from hundreds of thousands to more than one million posts online. The hugely popular Instagram account @symmetrybreakfast has a cookbook available worldwide, while @geometryclub—a page with tens of thousands of followers of its own—accepts regular submissions of perfectly-aligned
For the modern photographer, Licensing represents the future of images. It’s an easy way to earn monthly income (and gain international exposure) doing what you do best. We asked some top Licensing Contributors from the 500px community about making the most of this rapidly expanding marketplace, and they offered up some of the valuable insight
In trendy engagement portraits, edgy street photography, and artsy double exposures, silhouettes abound. Today, classic silhouette photographs like Behind the Gare Saint-Lazare by Henri Cartier-Bresson (1932) continue to inspire modern photographers to create timeless images. A few years ago, for instance, the art director Nicolas Bouvier, aka Sparth, made headlines for his dreamy and evocative
In 1860, the early English photographer Roger Fenton faced a new challenge when confined to his home due to terrible, unpredictable weather. The renowned landscape photographer suddenly found himself cut off from the gorgeous countryside, unable to produce the kinds of pictures that had made him famous. But instead of packing away the camera, he
As part of a recent study, Venngage reached out to thousands of marketers to get a better understanding of how they use visuals in their campaigns. Of the 200 content marketers to participate in the study, a 40% majority said they used stock photos most frequently. In our content-rich world, stock photos can be found
Maja is a Licensing Contributor based in Novi Sad, Serbia. She photographs across a variety of styles, including lifestyle, still life, nature, and food. Q: What first sparked your interest in photography? A: What first sparked my interest in photography was nature. As someone living in the countryside, I always had a really strong connection
We love to use our global platform to tell the stories and share the work of our community. And with over 15 million creatives, there is never a shortage of interesting ideas and cool projects for us to help promote. Today we want to share an emotional initiative by 500px photographer, Navid Baraty; a project
At the start of this year, Getty Images named “wellness” as one of the defining forces shaping visual culture. The wellness movement spans our physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional health, and it also speaks to fostering healthy relationships with others. It’s about taking time for ourselves and also making time to reconnect with those around
What is photography? Let’s start with a big question—what exactly is photography? While artists, scholars, and academics might debate the philosophy of the captured image, the scientific terms are a little more straightforward. Photography is the art or practice of creating images by capturing light. Yes, we can expand that definition greatly, but in its
According to a recent study from the Pew Research Center, almost nine out of ten people in the United States report that their lives have changed due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. It’s changed our lives in large ways (working from home, avoiding crowds), but it’s also changed our daily habits. One survey from the
The word “juxtaposition” has long dominated exhibition catalogs and artist statements, used by everyone from architects to painters, but some of today’s biggest mainstream photography trends also revolve around the theme of juxtaposition. From forced perspectives of people “holding up” the sun or moon to landscape photos of “tiny people in big places” to double-take