All shots captured with a Canon EOS Rebel T2i

Of course, most of us will never do that. We might want to make an interesting, funny or pretty image, but the fact is we are too lazy to put in the effort of years of photography classes and practice to do it. Not to mention the hundreds to thousands of dollars it takes to buy an advanced camera, and the time it takes to learn to use one.

If you are like me, you are going to take any shortcuts you can. As I have an iPhone and I know several people with iPads, I set out to find which apps work well to create cool little photo tricks through basic filters. It might not be award winning photography, but these applications are at least fun to use.

1. HOPE Poster Photo Filter

President Barack Obama’s Hope posters have become infamous since the election that made him the head honcho of the USA. The inspirational looking image of him looking into the distance, added to a stylized and bold poster format went a long way to solidifying him image during a time when he was put against a rather less impressive looking (and significantly older) John McCain. Now, you can have your own HOPE poster with this photo filter. It is super easy to use, but don’t expect it to win you any elections.

2. FX Photo Studio HD

Specifically for the iPad, this photo processing app has more than 180 filters and special effects to add to your photos. It is easy to use and has a rather gorgeous layout. It is also very fast, which is a nice change from most photo studios that take forever to load. All in all, it is nifty and comprehensive. The only downside is that it doesn’t work on the iPhone.

3. Photo FX Ultra

This is a great app if you like presets. There are 934 available, but only 77 photo filters. The coolest part about it is that you can use more than one filter and preset per picture, and so you can create a pretty elaborate picture through the app, similar to what you might get through a PC software program.

4. Masque for iPad

This is more of an import app then anything else. It works by allowing you to sign into your social networking accounts like Facebook and upload the photos onto the app. You can then apply certain filters and effects, but there aren’t quite as many as you would normally hope for. In the end, it is a cool little application for anyone who has a lot of photos on their social networking profile that they would like to play with.

Thus, you can easily edit and share your photos when on the go – which makes this app perfect for travelers, according to Sell Timeshare blog.

5. Photogene for iPad

This is one of my personal favorites for the iPad. It works by allowing you to upload photos from various formats and edit them in a huge library of filters and effects. You can them export them to various sites, such as Facebook, Twitter and Dropbox. It is a little more difficult to use than more basic ones, but the color editing software is superb for an app.

6. Pencil vs. Camera

You know those ads all over the Internet telling you to “cartoonify yourself”? This is an app that does something similar. It has four settings that allow you to turn your photos into pencil sketches. You can do either the whole picture or parts of it, in color or black and white. It isn’t groundbreaking, but it is fun to play with. You can definitely get some interesting images, as well.

All of these are neat little applications that can help you to easily edit your photos on the iPod or iPad. They show how innovative and complex apps have really become in the last few years, and the way that technology is changing to fit the needs of the casual user. Anyone can play with these, and they serve a purely entertaining purpose.

Do you have any photo filter apps that you particularly enjoy? There are certainly enough around the web for you to take your pick. Let us known what they are in the comments, and whether they are for the iPhone, iPad or both. They might just make our next list.

In Living Color

Once I got looking through these photos I was shocked at the intense colors that are just everywhere we go. I think we become so used to it that we don’t even connect the world of digital design to the real world anymore. So check out the below examples that I grabbed a few dominant colours out of. All photos are available high res if you wish, just drop a comment in this post, or send me a tweet (@AndrewDertinger)

DISCLAIMER: I am in no way claiming to be a professional photographer, so please don’t be hatin’ in the comments. Photos snapped with Canon EOS Rebel T2i.

The following macro photographs are sure to inspire beautiful work for any designer. Whether you are looking for inspiration for backgrounds of business cards or artwork for web design, enjoy the brilliant macro photographs below.

The brilliant purple is stunning but the water drop is the real star of this photograph. The crisp clarity of the light and images reflected in the water are amazing.

Once again the water is the real focus, but the shape and color of these petals are not to be overlooked. The color combination in this photograph could be brilliant on business cards.

At first glance, this photograph may startle you. The more you look at it, though, the richer the colors and the more intense the eye becomes. It almost appears to move.

Intricacy in nature is certainly exemplified in this photo. The design of a web becomes a work of art up close.

With crisp clarity, this caterpillar shows character that you may never have imagined without the up close introduction. The color scheme that nature has provided would be great for a high energy design.

Though the subject of a fly is normally not lovely, this photograph is amazing. Beautiful details normally hidden have come to life.

In this photograph the water droplets magnify the tiny nuances of this vibrant leaf. Once again, the color combination is amazing.

If an ant can carry 50 times their weight and team work is still necessary then I think that ants are a great example for us. This image can be used to inspire great attitudes as well as design.

What I love about this image is the stark contrast of deep red, bold white, and complete black. The air bubbles create a design of their own as well.

The beautiful image of the light on a delicate flower sets a lovely background for the bold yellow. Nature really has given us a foundation for color palettes that amaze.

Speaking of color palettes, this clear purple and bold orange pieces on the flower look stunning against the blurred green and pink. The focus effect is incredible!

To me this image is pure happiness. The flawless open blooms are being enjoyed by the delicate and complex butterfly. The clarity of this photograph is wonderful.

An up close look at this simple piece of rope shows that it is not so simple. The depth of color and detail make this image a powerful one that could be used in many a design.

Machinery can be representative of work and strength. The textures and lines of this photograph give it life.

Even the tiniest parts of nature hold so much complexity. What a wonderful display of photography.

The shimmering eyes of this terrifying spider have a very space like quality, especially with the spider crawling across a CD.

While the soft surface of this honey bee are the true focus of this work of art, the colors of the background make this photograph lovely.

This drop of water shows of the many facets of water. Such elegance in this photograph would make for a beautiful piece of art on a wall.

Lovely little lady bug with a pretty leaf to perch on makes a wonderful picture.The angle is brilliant!

The soft gradient of color and shape make this image a great inspiration for design. The water drops on the lips are a nice detail.

Once again, detail in the tiniest parts of nature can be scary and stunning at the same time.

Brilliant colors make the symmetry of this wisping plant look beautiful. Such a soft yet eye-catching photo would be beautiful as the background of business cards or on a brochure.

This simple water droplet is captured in amazing clarity. It reflects the images around it while resting in the bold colors of a leaf. Beautiful art!

The submissions seem to keep getting better every year. Split into 3 categories: people, places and nature, photographers submit their photos to be chosen for the voting galleries. So even if you aren’t a photographer, you can still participate by voting for your favourite photographs! As always many of the photographs showcase the awesome power of nature with amazing views of storms, and the intricate colouring of exotic insects. Enjoy, and be sure to head over to the National Geographic site and Vote Here!

Be sure to check out last years post 31 National Geographic Photos.

Today, these resolutions are often measured in gigapixels for images composed of more than one billion pixels, greater than a thousand times more information than is captured by a 1-megapixel digital camera. Such images are usually created by taking many individual shots, and then stitching these together into a digital mosaic.

The results are technically innovative and often visually outstanding. This post showcases 20 of the best high-resolution photographs, amazing pictures to astound and inspire. Many of these photographs are of cities and landscapes, as these are amongst the best subject matter for this type of image making.

1. Burj Dubai, UAE

Image: Artist

This astonishing photograph captures the Burj Khalifa, better known as the Burj Dubai, at the centre of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. The building, at 828 metres, is the tallest man-made structure in the world, and the image is equally massive at 2.3 gigapixels. A Canon 5D Mk II with a 400mm lens was used to take a total of 381 photographs, which were then stitched together to create a final image with a breathtaking level of detail.

2. Tolworth Tower, London, UK

Image: Artist

This panorama shows the view looking north from Tolworth Tower in southwest London, captured in a gloriously high resolution of 8 gigapixels. Composed of many photographs taken on a Canon EOS 500D camera, the image allows the viewer to zoom into the detail of sprawling suburban streets and the landmarks of central London on the distant skyline.

3. Chester Cathedral, UK

Image: Artist

This high-resolution image shows the exquisite medieval interior of Chester Cathedral in northern England. Photographer Sarah Cartwright used a Canon 20D camera to make this 517-megapixel image, revealing the detail in the cathedral’s sandstone walls and wooden stellar-vaulted ceiling.

4. View from St Peter’s, Rome, Italy

Image: Artist

This amazing 360-degree panorama was taken with a Kodak Easyshare Z8612IS digital camera mounted at the top of the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City. St Peter’s Square opens out at the centre of the image, with the other buildings of the Vatican in the foreground and the rest of Rome stretching away into the Italian sunlight.

5. Bryce Point in Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah, USA

Image: Artist

Max Lyons’ magnificently detailed image of the view from Bryce Point in Utah’s Bryce Canyon National Park was created by digitally stitching 196 individual photographs. Each picture was taken on a 6-megapixel digital camera, and then all 196 were composed into an image with resolution of just over one gigapixel.

6. National Building Museum, Washington DC, USA

Image: Artist

This is another image created by photographer Max Lyon, this time revealing the fine detail in the interior of the National Building Museum in Washington DC. Elements from 280 separate photographs were used to construct the final composite, which has a resolution of 1.07 gigapixels. Although the image gives the impression that the building is very quiet, it was actually taken on a busy Saturday afternoon; the photographer waited until there was nobody in the frame before taking each shot.

7. African Penguin

Image: Artist

An African Penguin prepares to plunge into the churning surf of the Atlantic Ocean in this beautiful high-resolution photograph.

8. Trump Tower, New York, USA

Image: Artist

This 1.4 gigapixel panorama shows the evening lights of Trump Tower and surrounding the apartment blocks in downtown New York. The fantastic level of detail allows the viewer to gaze into individual windows and across the water with its colourful reflections. Photographer Joergen Geerds specializes in hyper wide angles and high-resolution images of his beloved home city.

9. Cape Town, South Africa

Image: Artist

This amazing high-resolution panorama shows the view from Table Mountain looking out across Cape Town in South Africa. The photograph, taken on a Canon EOS 400D digital camera, shows the city’s landmarks including, from left to right: Signal Hill, Robben Island, Cape Town Stadium, Table Bay and the slopes of Devil’s Peak.

10, Crowley Point, Death Valley, USA

Image: Artist

This image shows the sublime view across the arid basin of Death Valley in the Mojave Desert, southwestern USA. The picture is captured in extremely high resolution, allowing the viewer to see the minute detail of the lowest, driest, and hottest location in North America.

11. President Obama’s Inaugural Speech

Image: Artist

Photographer David Bergman created this incredibly detailed image of President Obama’s inaugural address at the US Capitol in Washington DC using 246 individual shots taken from a press platform. The panorama takes in a view that is 194.2 degrees wide, 95.3 degrees high, and the image clocks in at a massive 1.57 gigapixels.

12. View from the Eiffel Tower’s Second Level, Paris, France

Image: Artist

This high-resolution panorama takes in the view from the second level of the Eiffel Tower, looking southeasterly across the Parc du Champ de Mars into central Paris. The 2.2-gigapixel image was stitched from many pictures taken on a Canon PowerShot A720 IS digital camera.

13. Vancouver, Canada

Image: Artist

This fascinating image shows the waterfront and towering architecture of Yaletown in Vancouver, as viewed from False Creek, and is composed of an awesome 1,000,000,000 pixels. The photograph allows the viewer to peer into individual apartments, sometimes catching sight of the occupants at home.

14. Prague, Czech Republic

Image: Artist

Many of Prague’s landmark sights are visible in the details of this image captured by photographer Jeffrey Martin from the city’s Petrin Tower. The composite is made from 600 individual shots taken on a 21-megapixel Canon 5D Mark II camera, resulting in image that is an eye-popping 18.4 billion pixels.

15. Boxhill, Surrey, UK

Image: Artist

The rolling English countryside of the South Downs is captured in this image, as seen from the summit of Boxhill in Surrey. The composite is constructed from many pictures taken on an 8-megapixel Canon A720 digital camera.

16. Finland, Sweden

Image: Artist

Allie Caulfield’s high-resolution shot captures an atmospheric sunset over the Baltic Sea, viewed from the Swedish island of Finland.

17. Pyramid of Khafre, Egypt

Image: Artist

The photographer composed this 56-megapixel image by stitching six separate shots together, revealing the detail on the ancient Pyramid of Khafre.

18. St Peter’s Church, Vienna

Image: Artist

For this image, the photographer pointed the camera heavenwards to take multiple shots, which were then stitched together to show the wonderful decoration on the ceiling of St Peter’s Church in Vienna.

19. Glacier Point, Yosemite Park, USA

Image: Artist

This beautiful image has a resolution of 17.27 gigapixels, revealing a bewildering amount of detail in the view of Glacier Point in Yosemite Park. The viewer can find people walking in the woods, a climber scrambling up the mountainside and a person perched on the peak. The composite was made from a total of 20,046 images captured on a Nikon D2x digital camera, stitched together with Autopane Pro. If printed at 300dpi, the photograph would measure a massive 59.5 x 22.4 feet.

20. Milky Way

Image: Artist

Finally, a truly awe-inspiring image of the Milky Way galaxy, a 340-million pixel star-scape taken by astrophotographer Stéphane Guisard, an engineer at the European Southern Observatory at Paranal. The dark streak of dust that bisects the image contains colourfully glowing nebulae, and the centre of our galaxy. The final image is composed of 52 different shots with a total exposure time of 200 hours, all captured on a SBIG large format camera attached to the observatory’s telescope. This type of image, as with all the pictures showcased in this post, display the amazing potential of high-resolution photography.

I thought it would be fun to post some Portraits, the expressions captured in these photographs are fantastic. Some are quirky, some are more subtle and standard, while others are simply beautiful.

Be Inspired, and leave a comment of your favorites.

Photograph: theluckynine

Photograph: AccidentlyAlexis

Photograph: Bosen

Photograph: Helenee

Photograph: Pristonegirl

Photograph: Zombiemewmew

Photograph: Myownskycloud

Photograph: Kenarr

Photograph: Picturesandwords514

Photograph: Bluejeannes

Photograph: escaped emotions

Photograph: Escaped Emotions

Photograph: Noukiej

Photograph: Eye90

Photograph: Annette Parks

Photograph: Emmie Photos

Photograph: Matmoon

Photograph: Klaamka

Photograph: Girl Fromstrangetown

Photograph: Carrionshine

Photograph: OnikKioo

Photograph: HelloDearr

Photograph: Dark Remorse

Photograph: Cassie Killed Herself

Photograph: April182

Photograph: Koroshino

Photograph: Grzyypp

Photograph: BombAttack

Photograph: Your Best Days

Photograph: Your Best Days

Photograph: Lusas

Photograph: Rawrsicle

Photograph: MypopTart

*Each of the photographs are linked back to their original place online, and are the copyright and ownership of the original owners.

Download Blurry Nghts of NYC (43mb zip)

Download Blurry Nghts of NYC (43mb zip)

Just recently we moved into our new house, and we printed off 5 big panoramic images for the house, I have included a few here on my flickr, and of course some other killer pans from around the globe.

My flickr photos

Resources

http://digital-photography-school.com/8-guidelines-to-taking-panoramic-photos-with-any-camera

http://www.panoramas.dk/

http://www.panoramicearth.com/