(Really) Stunning Pictures and Photos

• 5 min read
• Graphics, Pictures, Photography
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About The Author

Vitaly Friedman loves beautiful content and doesn’t like to give in easily. When he is not writing, he’s most probably running front-end & UX … More about Vitaly ↬

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Photography is a very powerful medium and a very difficult craft. Excellent photos don’t only display some facts — they tell stories, awake feelings and manage to share with the audience the emotions a photographer experienced when clicking the shot button. Taking great pictures is damn hard as you need to find a perfect perspective and consider the perfect timing. To achieve brilliant photography you need practice and patience. However, it is worth it: the results can be truly stunning.

Below you’ll find 50 brilliant photos and great pictures — some pictures tell stories, some are incredibly beautiful, some are funny and some are very sad.

All pictures are copyright of their respective owners. Please explore the further work of the photographers by browsing through their work. We’ve tried to cover different themes so that everybody will find something interesting and spectacular for himself / herself. All screenshots are linked und lead to the pages from which they’ve been taken.

Further Reading on SmashingMag:

• Part II: 35 (Really) Stunning Photos and Pictures
• Showcase of Wonderful Photography
• 25 Beautiful Macro Photography Shots
• 50 Incredible Photography Techniques and Photo Tutorials
• 35 Beautiful Photography Websites
  

Great Pictures and Photos

Water and a Girl Beautiful composition, excellent scenery, amazing play of colors.

The Ball is Coming! Analogue shot with Seagull 6x6 (Chinese clone of Rolleiflex), made in 1983. “The gulfball is suspended on a fishing line in front of the camera. It was a stormy day. So I had to shoot 5 or 6 films for getting one image with the ball in the center position AND a light reflection on the golf club.”

Sky The sky is reflected in a drop of water. Beautiful scenery.

Returning to the same ocean Beautiful sand textures, beautiful composition and somehow a very sad story hidden behind the image.

Tree A colorful tree from a different perspective.

Gizmo How adorable is that?

Glittery Ball “The reflection in this water droplet, it looks like the glitter is stuck to the water, but NO, it is reflections from the glitter on the feather.”

Leap of Faith What does being one step away from falling into the abyss feel like? The photo is taken by Paul Perton.

Astronaut Self-shot Over Earth Could this be the best self-shot ever? It’s truly out of this world.

Autumn in red Pure beauty. No words are necessary.

FlickrMeeting - Genova - G3 Blue baloon, a small detail, gives the picture an incredible power.

Sea in the sea Incredible scenery. Apparently, the shot was made on the boat in the middle of the sea.

If I was an old building… “If I was an old building I would want to be by the ocean. Till’ the end of times”. Photographed at the old fishing piers of the Texas Bolivar Peninsula.

Bee the Cat “It’s hard to get the right exposure, with them being white, and with the fact they don’t stay still unless they’re sleeping.”

Glow Smoke from a leaf pile.

Swimming pool Taking a look at the swimming pool. From a quite different perspective.

Reflect A reflection from the louvre’s pyramid.

Seagull on a sign This seagull seems to have its own personal understanding of human’s rules.

Marshmellow girl A beautiful composition.

Refashioned Dahlia Photo taken at Duncan Garden in Spokane, WA.

Bird and Meat

Water drop A photo taken at the exact right time. Available as a desktop wallpaper in various resolutions.

Mt. Fuji

Two ways at looking at a fish

Blessed fog A shot of Grande Madre di Dio in Torino, Italy.

Family of bugs

Pigeon Point Lighthouse “Once per year at the Pigeon Point Lighthouse they shut down the weak insipid modern (presumably electric) light and switch over the the 5 kerosene lamps and fresnel lens of the original, as it was 135 years ago.”

Fire Shot Location: Changa Beach, Coquimbo.

A conversation Fox, bird and snow. This picture is titled “Good afternoon, my name is chikiricuatro”.

Shanghai - Acrobatic Picture taken during an acrobatic show in a Shanghainese theatre.

Northern lights as seen from space

Crystal clarity

Skier’s Paradise “Climbing partner at 17,000’ on Denali carrying his skis down to around 16,200’ where he will be able to ski down the rest of the way to base camp at 7200’.”

Bird and Water

Photograph Taken at the Exact Right Time

All alone. This shot is taken on a Norway’s cliff Prekestolen (also known as Preacher’s Pulpit).

Looking out of the window

Above the clouds The shot taken during the flight from Vienna to Frankfurt, approaching Frankfurt.

The Waves

The Waves. One more time.

Cockfight Taken by Jan Sochor.

Polar lights Öxarárfoss in Iceland - Aurora Borealis taken by Arnar Valdimarsson.

Concentration

Cat and deer

Here floats a bubble in the air…

A girl portrait