The most impressive Flickr photostreams!

[milosh]

I started this thread so everyone could show the most impressive/the best photostreams on Flickr they know of, and because I didn't find a thread like this. Please post links and write a short note about each photostream/photographer, why do you consider it to be special, what is so good about it, etc. I'll start:


#1 Kalie Garrett The most amazing portraits (selfportraits), every image is sooo full of emotions, great processing and light. The most amazing thing is that she is ONLY 19! A great example of a young talent.


#2 isayx3's Behind this screen name is Ed McGowan, and incredibly creative and innovative photographer, always technically perfect and fresh. Be sure to check out his portraits of his wife and kids, and also his Post-Processing Fridays set, as he calls it when he takes another person's photo and processes it all over again. You can always see the previous version and compare.


#3 Ben Heine, an artist from Belgium, very creative and inovative, some of his images include a lot of post-processing and painting. His stream is a combination of photos and graphics/sketches. His Pencil vs. Camera series is amazing. There are sets if you want to look at only one of those. Be sure to check out the Conceptual Photos set.


#4 Tjasa Maticic, a photographer from Slovenia, she has many amazing images of foliage, branches, leaves, can't really describe it. As someone said it in a testimonial: "Elegance, abstraction, nature, bokeh, simplicity".


#5 Leslie*Thomson, a lady from Canada who creates amazing images of ordinary things and situations. I like to call it A delicate and creamy photostream, because of her use of film and beutiful bokeh and light in all of her images. Reminds me every time of how we can create extraordinary out from the ordinary.


#6 Aleksandra Radonic, a girl from Serbia, does some amazing photography while roaming the Serbian mountains and villages. Most of her images (and comments) are accurately describing lives of peasants and showing them in great context.


#7 Dejona, also a girl from Belgrade, very creative, has many selfportraits, usually great light and processing, worth checking out!

#8 Garry, just recently discovered him, he has many amazing landscape images, many of them with long shutter speeds and of coastlines.

[Nazareth]

here's a bunch of really talented photographers- they belong to a 'decisive moment' group as well as other groups, but there's lots to choose from there (Note, they are the 'favorited' photostreams of hughes betaille who is no longer with us- but his choice of photographers to favorite were quite impressive)

Hughes Léglise-Bataille's favorite photos and videos | Flickr

the following is sigfreid Hansen, an awesome creative photographer- every one of his photos tells a story, usually humorous, and they are designed around diagonals usually- he knows how to photograph and compose

Flickr: Siegfried Hansen, street photography's Photostream

The following site isn't a flickr site, but is well worth looking and studying to learn better composition (as well as to discover just howe meticulous and deliberate the masters of photography and art were when it came to design and composition)

YOUR SHOT [ 004 ] | Adam Marelli Photo

[SwissJon]

Something that's beginning to stand out in these pictures is the use of colour, often applied using filters in PP.. The photos are well composed and interesting, but the thing that makes them different is the colours applied afterward to enhance the atmosphere in them.

[Nazareth]

some of them are done that way Jon , but I'm not drawn to photos with artificially over-enhanced colors myself- infact, a lot of the photostreams in the first link i gave are mostly black and white, but their compositions and attention to detaqils and interesting subjects are the strength of the photos- they don';t have to rely on artificially overmanipulated colors to bring attention to the photo. It takes a lot of hard work to learn to see creatively and compositionally correct, and the hard work shows itself in the photography from photographers we admire- when they get their photos correct, and learn to really see creatively, it shows in their photos and their photos have that 'somethin g special' that draws us to them. I will state however, that even some of the old black and white photographers artifically manipulated tomes and contrast as tools to draw the eye into the photos and to key the view on certin subjects within hte photo- however, I find hte most compelling photos to be the ones with only minor darkroom manipulation- True, some color and contrast does need to be boosted somewhat, but to me, it's a turn off to see photos that are overdone- let the photos strengths stand on their own- and let the photographers skill stand on it';s own-

just my 2 cents,- I know a lot of folks like satjurated photos- and the oversaturated photos and photostreams do seem to garner the most attention on sites like flickr- but in my opuinion, the over use of color and saturation is like a cheap advertising trick to get us to notice their product over the 1000's of others on the site-

[NathanFranke]

This guy.
I laugh, I cry, I hang my head in shame because he's so much cooler than I am.

[Nazareth]

Jon, if you'll also notice, another thing that a lot of photographers are doing is 'enhancing' atmosphere in their photos- whether it's a cross-processing, old-photo, high-contrast, etc etc etc- again, doing so can make for some nice looking effects, but it becoems old after awhile- but it's liek hte old saying 'you can put lipstick on a pig, but in the end, it's still a pig' meaning that no matter how much we try to dress up our photos with htings like oversaturation, cross-processing, contrast manipulations etc etc etc- if our photos aren';t strong compositonally, they will still only be just so-so photos-

go to the Adam link in my post- read some of the articles on composition- I think you'll be surprised at just how important it really is to great photography- it really opened my eyes- before findign that site- I struggled with all kinds of processing tricks trying to 'boost my images' enough to get them noticed- Yet I always felt deep down that there was somethign the pros knew that they weren't divulging, that set their photographs apart fro mthe crowds- and come to find out, it is composition and patience and knowing their craft well enough to set p in advance and WAIT for the photograph to present itself rather than just clicking away hoping to get soemthign decent- when they snapped the shutter- they pretty much knew they were goign to have a succesful and compelling photograph even before they developed their photos because they knew they had all their ingredients right as they set up for their shots- they didn't have to rely on cosmetics like saturation, contrast manipulations etc to boost their photos- the compositions stood strong enough on their own

[SwissJon]

My observation was simply that the noticeable thing about these photographs was the way post processing has been applied to them to enhance the composition. I don't agree that "Black and White" is not a colour technique.. Of course it is, and it can be used just as effectively to enhance a photo.. What I mean by my observation is that these days it's very rare to see "Pure" photos that get rave reviews SOOC.

[Krusty79]

I found this guy on 500px. He does some really cool photographic art. You'll see when you click the link - 500px / peter holme iii

On Flickr, I like Kevin McNeal for his great landscapes - Flickr: kevin mcneal's Photostream

I believe we both like Chip Phillips' landscapes - Flickr: Chip Phillips' Photostream

I also stumbled upon Naomi Frost, who does some great infrared shots, as well as portraits and landscapes - Infrared - a set on Flickr

[Tzetsin]

Originally Posted by SwissJon

My observation was simply that the noticeable thing about these photographs was the way post processing has been applied to them to enhance the composition. I don't agree that "Black and White" is not a colour technique.. Of course it is, and it can be used just as effectively to enhance a photo.. What I mean by my observation is that these days it's very rare to see "Pure" photos that get rave reviews SOOC.

Thats an interesting observation actually. I noticed something when i was looking through nat geos great big book of photos, i forget the name of it, but it was something like XX years of nat geo, or something... Anyway, i was going through it and thinking to myself, gee, these photos really arnt "that" good....

Like all things, as it becomes more popular, as technology and education increase as tools become available, what was acceptable in the past would be unnacceptable in the present.

Even those images that were notable SOOC in the past would likely have been epic had they had the tools we have today.

Another reason is that the amateur photographer has a lot more presence in media today than before. In the past, if you actually saw a photograph, it was very likely done by a professional with many years experience. Also, you probably DIDNT see very many strait up photographs. (outside of advertising) Nowdays, you see amature photographs everywhere you look, and as a fellow photographer, your actually "looking" at strait up photographs, so the combination of mass amateur presence, and your own personal interest is whats making you notice this is so prevalent.

[SwissJon]

Originally Posted by Tzetsin

Thats an interesting observation actually. I noticed something when i was looking through nat geos great big book of photos, i forget the name of it, but it was something like XX years of nat geo, or something... Anyway, i was going through it and thinking to myself, gee, these photos really arnt "that" good....

Like all things, as it becomes more popular, as technology and education increase as tools become available, what was acceptable in the past would be unnacceptable in the present.

Even those images that were notable SOOC in the past would likely have been epic had they had the tools we have today.

Another reason is that the amateur photographer has a lot more presence in media today than before. In the past, if you actually saw a photograph, it was very likely done by a professional with many years experience. Also, you probably DIDNT see very many strait up photographs. (outside of advertising) Nowdays, you see amature photographs everywhere you look, and as a fellow photographer, your actually "looking" at strait up photographs, so the combination of mass amateur presence, and your own personal interest is whats making you notice this is so prevalent.

I guess.. I think what I was trying to say, which may or may not be what you're saying, I don't know, is that even my dad, a complete non-photographer who thinks I'm fantastic and once introduced me to his friends as a "professional photographer" because I've got lots of gear, emails me photographs that are doing the rounds, saying "Hey aren't these fantastic" thinking that they're SOOC and when I look at them, they're severely enhanced. None of the photos I've been impressed by were particularly impressive SOOC, and I'm beginning to find it difficult to find subjects to photograph that ARE impressive without enhancement.

When I started photography, I was under the impression that it was 90% sitting behind the camera and 10% PP.. Now I'm discovering that if I want to get my photos noticed and take them to the next level, I not only have to spend a shed load of time seeking out fantastic locations, I need to think about how the photo will look in Post, and what I can do to enhance it..

I recently booked another appointment with my regular model. I wanted her to wear a bright red coat so I could shoot her in pure white snow and make her stand out. She tells me she doesn't have a red coat, but she has a bright green one.. That's Ok, I say, wear that, I'll change the color in Photoshop.

Damn.. I really wanted to be a photographer, not a digital artist.. Now 'm finding that photographers.. Or at leart the ones who get noticed, ARE digital artists.. Or at least, they know a digital artist who they can work with.