35 (Really) Stunning Photos and Pictures
We love beautiful photography. In photos, the beauty isn’t necessarily reflected in an eye-catching combination of colors; perspectives, angle, composition and, most importantly, the idea behind the shot or the situation in which the shot was taken, are particularly important when it comes for our showcases.
Over the last months we have covered a variety of different photography arts, such as shadow photography, night photography, city photography, arial photography, urban decay and many others (you can find them in our section Inspiration). This time we present you a “mixed bag” of some truly outstanding photos and images, created by talented photographers and designers across the globe.
Below you’ll find 35 truly stunning, beautiful and unusual photos. Every image is linked and leads to the source from which it was taken. Please feel free to explore further works of the talented photographers presented above.
You may want to take a look at the following related posts:
35 (Really) Stunning Photos and Pictures
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Related Posts
You may want to take a look at the following related posts:
Kartik
March 15th, 2009 8:14 pmHey Thanks a lot for these wonderful images.
Donny Reza
March 15th, 2009 8:19 pmYou’re always amaze me …
zhang.h
March 15th, 2009 8:26 pmamazing works
I always feel free to view these pictures
And to express in chinese, it is：太厉害了
Omer Yaqub
March 15th, 2009 8:49 pmnice collection
Amir
March 15th, 2009 9:38 pmyou’re tremendous, smashing!
tschai
March 15th, 2009 9:39 pmNice? Yes.
Stunning? No.
Good collection? Yes.
Great collection? No.
Naveed Ahmad
March 15th, 2009 9:52 pmeach and every shoot has an idea a concept and meaning plus emotion attached to it :)
thanks for sharing they are really nice
simon owen
March 15th, 2009 10:27 pmI feel an instant emotional connection with each and every of these beautiful photographic images. Thanks Smashing!
Andris
March 15th, 2009 10:53 pmSome of these are pretty outstanding, some not. Love the ones from Jamie Fernandez, Steven (merriewells), Majed Sultan Ali, Brad Harris and Sarah Lee.
Antti Lehtinen
March 15th, 2009 11:31 pmThere are some outstanding shots but unfortunately just some. I think it would be better to make a smaller collection, let’s say 10 photos, to keep the quality high. Same goes for some of your other collections and lists. Anyway, thanks for this, it was a pleasure to view some beautiful photos!
sinsdesign
March 15th, 2009 11:44 pmClark Little, Brad Harris, Perico Terrades, Jaime Fernandez, Azzam Merchant, Rosie Hardywow! You really stand out! Great works all of you!
Hafiz Ismail
March 15th, 2009 11:44 pmHey! great collections! really made my day! thanks
Roy
March 15th, 2009 11:48 pmsome are great, some are good…
I would prefer collections about a certain topic.
Shaun Newman
March 15th, 2009 11:50 pmSuper collection, some very imaginative stuff.
Brandon Turner
March 16th, 2009 12:03 amThey’re all good, clean photos with good qualities, but they all just seem so “stock” to me. the only one I really like which might even be the most simplistic, is the one that has “I MISS HER” painted on a wall. That’s the only one that really hits me.
Jbcarey
March 16th, 2009 12:06 amnice stuff
Ray Schiel
March 16th, 2009 12:11 amA great collection…thank you for the inspiration.
Vinnsent
March 16th, 2009 12:35 amWow.. Thanks a lot – they’re beautiful
greynor
March 16th, 2009 1:11 amMy absolute favorite:
http://overflowing.tumblr.com/post/85689615
V@s3K
March 16th, 2009 1:16 amThere are many beautiful photos, thanx. Especially with road.
Dave
March 16th, 2009 1:58 amCool photos!
Enk.
March 16th, 2009 2:14 amWow wow wow! What an art !
Awesome Photographs really ! =)
Jesse
March 16th, 2009 2:21 ami love those bradharris.com photos
Maria
March 16th, 2009 2:35 amAbsolutely stunning!! I love these posts ye do, they do my heart good! Although the one of the surfer makes me wanna cry, I need to surf NOW!!
I really like Gavin Will’s shot, I do the same thing, leaning on the window watching the city go by, and it captures perfectly the feelings.
Anorgan
March 16th, 2009 2:44 amSome photos are REALLY bad
merlinvicki
March 16th, 2009 2:58 amWow pics. loved the one with the sun peeping between the wave.
Daniel Matthews
March 16th, 2009 3:33 amSimply stunning…. Love the inspiration.
Aakash
March 16th, 2009 3:59 amBeautiful…
Justafa
March 16th, 2009 4:19 amSorry fellas, but I’ve seen way more stunning photos than these above. Anyway, nice try (bow)
wax
March 16th, 2009 5:04 amThese photos are just beautiful. Thank´s for the post.
Greg
March 16th, 2009 5:05 amhonestly….. not that impressed.
KEN
March 16th, 2009 5:15 amgreat great great
Marek
March 16th, 2009 5:33 amSome photos are nice, but most of them are just colorful kitsch…
AYANO
March 16th, 2009 6:02 amEven colorful kitsch can be beautiful..
Daniel Cheong’s picture is wonderful. Overall a very nice collection.
caroline
March 16th, 2009 6:11 amAre close-ups of flowers really stunning, though?
Stephanie
March 16th, 2009 6:11 amIt’s unfortunate that for photos to be considered “stunning” that excessive editing in Photoshop or 3d Max is needed. Many of these have been edited QUITE a bit – and I’m not talking about just boosting the saturation. HDR – different exposures layered over each other and cloning is visible in at least a couple of these pieces.
I’m all for the use of Photoshop to boost my photos, but there’s a line to where it becomes computer art rather than photography.
I’d prefer to see a post of actual photographs with minimal editing – let me see what you saw through the viewfinder, rather than a couple of hours of fiddling on the computer, editing a base image, applying a couple different exposures on top, cloning out this, removing that, adding that shadow in…
Nuno Amaral
March 16th, 2009 6:21 amBeautiful photos
Willem
March 16th, 2009 6:53 amLots of kitsch. I like photos that could be the beginning of a (short) story. Like the first one.
Banhawi
March 16th, 2009 6:57 amVery Nice
Redaction
March 16th, 2009 7:03 amman, I am tired of HDR manipulation.
Kevin-K
March 16th, 2009 7:17 amThey are nice. However, not stunning.
David
March 16th, 2009 7:19 am47 photos != 35…
Jason
March 16th, 2009 7:20 amSome nice work but I feel the post could be split between photoshop modified and straight up photography.
vanderleun
March 16th, 2009 9:05 amPretty much the slightly below average Smashing collection of “pretty.”
Nice? Yes, with all the softness implied by “nice.”
“Stunning?” Puhlease. Try harder and don’t be so lazy. You’ve done much, much better than this in the past. This selection verges on “Stock Photography.”
Lexi
March 16th, 2009 9:58 amThe kitty pic was my favorite! : ) Thank you for these!
tim
March 16th, 2009 10:05 amI completely agree with Stephanie.
Mainak
March 16th, 2009 10:38 amSmashing!!!!! Very Inspiring . Clark Little’s was gr8!!
Jurica
March 16th, 2009 10:41 amThe title of this article is “Stunning Photos and Pictures…” I will add with accent on Pictures.
Yes some of them are really stunning.
I noticed that editorial have tendencies for publishing HDR images, which I considered borderline with kitsch.
About “stock looking photos”, internet audience is used to look at stock images, not just on internet there are tv commercials, magazines, etc., so with
new generation of digital photographers, hobysts and everyone else with todays procurable
digital cameras and software equipment, people are making stock looking photos consciously or subconsciously, we all are under influence of our enviroment.
For those who never heard for Henri Cartier-Bresson, just type that name in google, and browse. Enjoy and learn something.
Janckos
March 16th, 2009 11:51 amBuenisimas imagenes.
Check
March 16th, 2009 11:58 amI have to agree with a handful of the folks here and say the overwhelming majority of the photos posted in these type collections on smashing simply are not stunning photographs.
I mean, I get that people have their own tastes, and I’m cool with that, but for such a fine site to have such an amateur eye for photography is surprising!
That said, there are 4 or 5 great photos in this collection. I won’t single them out so as to be rude, but I think most with a sensibility for photography can pick them out.
I say – if you want smashing to be as good a source for stunning photgraphy as it is for web design, you should have a guest poster do your photo collections. Would be great I think…
endri
March 16th, 2009 12:09 pmjanusz leszczynski’s foto isnt amazing is dull and boring -and there is nothing stunning
Ufuk
March 16th, 2009 12:26 pmI like Maria Budtova’s photos.
Leland Clemmons
March 16th, 2009 1:52 pmThat helicopter light-painting is incredible! The amount of work that must have gone into preparation is astounding. That last photo looks great too, but I’m not sure if that rainbow-esque spectrum is attributed to processing.
Phil
January 26th, 2011 5:51 pm“That helicopter light-painting is incredible! The amount of work that must have gone into preparation is astounding.” Thanks…it was friends helicopter and it’s amazing to see in person. It’s a one of a kind.
Bob Nolin
March 16th, 2009 2:57 pmCareful, or you’ll wear out that link-bait strategy that has served you so well till now. This post was definitely sub-par.
Matt Palmer
March 16th, 2009 3:06 pmyou guys could really use a photographer on board because these photography posts of yours are getting more and more average.
Tony
March 16th, 2009 3:26 pmRosie Hardy as your last picture? You know she steals people’s images right? google “rosie hardy plagiarism”…
Not cool
ihsanrama
March 16th, 2009 4:45 pmGorgeous picture … Great
smile
March 16th, 2009 8:00 pmClark Little, 5348 Franco AWAY, Daniel Cheong …. really STUNNING…!!!!
thanks a lot!
Ariyo
March 16th, 2009 9:10 pmI absolutely LOVE Rosie Hardy’s photos. Thanks for the post.
John
March 16th, 2009 9:36 pmRosie Hardy ? Are you kidding ?
She is a copycat.
She copies the original photos of DeviantArt artists and sells the images.
Ps : Please google : Rosie hardy Plagiarism.
Tony
March 16th, 2009 10:39 pm@John – absolutely – she’s a fraud
Read this
This is a write up about her situation
Dimis
March 17th, 2009 12:30 amI suggest you to remove “(Really) Stunning” from the title…
Ol`ga
March 17th, 2009 12:50 amAnd truth to eat beautiful photos!
…
Particularly gentle embraces…
Thank!
OverZero.it
March 17th, 2009 1:06 amWOW!
Amer Aranki
March 17th, 2009 2:39 amThis is great!!!
Waves photo’s photographer is too lucky with such this photo :)
Thanks
Adam Alyan
March 17th, 2009 4:44 amI love the mood in Jaime Fernandez’s and the colour feast in Mayela Fabbiani’s!
Tom Bradshaw
March 17th, 2009 5:37 amDoes what it says on the tin… some really stunning photos. Though I agree that some do use alot of photoshop effects, which is a shame.
Andrea
March 17th, 2009 6:58 amMost of these are fantastic! But I don’t know why some of those are there.
jonboy24/7
March 17th, 2009 8:19 amOne the images above has been placed on this site without my knowledge or permission, can anyone please tell me who I can send the bill to for the use of this image, thankyou.
Santosh Puthran
March 17th, 2009 9:00 amExcellent photos. My eyes are wide open.
Ian
March 17th, 2009 9:55 amStunning…a few, but surely not all of them. Maybe I should start describing my own as amazing, extraordinary collections and they too will be Digged hundreds of times and soon enough I’ll be able to make a living doing this…hmmm…http://mackieimages.smugmug.com/
Ariyo
March 17th, 2009 10:08 am@John and @Tony, I had no idea about the “Rosie hardy Plagiarism”. That’s awful. I came across her photos through Flickr and really liked her style. I didn’t know that couple of her pictures were copied from other people’s hard work. She shouldn’t have done that cuz after all she has a lot of original work and that could ruin her career.
youknowwhoitis
March 17th, 2009 11:19 amsum of this stuff is preaty cool but most of it sucks
Jorge
March 18th, 2009 5:02 amWhat do you think about this one?
graphiconcepts
March 18th, 2009 3:06 pmI just love to check out your site from time to time and see inspiring photos, artworks, designs, tutorials, etc. and this is right up there. Thanks for posting, especially for people like me who enjoy being inspired and love all types of media for creation, rather than act like some mightier than thou art critic who thinks they made CREATIVITY up! Keep em coming!
bobjoy
March 18th, 2009 8:31 pmLOVE
gaurav
March 18th, 2009 8:57 pmIncredible GOD!
Sagar Rajput
March 18th, 2009 9:41 pmNice Photos and Images!!!
theamoeba
March 18th, 2009 11:34 pmThese pics are really great, as always. it always amazes me how you manage to find these pics. :)
bee
March 19th, 2009 4:00 amSome really great pictures! Thank you for showing!
Perico Terrades
March 20th, 2009 1:28 amGracias por publicar mi foto, estoy realmente encantado
Jascha
March 20th, 2009 6:52 amso beautiful!!!
Bim
March 22nd, 2009 1:45 amI agree with 35, Stephanie…. most of these photos have been edited in someway.. some more than others… and I would agree that not all these are quite as earth shattering as you make out… I really don’t like too much photoshop editing. 1st photo was a good start and a few others but then a few others let down the notion that it is purely photography. Show me some photos which are purely photography and hardly any photoshop editing and I will be immensely impressed. I might as well add that my photos are awesome.. but I am biased :)
Kyle007
March 26th, 2009 7:05 pmGreat Photo’s
Soane Kim
April 3rd, 2009 4:55 amThese are really stunning photos. They are actually smashing.
Rei
April 14th, 2009 6:53 amMost of these are pretty boring. A few are cool I guess.
Nothing amazing.
bjeff7
May 4th, 2009 11:37 amAll these pictures are phenominal!!
Unknown
May 29th, 2009 11:52 pmThat was outstanding and exceedingly inspirational! Excellent job. :)
Prof Shah Murad Mastoi
June 6th, 2009 7:58 pmVERY NICE TO SEE PICTURES
I M DR SHAH MURAD MASTOI
Ukwhqetl
June 22nd, 2009 8:32 amjOuao9 comment6 ,
Khalid Mastoi
June 27th, 2009 7:52 pmhi chachoo im khalid mastoi
KojiroTran
December 2nd, 2009 11:07 pmAmazing, all are really stunning beautiful, but I really like the first, and the last, and from these photographers Akhilesh Sharma, ~Anti-Pati-ya , Berryness, Azzam Merchant, Steven (merriewells), Mayela Fabbiani…. Thanks a lot for these stunning photos.
Arena Creative
January 10th, 2010 11:20 amAwesome post – thanks for these awesome shots!
Nikita Hengbok
January 10th, 2010 11:36 amAwesome pics!
Shashank
February 14th, 2010 6:46 amUnusual..Amazing pics….just superb photography !! Thanks and keep going on..
Ashley
February 21st, 2010 2:36 amTheses are really stunning! You always have the best posts!!!
countocram
February 21st, 2010 3:05 amsome of the photographs featured are not stunning at all..
Damian
February 21st, 2010 3:37 amjust great…
Abidur
April 28th, 2010 1:39 amreally cool…n stuning…
great………………………
LIONWIN
May 4th, 2010 9:50 pmSWEET HUMAS;S IMAGE