Unlike many modern photographers, she shoots on analog 35mm film (she scans the negatives to do post-processing in Photoshop).

In this post you’ll see the breath-taking photos captured in her Underwater, to be reborn series, which has been dedicated to the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

The Underwater series includes images of what resembles girls trapped under ice, frozen in time. The photos are chilling and hauntingly beautiful.

There are twenty four images in the series, with at least a dozen different models. The idea for the series, according to Erin, came to her in a dream. And despite appearances, the photos were shot in a studio, not underwater.

You can find out more information about the artist at her website I Can Freeze Time You can also view the series in person in Munich, Germany from July 1st-Setp. 30th at the Candela Project Gallery

What do you think of the Underwater series? What emotions and thoughts do these images provoke in you? Please share in the comments!

Never Ending WordPress Business Bundle – only $14!

Search for photo manipulations practically anywhere online and you might be surprised at the varying quality you’ll find.

The majority of photo manipulations are unconvincing at best, and some are downright awful. Not so the work of Maite Guerrero.

Guerrero’s Minuscule collection of photo manipulations is truly magnificent. So much attention has been paid to detail, composition, and scale in this series, that it’s easy to believe the images are real.

In this post you’ll see a collection of photos of the Minuscule series. Look closely at how they’re composed, and the way everyday items are made surreal by the addition of miniaturized living subjects.

What do you think of the Minuscule collection? Which one is your favorite and why? Please share your thoughts below…

Never Ending WordPress Business Bundle – only $14!

And in the small subset of websites featured in this article, we find photography used very prominently.

The samples shown here focus so heavily on photography that you hardly notice the brands behind them.

In fact, some of the websites have no apparent branding at all, focusing instead on selling their products, which is actually a bit of a relief.

Let’s review how each of these websites leverage the power of photography.

1. NL Engenharia

Architectural firms typically focus on photography on their websites. On NL Engenharia, though, the photography pretty much takes over the entire website. And for good reason; it quickly communicates the style, quality and scale of the firm’s work. You immediately see the type of work this firm does. This weeds out visitors who wouldn’t immediately be interested in its style. Many less confident shops would not be willing to define themselves so narrowly, for fear of losing work.

When to use this approach
This approach is great because it focuses the business. This type of work will not interest everyone. In a way, the photography functions to pre-qualify visitors. It becomes a critical component in the sales funnel. The firm knows that anyone who makes contact will know exactly what it offers.

2. Afgn

The sole purpose of Afgn is to share the creator’s photographs with the world. The fantastically simple interface puts the photography at center stage. No need for an elaborate framework to display the photos; the overlay on the left gives all the context you need to understand them. And we are free to hide the overlay and view the full photos. I particularly love that this gallery eliminates the need for thumbnails; you start with a full-sized photo.

Lesson to learn
Sometimes, bringing the content right to the fore makes the best sense. This website shows how content can replace the need for a framework at all.

3. True Illusion

True Illusion is a studio that offers photography work, so naturally the content goes deeper in layers than the websites above. But I really love how the company still allows the photography to stand out; putting the work front and center like this is powerful. Don’t make people dig to find your work. Sell them on what you do from the moment they land on the website.

Cut to the chase
One of the most painful things is how many agencies make you dig for their portfolio. If your work is this delicious, make it easy for visitors to fall in love with it. You can sell the actual products later. This goes back to our idea of pre-qualifying visitors.

4. Driven

Driven is rather hard to pin down. Is it a blog? A magazine? A photo gallery? One thing it is not is normal. In showing off incredible cars through beautiful photography, this website breaks from your standard layout. Yes, there is text to go along with the visuals. But the photography of these incredible cars really drives the content (pun intended). The cars are so gorgeous, in fact, that you don’t need any special kind of photography to show them off.

Break the rules
Sometimes you can get away with disregarding the conventions of the web. It’s not easy and it won’t always work, but websites like this prove that risks can pay off. It also shows how eye-grabbing objects go a long way to smoothing over usability problems.

5. Clyde Quay Wharf

It should come as no surprise that photography plays a powerful role in selling real estate. On Clyde Quay Wharf, photography dominates the design. And why not? One look at the location and you can’t help but want to live there. Given that these apartments start at $1.3 million, the website has to do whatever it can to justify the price tag. Showing the unique location is a great approach in this case, at least to someone as unsavvy about real estate as me. After all, you can find beautiful apartments anywhere. Finding a location like this is much harder, and it gives the properties a distinctive air.

Focus on the unique
This design focuses on the unique selling point of this property: location. Find the most distinct selling point of your product, and hammer the message home. Without it, this would be yet another website selling yet another fancy apartment.

6. Grand Things

Photography instantly communicates information. Grand Things immediately sets a mood, using black and white photography to tell a story. It takes a bit of wording to set the stage, but the big dramatic photograph works flawlessly with the content, preparing the visitor for the subject.

Words help
As much as photography communicates, don’t leave too much to the imagination. Without the words, people would be rather helpless to understand the purpose of this website. Only a few words are needed, but they set the context for the photograph.

7. Moccabar

Photography can also be used to communicate ideas and information that can’t quite be captured in words. Consider Moccabar, a high-end bar. No amount of fancy marketing copy could ever communicate the particular style of this bar. In fact, on seeing the photos, even referring to this as a bar would be a stretch. The photographs immerse you in the location first and foremost. Inset photographs surrounded by text would not do the place justice.

What makes you special?
Some products and clients break the mold. Convincing people of as much can be hard, though. Photography can be the proof that shows that the client is more than a stereotype.

8. Peter McLeavey Gallery

Many galleries focus on their central location, their beautiful building or some other detail that they deem important. The Peter McLeavey Gallery puts the artwork front and center. Most customers don’t come to you because of the environment, as cool as it might be. By focusing entirely on the artwork, this website feels totally unique and memorable.

Lose your ego
Put yourself in the user’s shoes, and consider why they might be visiting the website. Prominent photography like this can support that purpose. Don’t focus on yourself or what you love about the company. Focus on what users want.

9. Awolnation

On the website for the band Awolnation, photography serves a singular purpose: to set a mood. The website focuses not so much on the band, as many other band websites do. Rather, it establishes a kitschy retro theme that adds to the band’s unique personality. The photography supports this, setting the mood with its sci-fi, retro-art aesthetic. Listen to some of the music and watch the video to see why the photography plays directly into the style of the band.

Set a mood
Photography doesn’t always have to be literal. It can merely set a mood. Getting the balance right can be difficult, but sometimes a pretty picture is just a pretty picture.

10. Cufflink Suite

Some products are just more exciting than others. And for the less-exciting ones, creative photography can make them seem more so. A website about cuff links might not seem to have much going for it. But when you land on Cufflink Suite, you get the feeling that you’re experiencing something exceptional. It is remarkable how the photograph completely changes your perception.

Go big
This photograph would not have nearly the same impact if it was small, in a nice little frame on a standard e-commerce page. Size and scale magically give a subject greater impact. I remember this from design school: when in doubt, make it bigger! (Except the logo.)

11. Handi Hikes

Handi Hikes uses big photographs to give context to its products. The market for travel guides is heavily saturated, but this company offers a personal touch by producing highly focused, highly functional hiking guides. The photographs in the background ensure that you understand what type of guides are for sale.

Provide context
The photographs here explain the context in which you would use these products. Consider how or where your product will be used. Photographs can serve as extensions of the product, communicating its purpose and benefits.

Conclusion

Photographs can serve many purposes in what information you communicate and how you communicate it. These websites put photographs in prominent places, making them the starting point for the conversation with visitors.

You can use photographs to set a mood, alter expectations, break a stereotype or communicate an entire theme. I love the radical approaches of these websites. They break photography out of its traditionally small container, making it the focal point of the design.

Written exclsuively for WDD by Patrick McNeil. Patrick is a freelance writer, developer and designer. In particular, he loves to write about web design, train people in web development and build websites. Patrick’s passion for web design trends and patterns can be found in his books on TheWebDesignersIdeaBook.com. Follow Patrick on Twitter @designmeltdown.

How do you use photography on your websites? Please share your thoughts below…

Never Ending WordPress Business Bundle – only $14!

Lomography is characterized by its inherent low-fi quality. Lomographic images often have strange light effects (caused by extra light leaking into the camera body and exposing the film in the original Lomo cameras), ultra-satured colors, blurring, vignetting, and other imperfections generally avoided in traditional photography.

The other main feature of real lomography is the spontaneous, spur-of-the-moment style of images produced.

These “imperfections” are what give lomography its unique look and style. As already mentioned, apps like Hipstamatic for the iPhone and Vignette for Android make it easy to achieve these effects without special equipment. For purists, the original cameras are less expensive than a traditional SLR, but getting film developed can be a challenge (if you don’t do it yourself) now that digital is the norm.

A Brief History of Lomography

The original lomography cameras were created by Russian state-owned LOMO (or Leningrad Optical & Mechanical Union) in St. Petersburg. They produced the first Russian camera in 1930. The LOMO LC-A Compact Automat camera was first produced in 1984, and became the centerpiece of the company’s activities.

Another company often considered to have a similar aesthetic is Holga, which is a common 120mm toy camera made in China. It produces the same kind of low-fidelity images that Lomo cameras are famous for, and sometimes the term lomo is used interchangeably to refer to either type of camera.

The term Lomography is a trademark of Lomographische AG, an Austrian company that caters to the global lomographic photography community. They are the exclusive distributors of the Lomo LC-A cameras outside of the Soviet Union. They also sell various accessories related to lomography, and publish a magazine about the subject.

Tutorials and Actions

If you don’t have a Lomo camera or one of the smartphone apps, there are easy Photoshop tutorials you can follow to create the same effects, as well as a handful of actions for even faster lomo processing.

Tutorial: How to Make Digital Photos Look Like Lomo Photography

This is a complex and in-depth tutorial from Digital Photography School, though it’s also easy to follow. The results are stunning.

Tutorial: Lomography

This simple tutorial shows how to create stunning lomography-style images in six easy steps.

Tutorial: Cross-Processed Lomo Effect – Photoshop Tutorial

This tutorial from Abduzeedo breaks down the lomography effect process in eight easy steps.

Tutorial: Lomography

Photoshop Box offers this great lomography effect tutorial with eight steps, resulting in a slightly washed-out final image.

Tutorial: Photoshop Lomo: A Beginner’s Guide

This tutorial from .net Magazine is very in-depth and gives a complete eighteen-step process for creating beautiful lomo effects.

Tutorial: Photoshop Tutorial: Getting that Great X-PRO Lomo Look

TutorialBlog offers this great lomo tutorial that includes plenty of keyboard shortcuts.

Action: 10 Photoshop Lomo Actions to Funky-Cool Your Photos

This set of ten Photoshop actions from ABDPBT Tech creates a variety of lomography-style effects quickly and easily. Actions are great for batch-processing a bunch of photos.

Action: Lomography Photoshop Action

This Photoshop action creates a number of adjustment layers that you can then tweak for each individual photo to get the best results.

Action: Free Stuff: Lomography Photoshop Action

This action, from The Blue Fishbowl, creates a simple lomo effect for CS2.

Action: Free Lomography Photoshop Action Pack

This action package is from PhotographyBB, and creates a number of adjustment layers including a vignette layer, sharpness layer, and curves layer, among others.

Examples

Fake Lomography

Image Credit: Joseph Ou

Lomography

Image Credit: Lukas Haider

Lomography

Image Credit: Cecilia Temperli

Lomography Diana F+ 35mmBack

Image Credit: Sasha, Harmony, Alex

Lomography

Image Credit: Lukas Haider

Lomography

Image Credit: Lukas Haider

Lomography

Image Credit: Ralf-Juergen

Lomography

Image Credit: Stuart

LOMOGRAPHY: Cadeau

Image Credit: Marc-Andre Martin

Lomography

Image Credit: Fabio Luiz C. de Mattos

Lomography – Amsterdam

Image Credit: Vinicius Fadul

Lomography Collaboration (Malaysia & United States)

Image Credit: en. shahdi

Lomography

Image Credit: Hannahgopa

FishEye 3

Image Credit: Alex Grechman

South Beach

Image Credit: Phillip Pessar

Spectra Vision!

Image Credit: Cameron Russell

Stalagtites from another Dimension

Image Credit: Cameron Russell

Palm Door

Image Credit: Cameron Russell

Lomo Dahlia

Image Credit: Tony Alter

Lomo

Image Credit: Niek Beck

Sky Corner

Image Credit: Cameron Russell

Rail

Image Credit: Fadhirul Fitri Jamsari

img160

Image Credit: Fadhirul Fitri Jamsari

Lomo Church of Christ in Three Oaks, Michigan

Image Credit: Kevin Dooley

Playing with Lomoapp

Image Credit: Thobias Vemmenby

P1290256

Image Credit: Elfie McGlip

P1270605

Image Credit: Elfie McGlip

Untitled

Image Credit: Audrey Stanton

photo.jpg

Image Credit: Pravin Premkumar

Bled

Image Credit: Juanma

Tchau Guara

Image Credit: Nadja Bium

MKE Lakefront

Image Credit: Jessica F.

We’re Trying to Reach the Sky

Image Credit: Thanakrit Gu

Bogenschussbahn und Wikingerlager

Image Credit: Christian Walther

Untitled

Image Credit: Marcos Mora

Nilgiris

Image Credit: Alosh Bennett

P1070161a

Image Credit: Andy Orin

image5

Image Credit: Elfie McGlip

Always on the Run

Image Credit: Carlos Varela

Cow Munching

Image Credit: allielovestea

Sun Lomo

Image Credit: Paul Carroll

Untitled

Image Credit: BIAU Guillaume

Science Infuse

Image Credit: BIAU Guillaume

Rainbow

Image Credit: BIAU Guillaume

Untitled

Image Credit: BIAU Guillaume

Death Valley Bottom

Image Credit: Paul Joseph

47590036

Image Credit: dimhap

47590011

Image Credit: dimhap

47590034

Image Credit: dimhap

photo.jpg

Image Credit: Pravin Premkumar

Written exclusively for WDD by Cameron Chapman.

Have your own take on the lomography movement? Or tips and tutorials you’d like to share? Let us know in the comments!

Never Ending WordPress Business Bundle – only $14!

The project featured on this post is called “Reflections” and was created for a new Novartis drug called the Exelon Patch.

The drug in question is a prescription medicine for the treatment of mild to moderate Alzheimer’s dementia.

The highly conceptual photographs shows an older person looking at the reflection of their younger self.

What do you think of these impressive photographs? Please share your views in the comments area.

This post was put together exclusively for WDD by Callum Chapman, the guy behind Picmix Store, a store that sells limited edition retro posters.

How do these strong images make you feel? Share your thoughts below…

Never Ending WordPress Business Bundle – only $14!

Gabriela has traveled worldwide; her work has always traveled with her and as a result has been exhibited in several countries.

This post features Gabriela’s most recent portrait project, featuring nineteen shots of nineteen different reasonably well known bloggers.

The photographer reads blogs, and reads a lot of them. This project was inspired by the digital age and the ways in which we spend our time. In dark corners, bloggers are adding value to and changing the way we as humans interact with the world.

The bloggers emerge from their corners in this project, showing their faces (along with their computers) to the world wide web.

Soraya Darabi from Foodspotting

Imran Khan from Letters To Romeo

Drew Grant from Crushable

Ruben Natal-San Miguel from Art Most Fierce

Julia Rappaport from Fork Lift

Sarah Dohrmann from Und You Vill Like It

Mike Hudack from Blip.tv

Robin Yang from Candystand

Rex Sorgatz from Fimoculous

Lilit Marcus from The Gloss

Richard Blakeley from Gawker

Daryl Lang from Breaking Copy

Manjari Sharma from Ishaara

Nick McGlynn from Random Night Out

Sheena Sood from Sheena Sood

Jennifer Wright from The Gloss

Caroline McCarthy from The Social

Charlie Fish from Wink

Rachel Hulin from A Photography Blog

This post was put together exclusively for WDD by Callum Chapman. Callum runs a store dedicated to poster prints called Picmix Store and is currently working on a design inspiration gallery.

What do you think of Gabriela Herman’s latest portrait project? Which shot featured here is your favorite?

Never Ending WordPress Business Bundle – only $14!

There isn’t just one photograph that made Annie such a popular photographer. She started her career working as a staff photographer for the Rolling Stones (magazine).

She was soon on tour with The Rolling Stones as their band photographer. Before long she was photographing celebrities and band members all over the world, and has been ever since.

In 2008, Annie started a series for Disney called Dream Portraits, featuring a series of celebrities and actors/actresses re-enacting a scene from various Disney movies.

In 2011, Annie and Disney have worked together again to add more photographs to the series. This post features both the original and new shots – all of which are amazing pieces of work and incredibly detailed…

Rachel Weisz as Snow White

Jessica Biel as Pocahontas

Roger Federer as King Arthur

Mikhail Baryshnikov as Peter Pan, Gisele Bündchen as Wendy and Tina Fey as Tinkerbell

David Beckham as Prince Phillip from Sleeping Beauty

Julie Andrews as the Blue Fairy from Pinocchio and Abigial Breslin as Fira from Disney Fairies

Jennifer Lopez as Jasmine and Marc Anthony as Aladdin

Beyonce as Alice, Lyle Lovett as the March Hare and Oliver Platt as the Mad Hatter

Whoopi Goldberg as the Genie

Jeff Bridges as The Beast, Penelope Cruz as Belle

Olivia Wilde as the Evil Queen and Alec Baldwin as the Spirit of the Mirror

Queen Latifah as Ursula (from The Little Mermaid)

Julianne Moore as Ariel (The Little Mermaid) and Michael Phelps as a random merman.

Scarlett Johansson as Cinderella

You can read more about Annie Leibovitz on Biography.com, or see more of her work at PopPhoto.com.

This post was put together exclusively for WDD by Callum Chapman. Callum is currently writing a book about (and called) Junior Design Jobs.

These photographs really bring the animated movies to life. How do they make you feel? What one is your favorite?

Never Ending WordPress Business Bundle – only $14!

His interest in the creative field all started from a kindergarten finger painting class, with his father encouraging him into the field of photography at an early age.

In one of Todd’s newest projects, he disassembles various items such as a Pentax Camera and a Suffolk Lawnmower (among plenty of other things), rearranges the pieces into a neat presentation and then photographs them.

The high amount of detail and thought put into the work makes the project very inspiring and a joy to look at. You’ll probably find yourself looking at each piece and figuring out where it came from or how it makes the disassembled item work.

You can see more of Todd’s work in his portfolio, or at Sugino Studio, a Canadian based studio which represents Todd.

This post was put together exclusively for WDD by Callum Chapman. If you like posters/prints, you should check out Picmix Store, a store dedicated to selling exclusive prints.

Did you find yourself wondering how the mechanics of each product work? Which was your favorite piece?

Never Ending WordPress Business Bundle – only $14!

This project, titled Back To The Future features a collection of her photographs of individuals and groups of people reenacting a photograph that was taken in the past (usually many years ago).

The result is somewhat beautiful. You can tell just from one photo that a lot of work has been put into research, locations and props for each and every shoot – even time and money has been put towards finding the same (or similar) object in the background, such as wallpaper or curtains.

Irina Werning is a photographer from Buenos Aires, Argentina. If you like her unique style of portrait photography, be sure to check out her portfolio.

This post was put together exclusively for WDD by Callum Chapman, the man behind Picmix Store and Circlebox Blog.

How do the photos in this project make you feel? From the use of photography and editing techniques, can we create a false sense of – or lack of – time?

Never Ending WordPress Business Bundle – only $14!

It’s a fantastic resource when looking for inspiration, but it can get a little overwhelming. After all, you can’t exactly browse a few million photos in an afternoon, right?

Flickr Groups can be a great solution to photo-overload. There are groups for virtually every subject under the sun, and for photographers of all skill levels.

Some groups focus on the artistic merit of the photo itself, while others focus more on the content of the image than the composition.

In either case, the groups below are sure to inspire you. We’ve even included similar groups for most of them, to offer more variety.

LOMO

Lomo photography is a fantastic source of inspiration. It’s not quite abstract, but it gives us a different way to look at common things. Lomo photos often have unique lighting and color effects, turning even the most basic subjects into works of art. The group currently has 175,000 photos.

Some related groups include Lomo of Fauxmo?, Lomo Kompakt Automat [LC-A], Holga Chic, and Holga.

Abstract/Surreal/Strange795

Abstract images can be a great way to get inspired. After all, our brains will often interpret them in a way that’s unique to each person. The feeling one person gets from an image may be completely different from the feeling someone else gets. This makes them perfect sources for inspiration, as it’s unlikely anyone would link the original image to the final project. The Abstract/Surreal/Strange795 pool has a ton of great abstract and surreal pics.

Similar groups include Abstract Photos, 1-2-3 Abstract Architecture, Technicolour Abstract Art, and Abstract Reality.

Female Self-Portrait Artists’ Support Group

There’s an art to self-portraits that isn’t often apparent to the casual observer. This group for female self-portrait artists has a ton of inventive and creative self-portraits to inspire you. It’s amazing the amount of personality that can be revealed in a self-portrait if you look closely at the composition and overall feel of the image. Try to capture the same in your own projects.

Some similar groups include Bare Essentials (Self Portraits Only) Just B.E., Uniquely Post-Processed Self-Portraits, and Turning the Lens on Flickr.

The Portrait Group

Taking portraits of others is a different animal than taking self-portraits. Given the number of people who dislike having their photos taken, portrait photographers have to be part psychologist and part motivational speaker, on top of being a photographer. So good portraits are a fantastic source of inspiration and can really shed light on the subject and their personality.

Similar groups include The Flickr Portrait Gallery, Portraits in Africa, Interesting Portraits, and Unreal Portraits.

Art in Black and White

Removing color from an image places the emphasis on the composition of the photo and lets our mind focus on shapes and content. This is why black and white photography can be such a great source of inspiration, especially if you already know what your color scheme for a project will be.

Similar groups include Black and White, Quebec Black&White, Black and White HDR, and I Love Black and White!

World’s Most Stunning Shots

If you’re looking for beautiful images, the World’s Most Stunning Shots is a great place to start. The photos here are just what the name suggests: stunning. They include subjects of all kinds, from nature to architecture to macro images. Currently, there are more than 7,000 images included.

Similar groups include Stunning Shots, Stunning Planet Earth, and Stunning Nature.

Folk & Outsider Art

The Folk & Outsider Art group is a great place to go if you want to check out artwork from around the world. The images posted cover everything from paintings to sculpture to handicrafts.

Similar groups include Folk Art and Art You Wear.

Vintage Advertising

Vintage ads can provide a fascinating glimpse into how life was lived twenty, forty, even a hundred years ago. The products, as well as the way they were pitched to consumers, offer an idea of not only what was popular at the time, but also what values people held dear. It’s because of their ability to let us see things through a different set of eyes that vintage ads make such great inspiration.

Some related groups include Retro/Vintage Magazines – Ads/Fashion, My Favorite Ads – Vintage Only, Beer and Booze: A Damn Fine Product [Vintage], and Vintage Car Ads (up to 1979).

Minimalist Landscapes: Take the Long View!

Too often when looking for minimalist inspiration, we turn to other minimalist art forms. We overlook the fact that the world around us can have just as much inspiration for minimalist designs as it does for “busier” designs. The Minimalist Landscapes group is filled with simple, spare landscape photos from around the world to inspire you.

Similar groups include Minimalist Race, Minimalist Art, Minimalist Nature, and Minimalist Perfection.

Markets of the World

Open-air markets are common in many countries around the world. Historically, markets were not only a place to buy and sell goods, but also a place to socialize, catch up on the latest news (and gossip), and meet new people. Markets are often a great representation of the culture in which they take place. They’re also often filled with sites and sounds that could inspire anyone. The Markets of the World group showcases photographs of markets, as well as their products and people, from the far corners of the globe.

Geographic Photosets (Traveling the World)

Looking at photos of places we’ve never been before and imagining what they might be like is a great way to feel more creative. And looking at beautiful places for a few minutes (or an hour or two) before you get started on a project will certainly influence the way you design. The Geographic Photosets group has some of the most striking travel photos on Flickr.

Some groups with similar images include Intelligent Travel – National Geographic Traveler’s Blog, Travel Photojournalism, The World of Travel, and Lets Travel Together.

Macro Awards

This group showcases some of the best macro photographs on Flickr. There’s everything from insects and plants to man-made objects included, and the super-close-up view gives a different perspective on things.

Other groups featuring macro photography include Macro Household, Macro Mondays, Macro World, Flower Petal Macro … Petal Art, and Closer and Closer Macro Photography.

A Natural Landscapes Photo Group

This group focuses on natural landscape photos. Everything from mountains to seascapes are featured, often with absolutely phenomenal color palettes and composition.

Similar groups include Paisajes del Mundo/World Landscapes, Clouds, Natures Beauties, The Nature Conservancy, and Beautiful Scenery.

Artshow

The Artshow group is an invite-only group that features the work of contemporary artists, including digital artists, painters, and artistic photographers. There’s no restriction on subject matter, so the images show a ton of diversity in that respect.

Damn! I Wish I’d Taken That!!!

This group posts fantastic photos of just about anything. The one thing they all have in common is that they’re outstanding, in terms of composition, color, subject, and/or lighting.

The Unforgettable Pictures

Here’s another invite-only group that focuses on quality rather than theme. The images included here all have artistic merit. You’re sure to find at least one to inspire your next project. There are also some photo-manipulations included in the group.

Shades of Inspiration

This group seems to place an emphasis on soft colors within images, and especially on pics with mostly monochromatic color schemes. It’s a great source of inspiration if you’re looking for color scheme ideas, and the limited color palettes in most of the images put the emphasis on shape and composition.

Other groups that place an emphasis on color include Flickr in Full Color, Flowers & Colors, Two Colors Dos Colores, It’s Multi-Colored!!!, and Color My World Daily.

The Inspiration Tree

The photos collected in The Inspiration Tree group are specifically chosen for their ability to inspire. They’re all beautiful, with interesting compositions and subject matter.

Web Design

Of course there’s a Web Design group on Flickr. This group showcases screenshots and design materials from across the web. It’s a great alternative to more traditional web design galleries.

Groups with similar content include Editorial Design, Design : Diseno Web / Grafico / Illustracion, and Web Design Edge.

International Graphic Design

This group showcases great graphic designs from all over the world. A variety of disciplines are featured, from posters to stationary to typography.

Graphic Design Magazines

This group displays layouts from a variety of graphic design magazines, showcases some of the best magazine design out there. It’s a great source for both layout and practical typography inspiration. Also featured are individual elements for use within layouts.

Graphic Design & Art Direction

Here’s another great group that showcases fantastic graphic design, with a special emphasis on more artistic examples.

Seattle Streetart / Graffiti / Stickers / Posters

This group showcases some of the best streetart from around Seattle, as well as posters and stickers found around the city. Streetart can be fantastically artistic and inspiring in terms of both composition and color choices.

Similar groups include Athens Street Art, Street Art in Japan, Montreal Street Art, Street Art London, and Los Angeles Street Art.

Poster Design

This group features more than 25,000 examples of exceptional poster design. It features both commercial and creative posters, as well as a ton of indie posters.

Similar groups include Polish Posters aka Posters from Poland, Movie Poster Art, Posters – Poster Designs, and Gig Posters.

Experimental Typography

This group focuses on typography that stretches the limits of good design to create something new and fresh. It also includes images that create lettering through unconventional means.

Typography *

This group showcases some of the best typography out there, from signage to promotional materials to artwork. It’s a fantastic resource for seeing how type is used across mediums.

Similar groups featuring typography include Japanese Typography, Typophile, Design & Typography, and Graphic Design & Typography.

Fashion Editorial Photography (Critique)

Critique groups present an interesting opportunity for inspiration, as you can immediately get input on what works about an image and what doesn’t. This group presents editorial fashion photography from around the world. Beyond just the photos, the clothes themselves can also serve as excellent inspiration.

Groups with similar content include Street Fashion – Worldwide, Fashion Photography Award, Fashion & Style, and Fashion Photography Critique.

Craft Revolution

This group focuses on content rather than the merit of the photos themselves. It includes more than 115,000 photos of handmade craft items, spanning everything from dolls to clothes to jewelry and everything in between. It’s a great source for inspiration, especially if you’re working on a project that you want to have a more organic feel.

Similar groups include CRAFT, The Arts & Crafts Cooperative, Crafting 365, and Hand Made Craft.

10 Million Photos

If you can’t find inspiration in any of the above, check out this group. Their only goal is to get to 10 million images (they’re already up over 7 million). Images don’t have to have any artistic merit, and a lot of them don’t. But there are some gems in there, if you look hard enough.

Written exclusively for WDD by Cameron Chapman.

If you know of any other Flickr groups that are great for inspiration, please share them in the comments!

Never Ending WordPress Business Bundle – only $14!