Photos: Camera makers bring niches into focus | ZDNet Photo Gallery
With hundreds of models on the market, it can be tough to get your digital camera to stand out–heck, it can even be hard not to be overwhelmed by the 28 models Canon sells right now. One strategy employed by mainstream manufacturers and smaller rivals: specialize.
Category: Photography
Galaxy ‘Hunting’ Made Easy
ESO 40/07 – Galaxy ‘Hunting’ Made Easy
Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope have discovered in a single pass about a dozen otherwise invisible galaxies halfway across the Universe. The discovery, based on a technique that exploits a first-class instrument, represents a major breakthrough in the field of galaxy ‘hunting’.
There are estimated to be hundreds of billions of galaxies in the universe, but only about a dozen that sit in front of quasars have been detected at such a distance from Earth. The latest finds have doubled this tally.
Light from the newly found galaxies comes from the time the universe was about 6 billion years old, less than half its current age. By studying the light, the researchers have determined they are starburst galaxies that form lots of new stars — the equivalent of 20 suns a year.
Greek Fires View From Space
The extent of the unprecedented fires raging in Greece is evident from this picture from NASA’s Aqua satellite. Click on the picture to enlarge. 
Visible Earth: The Blue Marble
Visible Earth: The Blue Marble
This spectacular “blue marble” image is the most detailed true-color image of the entire Earth to date. Using a collection of satellite-based observations, scientists and visualizers stitched together months of observations of the land surface, oceans, sea ice, and clouds into a seamless, true-color mosaic of every square kilometer (.386 square mile) of our planet. Click on the image for more and click for More details and views.
What the World Eats
What the World Eats | Photo Essays | TIME
What’s on family dinner tables in fifteen different homes around the globe? Photographs by Peter Menzel from the book “Hungry Planet”. Slide Show with what looks like a week’s worth of groceries spread out in the kitchen of the family in each of the 15 pictures.
500 Years of Women’s Portraits
This 3 minute video morphs together the 500 year progression of Western Female portraits while Segovia plays Bach. Thanks to Chad Brisbane – he’s so cultured. They should have elected him NY State Senator.
Photo: Green Flash – Virgin Islands
Virgin Islands, Virgin Islands Newspaper,
Daily News photographer Sean McCoy recently shot a series of images, taken from a West End beach on St. Croix as the sun was setting, and chanced to catch the phenomenon – a momentary flash of green that occurs just as the sun slips below the horizon.
More Green Flash Photos.
Breaking the Sound Barrier
Wilk4: Breaking the Sound Barrier
Here are some fascinating (for some people anyway) photos and a video of interesting condensation clouds that form around jets as they fly at or near the speed of sound, (often called “going through the sound barrier” or “accelerating past the speed of sound”). Under the right conditions, they sometimes cause a vapor cone effect.
Deer-eating Alligator
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service —
The photographs of this deer-eating alligator were taken from the air by Terri Jenkins, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service District Fire Management Officer. She was preparing to ignite a prescribed fire at Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge, about 40 miles south of Savannah, Georgia, on March 4, 2004. (Thanks to Bob Bopp for Snopes.com on this one that has circulated around the net).
Storms
more pictures at StormsA compilation of pictures from Storm Chaser Mike Hollingshead’s web-site.