Ribbons of color swirl and unfurl in stunning, kinetic formations that call to mind coral and other flora and fauna on the ocean floor. Italian photographer Alberto Seveso drops complimentary shades of ink into water and captures the resulting swirls using high-speed photography techniques.

The colors wrap and mix into each other in sensuous interactions that call to mind alien landscapes in this series by Seveso, entitled ‘A Due Colori’.

Seveso is also known for his series called ‘Ink Riders’, in which a Lego man catches pale blue ink waves.

See more of Alberto Seveso’s work at Behance.

Have you ever looked at a scratched, worn-down frying pan and thought, ‘hey, that looks like a planet’? Artist Christopher Jonassen did, and the photos that he has taken are surprisingly celestial.

In a series called ‘Devour’, the Norway-based photographer gives these everyday domestic tools, which are not exactly known for beauty or glamour, an air of mystery. They do look surprisingly otherworldly, the scratches from utensils and too-tough cleaning methods translating into the texture that we see on images of planets taken from satellites.

The only commentary Jonassen includes with the series is a quote from French writer Jean-Paul Sartre: “To eat is to appropriate by destruction.” See more of Jonassen’s work at ChristopherJonassen.com.

Streaks of light, trailing stars, smoothly swirling water, surreal color gradients and stretched wisps of cloud – all of these effects are possible using a long-duration shutter speed when taking a photograph. Long exposures are created by placing the camera on a tripod and leaving the camera’s shutter open for an extended period of time, which captures the stationary elements of the scene in sharp detail but blurs the elements that move.

STATIC by Maxxsmart

(image via: maxxsmart)

San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge is nearly swallowed up by incoming fog in this incredible long exposure shot captured by Flickr user ‘maxxsmart’, who says, “Though I had a chance to see about 10 strikes throughout the bay, this is the only image I came away with that featured the bridge, fog, lightning, and the bright glow of the moon. There is no digital trickery here…. What you see is what it was. The long exposure enabled me to capture two strikes, and the moon lit the fog blanket perfectly.”

Casa Loma by Paul Bica

(image via: paul dex)

The combination of infrared photography and a long expsure turned Toronto’s Casa Loma into an eerie sight in this daytime shot by Paul Bica.

Kundalini Bonfire by Dennis Calvert

(image via: dennis calvert)

Incredibly surreal, this long exposure photograph by Dennis Calvert also features a technique known a ‘light painting‘, in which artificial light is moved around in the scene during the exposure. An electrical wire taped to a stick, plus a flashlight, achieved this effect – without the need for any digital trickery.

Elakala Waterfalls Swirling Pool

(image via: wikimedia commons)

Water is a common subject for long-exposure photos because leaving the shutter open for a few seconds or even a few minutes highlights the water’s movement, giving it a misty quality. This 30-second shot blurred the waterfall in the background and captured an interesting spinning effect in the foreground as debris made lazy circles in a pool.

Dune Blazers by Alisdair Miller

(image via: 1x.com)

“This was shot just outside Dubai where people gather at the weekend and race up and down this massive dune named ‘Big Red'”, says photographer Alisdair Miller.

Traveling Stars by Dhilung Kirat

(images via: thedreamsky)

A long exposure can capture the movement of the stars in the sky, such as in this photograph of Kalinchowk in Nepal. Photographer Dhilung Kirat used light painting to make it seem as if the tower in the foreground is the source of the light.

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeel! by Guillame Vigoreaux

(image via: 1x.com)

A ferris wheel at a carnival becomes an abstracted shape in this long exposure photograph by Guillame Vigoreaux.

A Haunted Trail by Joshua Debner

(image via: jdebner)

The combination of clouds and stars moving across the sky, placed behind an abandoned home, make this photo by Joshua Debner extra-eerie. “This is around a 30 minute exposure stacked with 1 minute exposures. As you can see it was a little bit of a foggy/cloudy day, but I think it helped make the photo interesting.”

You’re My Boy Blue by Geraint Rowland

(image via: geezaweeza)

Another example of light painting achieves a memorable result with a long exposure and the movement of a flashlight around the scene.

Moonlight Shadow by Paul Bica

(image via: paul dex)

Paul Bica captures wispy-looking clouds as they move across the sky over the North Pacific at Kawailoa Beach in Hawaii.

Pigeon Point Lighthouse by Tyler Westcott

(image via: tylerwestcott.com)

The annual lighting of the Pigeon Point Lighthouse near San Francisco, California was augmented by a particularly foggy night. The individual beams of light cast from the lens stand out clearly in this two-minute exposure by Tyler Westcott.

Niagara Falls by John Ryan

(image via: insight imaging/john ryan)

“I am always looking for ways to shoot something different,” says photographer John Ryan, who took this shot of Niagara Falls.  “I had seen so many shots of the falls from the same location, and all were pretty much the same. So going out at 2am, and catching the falls with no light, and pushing a 30sec exposure ending with the result.”

Fira by Night by Ben Heine

(image via: ben heine)

Though slightly digitally altered, this photograph gets most of its ambiance from a long exposure. The city of Fira, which is the capital of the Greek Aegean island Santorini, clings to the volcanic cliffs as stars twinkle in the background.

Fun in Amsterdam by Josef Stuefer

(image via: josef stuefer)

Clearly, carnivals – with their many moving, illuminated attractions – are an ideal subject for long-exposure photography. This one turns a ferris wheel in Amsterdam into an abstract starburst.

Bursting by Julie_Berlin

(image via: julie_berlin)

Colorful fireworks soaring into the sky become long trails of light in this award-winning photo by Flickr user Julie_Berlin.

S-Bend (II) by Te-Wei Liu

(image via: fjny)

Headlights and taillights are drawn out on a serpentine road, captured in Taiwan by Te-Wei Liu.

Untitled by Viernest

(image via: ernest)

An ordinary road suddenly seems like a futuristic Tron-like landscape when photographed in a long exposure from a moving vehicle.

Exploding Christmas Tree by Hartebeest Photography

(image via: hartebeest photography)

It takes a moment to realize that this strange image is actually that of lights on a Christmas tree.

How do you make a full-sized commercial airplane look like a toy, or give the illusion that your human subject is touching a cloud? Photoshop is an easy answer, but a much more low-tech method produces results that are just as amazing: forced perspective photography. Just as in filmmaking when miniatures convincingly stand in for buildings, landscapes or fantastical creatures, the trick is all in positioning, lighting and timing.

The Old Tower of Pisa Trick

(image via: martyportier)

Everyone is familiar with this iteration of the forced-perspective photography trick: pretending to hold up the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It’s all about where you place your subject in relation to the background. At least this photographer took a different tack, giving his model a ‘relaxed’ pose.

Pluck a Sphere of Light

(image via: mr. moog)

Take that same idea and apply it in a new way and you’ve got the kind of photo that makes you look twice. To achieve this effect, photographer Lee ‘Mr. Moog’ used shallow focus and allowed the lens of his camera to render out-of-focus points of lights as little floating spheres.

Mind Your Step

(image via: maybemaq)

Is that the foot of a giant descending from the sky to crush a priceless historical site into bits of gravel? From this angle, it sure looks like it.

The Scariest Watering Can Ever

(image via: froodmat)

When a watering can is big enough to suck you up into its spout, you’d better run.

Blowing in the Wind

(image via: jeppe olsen)

Photographer Jeppe Olsen took a whole set of forced perspective photos out in the Salar de Uyuni salt flats in Bolivia, which provide a minimalist background ideal for deceptive shots like this one, making both the foreground and background subjects stand out equally.

Fixing the Washington Monument

(image via: mjsmith01)

What kind of monstrous crane would be required to pluck the Washington Monument right out of the ground? The silhouetted crane and illumination of the monument make this photo even more effective.

Miniature Woman

(image via: alexandre duarte)

Forced perspective photography takes more than just selective focus or using the blur/sharpen tool in Photoshop. Clever positioning and light are also crucial elements in a successful photograph.

Tiny Plane Crash

(image via: maybemaq)

In some cases – like this one – timing is everything. No special effects or Photoshop necessary.

Hold On Tight!

(image via: emikw)

One of the famed natural formations in Arches National Park, Utah is in the palm of this photographer’s hand when sharp focus is maintained on the entire image.

Giant Jesus and the Toy Plane

(image via: david leeth)

Even 900-foot-tall stone Jesus gets bored sometimes, so having a toy plane to play with is a plus.

Toy Cars, or Giant Man?

(image via: erkannix)

This is definitely one of those photos that make you go, “what?” It’s hard to tell exactly how the photographer achieved this effect, but according to his Flickr, there was no Photoshop involved.

Please Don’t Fall, Cloud

(image via: p0rg)

The artist says “I kept messing it up and not aligning myself ( I was using tripod & self timer) and did it about 10 or so times. When I was happy with the result, I turned and saw that an old man walking his dog had stopped to watch my bizarre antics. He smiled and walked off. I must have looked completely mad because he was not in line with the cloud, so he would have seen my press my camera, run like a madman to the same spot 10 times and preform a melodramatic pray to god.”

Hanging Out

(image via: laura deangelis)

“Three years ago, I picked this guy up, put him in my pocket and claimed him as my own,” says photographer Laura DeAngelis.

Splitting Headache

(image via: the moronic inferno)

Believe it or not, this photo wasn’t staged. Photographer Dave Brownlee calls it ‘serendipity’ that the heads and bodies of four separate people just happened to line up so well.

Puzzling Place, Indeed

(image via: richard heeks)

In this case, it’s the location that’s providing the illusion, not a trick of photography. The Puzzle Museum in Keswick, England contains an oddly-shaped room with a sloping ceiling, walls and floor so that from a certain vantage point, turning one person into a terrifying giant.