(Pocket-lint) – There’s no denying that Photoshop can help create some pretty spectacular imagery. However, it can often be overused for image manipulation, sometimes spoiling the natural beauty of a photo and masking a photographers talents.
The world is full of wonderful sights that can be breathtaking even without the use of editing software.
We’ve found a selection of amazing photos of you to enjoy, and none of them have been manipulated to add or remove elements through software.
Contrast and brightness might have been tweaked, but everything in these shots was present at the time they were taken.
The Universe in radio-frequency
In October 2016, the high-resolution Galactic and Extragalactic All-sky Murchison Widefield Array (GLEAM) project unveiled this image of the most accurate radio-survey of the Universe. Striking through the middle is the Milky Way which includes over 300,000 stars alone.
Sultan the Pit Pony
Sultan the Pit Pony is a 200 metre sculptural earthwork by Mick Petts in Caerphilly, South Wales. This aerial photograph of it was submitted to the Royal Geographical Society by Jonathan Webb for the “Britain from the Air” exhibition.
The sculpture itself was created as an homage to the beloved pit ponies who hauled containers of coal from the mines over the years. Now it also acts as a windbreaker for events in the arena nearby.
Hot water in Antarctica
Thanks to the laws of physics (and the so-called Mpemba effect) warm water freezes faster than cold water. This effect can be seen in action in this photo taken in Antarctica of someone throwing hot water into the air and seeing it instantly freeze.
You can also see various videos of these phenomenon occurring on YouTube.
The Overflowing Glory Hole at Lake Berryessa
Lake Berryessa has a man-made drain 72 feet in diameter which helps filter off excess water when the lake’s water level gets too high. Known as the “Glory Hole”, this structure leads to a 200-foot drop down a straight pipe. It is rarely in operation but was captured flowing recently by a drone flying overhead.
This was the first time it had been seen in operation since 2006.
South Africa at night
Submitted to the Sony World Photography Awards in 2013, this photo by Florian Breuer made it to the open shortlist and shows an impressive night’s sky over southern Africa.
A reflection of London
Another entry into the Sony World Photography Awards, this photo by Fabricio Pretti shows a reflection of London on the waters of the River Thames.
Intricate honeycomb
A delicious, delicate and intricately constructed honeycomb structure. This vision of beauty was apparently caused by the beekeeper not putting the frames into the hive and the bees were left to freely create this honeycomb structure. Nature at its finest.
Lavender and wheat side-by-side
Taken in the fields of Valensole, Southern France, this photo shows fields of lavender and wheat side-by-side.
The farmer responsible for that land might regret his mistake in missing out on the opportunity to sell his lavender as gluten free!
The Magdeburg Water Bridge
Your eyes do not deceive you, this is not an optical illusion, it’s the Magedeburg Water Bridge in Germany. The largest canal underbridge in Europe, it spans the river Eibe and connects canals so ships can pass between the Rhineland and Berlin with ease.
Another impressive feat of German engineering and a marvel of modern waterways.
A close-up of Velcro
One of the most popular fastening materials among children’s clothes manufacturers, Velcro is loved by parents across the world. But what does it look like up close? Now we know.
A reflection of the sky
A submission to the 35PHOTO annual photo competition in 2016 by Mikhailov Andrey sees a reflection of the sky and clouds above a still water and gives the impression of a portal to another world.
Falcon 9 CRS-9
John Kraus took this long-exposure shot of the Falcon 9 CRS-9 launch in 2016, capturing the rocket launching up and through the clouds. A fantastic photo taken around 20 miles from the Launchpad.
What lies beneath
This part-submerged photograph by Ric Du Boisson shows what an iceberg looks like underneath the water. The massive chunk of ice easily dwarfs a 3,000-tonne ship sitting nearby.
Devil’s Bridge Germany
The Rakotzbrücke Devil’s Bridge in Kromlau Germany is a 19th Century stone bridge with a wonderful arch that forms a perfect circle in its reflection below when the waters are calm.
There are many brilliant photos of the bridge but none match the fantastic history that dates back to 1860 when the bridge was commissioned by a local Knight. Alas, crossing the bridge is now forbidden in order to preserve its structure, but at least we can still admire its beauty and marvel at its construction.
Lightning strikes over New York
Mother Nature works her magic again as this photograph captures multiple lightning strikes hitting at the same time across the Hudson river in New York. One of the impacts is said to have split a tree clean in half.
TOW missile being launched
A US Marine photography competition chose this photo by Cpl. Jacob Johnson of his team firing a TOW missile from a M-41 Saber weapon system during training in the deserts of Kuwait in 2012. That’s approximately $59,000 of missile being fired, captured in a single photo.
A Night at Deadvlei
Beth McCarley submitted this photo to the National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest in 2016. The moon was bright enough to light up the sand dunes but still dark enough to see the stars of the Milky Way. Standing proud in the middle of the photo is a camelthorn tree, believed to be 900 years old. It’s long dead but kept from decomposing by the harsh surrounding environment.
A matter of perspective
Although this one might well look like it’s been edited, it is in fact a single photo, taken from just the right angle. Goes to show a good photograph is all just a matter of perspective.
The rebellious sunflower
Not one to conform to the norm, this solitary sunflower refuses to face in the same direction as its comrades.
The tree with glowing roots
Although not Photoshopped, a painstaking amount of effort still went into this photograph as leaves of varying shades were meticulously arranged at the base of the tree to give the illusion of glowing roots.
A hole in the heavens
Another image that hasn’t been manipulated looks like it could easily be God’s footprint or a hole to the heavens, but it is just a rare cloud formation and rainbow in the skies above Victoria Australia.
The underneath of a wave
From the shores of Hawaii (where else?) comes this photograph of the underside of a magnificent wave breaking on the beach.
This is one of a series of photos by Clark Little who has turned wave photography into a masterful art form.
A work of art in an album cover
For VLP’s “Terrain” album cover, Bela Borsodi was commissioned to create this work of art from one single image. With an OCD level of attention to detail the photographer managed to break nearly all the rules for avoiding tangents with magnificent results.
The resulting photograph is painful, confusing and marvellous.
Stuttgart library
Almost a perfect testament to the quality of German engineering and workmanship, the Stuttgart library (Stadtbibliothek Stuttgart) is a pleasure to behold. It’s probably a nightmare to keep clean though.
A front grill of a jeep cast in ice
From one of the chillier parts of America comes this left-over ice cast of a truck that had previously been parked here. Impressively left intact after the vehicle departed, you’d be forgiven for thinking the photo had been manipulated in some way.
Lunar Earthrise
In 2015, NASA released this photo from its Luna Reconnaissance Orbiter showing the Earth rising over the horizon of the Moon.
Though not Photoshopped in the traditional sense, it was technically composed from a series of photos taken at 83 miles above the moon’s farside crater “Compton” using the Orbiter’s high-resolution narrow-angle camera.
The perfectly timed wave
This photo was clearly contrived, you can see the sandbank they built behind the woman to create the effect, but it’s still an impressive feat and a splendid snap.
The giant dice
This giant dice washed up on the shore of Lake Coeur d’Alene in Northern Idaho and had the locals baffled. It certainly made for a good photograph.
Ash covered temple in Japan
In 2014 Mount Ontake erupted spewing ash and sulphur across the surrounding area. Rescue workers were captured on camera making their way through an ash-covered temple to rescue hikers and tourists trapped on the mountain.
Although a sad scene because several people died, it certainly made for an interesting photograph and gives the impression of a colourised black and white image.
Laguna Colorada from space
In 2015, NASA released a series of photographs taken by astronauts from the point of view of the International Space Station. One of these photos included one of Laguna Colorada, part of the Bolivian Andes Mountains.
At the time, the lake had a rich red-brown colour caused by algae thriving in its salty waters but is said to change colour depending on the salinity and temperature of the waters.
Is this what a wave on the red sea looks like?
This image was captured in Australia in 2013. On relatively calm waters, a tall red wave threatens to soon engulf the boat and the lowly photographer. The calm water’s surface does not correspond to the incoming wave – that’s because it’s an inbound dust storm.
A Cuban emerald hummingbird
Each year the British Ecological Society runs a photography competition. As you can imagine, the quality of entries is very high and no doubt choosing a winner is tough. This photograph by the ironically-named David J. Bird shows a hummingbird in motion and was chosen as the 2016 winner.
Considering the hummingbird beats its wings somewhere between 10 and 15 times per second, it must have been some impressive shutter work to get this shot.
Near perfect village symmetry
This village in China boasts almost perfect symmetry to the plots and layout of the houses. Almost looks too perfect to be real, but it is.
Milky Way above the clouds ocean
A shortlisted finalist in the International Images for Science competition 2016, this photograph of the Milky Way above the Himalayan mountains in Nepal was submitted to the Royal Photographic Society by Yevhen Samuchenko.
A vast expanse of stars sits atop an ocean of cloud cover apparently covering the Earth below.
The fire tornado
As if having your house on fire isn’t bad enough, then a tornado apparently gets involved too. The attending firefighters are trying their best, but there’s not much left of this poor domicile.
Fire tornados are a naturally occurring phenomenon caused by strong winds whipping the fire into a frenzy.
The Slow Mo Guys have an interesting video showing it in action.
A satisfying line of wine glasses
Someone did an incredible job lining up these wine glasses. Study the photo for too long and it looks like some sort of inception.
The painted trees
In 2010, a man-made disaster occurred in Hungary that saw 261 million gallons of sludge burst forth from a reservoir where it was held as a by-product of aluminium extraction. The “red mud disaster” as it was called, left 10 people dead and 150 injured. It also resulted in a stain on the surrounding environment.
The local town of Devecser has since become a haven of sustainable energy and is pushing towards waste-to-energy systems to help reshape the area with green energy and produce. Which goes to show that good things can come from bad.
Macro snowflakes
Russian photographer Alexey Kljatov took an old camera, a macro lens and a DIY camera rig to take some highly impressive macro shots of snowflakes. The resulting images seem almost too perfect to be real.
Motorbike on the water
In 2015, Robbie Maddison, multiple world record holder and motocross athlete, teamed up with DC Shoes to achieve an impossible dream – to ride his dirtbike across open waters.
The end result was a series of impressive photographs and a great advertising campaign.
The angry sea monkey
You might be forgiven for thinking that someone had angered the giant monkey that dwells under the waves with this photo, but it’s simply the angry waves captured crashing at Lake Erie in Northeast America.
Dave Sandford, a professional sports photographer by trade, captured this and a series of other photographs after spending up to six hours a day shooting the wakes of the lake over a four week period.
The swollen stone house
Although this might look like something that’s been badly photoshopped, this house is actually a real home in Nas montanhas de Fafe, Portugal. Known as “Casa do Penendo“, it is an architectural monument that was constructed in 1972.
God’s USB cables
This massive mess of what looks like USB cables is actually an aerial photograph taken straight from Google Maps showing Waubra, Australia and a windfarm under construction. The USB ends are in fact the connectors where the wind turbines will soon be attached.
Sunshine halo
This brilliantly timed and incredibly well-framed photo captures an amazing beam of light striking through the clouds.
An elephant in the water
You have to look twice at this one, but when you do you’ll see a really awesomely timed vision. As buckets of water are loosed through the air over this bathing elephant, another one appears in the water in the air too.
A rolling sunset
Another amazing view lovingly crafted by nature itself. A fantastic sunset appears to be rolling in across the bay covering both the water and the sky in an orangey/red hue.
A frozen landscape
This image shows a winter wonderland, with a sky hidden by thick unbroken clouds. It looks almost like a ceiling made out of cotton wool.
A pooch on fire
This dog has been covered colourful powder and let loose in a park. The result is a photo that seems to show a dog on fire but is actually just a happy pooch getting some playtime.
A watery question
Another moment of perfect timing as a spurt of water from a drinking fountain forms an almost perfect question mark in the air. We love that the lighting on this one also casts a brilliant shadow on the wall behind too.
Falling time
This image of a clocking falling off the wall and taking the surrounding wallpaper with it is almost too perfect. It looks like it’s been working its way down the wall for quite some time and yet is being held there, prevented from smashing to the ground by a nice cup of paper.
A storm destroyed landscape
This aerial photograph from Germany shows the aftermath of a storm. Trees have been knocked down at the side of the road. Lucky they didn’t fall onto the tarmac but the result is pretty awesome.
A burnt electrical pole
The aftermath of the wildfires in the Pacific North West of the US in 2020 were captured here on camera.
An electrical pole seems to have been cloned out of the image using Photoshop, but in reality, it was burnt into this gravity-defying position.
Frosty
Here in England, we like to complain about the weather and yet enjoy it when we have a white Christmas.
In Michigan, things are a bit different and when the temperatures can get as low as minus 46 degrees centigrade things get a bit frosty. This is a real photo fo the results. A snap of the pier at Lake Michigan, covered in ice, Quite a view.
Ice wool
This weird and wonderful looking material looks like something that’s been crafted in a computer simulation.
It’s actually ice wool, also known as hair ice. it’s a thin, fine and silky looking ice that forms around dead wood in various locations around the world.
Bushy
Ever wondered what the inside of a bush looks like? Well, wonder no more as this cut through image shows you what they look like. At first glance, it doesn’t look real, but it’s marvellous.
A weirdly snow covered phone booth
From the streets of Hokkaido, Northern Japan comes this awesome photo of a phonebooth partially covered from a snowstorm to the point that it looks like a snowy hat.
Ghost peacock
This one certainly looks like some clever Photoshop work. Here our lucky photographer managed to snap an image of an albino peacock flying over a standard one. The resulting image seems to show the peacock’s spirit leaving its body.
Writing by Adrian Willings.
