The beauty of nature can be very inspiring. So in this article we are showcasing examples of black and white nature photography. Without color, photographers must put more emphasis on lighting, composition, and context. Combined with this and the fact that there are no man-made objects, these photographs are an excellent source of inspiration and can help us see the beauty of God’s creation that we sometimes take for granted.  

Be sure and click on the images to view larger versions and learn more about each photograph and the talented artists behind the camera.

Vintage style design is all about making things look old. This can be achieved by using using elements in your designs that appear to be from decades ago, and when done well can create a mood for your web design that will leave a lasting impressions on visitors. In this article, we’ve rounded up a bunch of Photoshop brushes that will be very useful to you when trying to achieve that vintage look.

Vintage Camera Brushes

A few weeks ago I gave you some tips for cross-compatibility, but in this article we are going to focus more specifically on cross-browser compatibility. Building websites to work properly and look good in multiple browsers is a fact of life that web designers must deal with. It is probably one of the most frustrating aspects of designing for the web, but thankfully there are tools out there that can help and hopefully keep you from pulling all of your hair out.

Adobe Browser Lab

This tool shows screenshots of your website as seen by several different environments. The default test includes Firefox 3.0 on Windows XP and OS X, Internet Explorer 7.0 on Windows XP, and Safari 3.0 on OS X.

You can change which browsers you’d like to test under “Browser Sets.” Another nice feature of this tool is a 2-up view that lets you compare side-by-side views of your site in different browsers. You’ll need an active account with Adobe to use the site.

Tags:

• browser
• compatibility
• cross
• testing
• tools

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With so many free icon sets available now, sometimes it makes more sense to not spend countless hours designing and creating your own. However, it’s important that you do find the right style of icons to match your design. In the case of minimal web design, it’s all about clean layouts, little use of color, and few design elements. This means that when icons are required, they should posses the same minimal design qualities. Here are some of the best icon sets for this type of design style.

Mono Icons

Pictodeck

Tags:

• design
• icon
• minimal
• sets
• style

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Macro photography, simply put, is close-up photography. This usually requires a special lens that is optimized to focus sharply on a small area. What I love about macro photography is that it allows us see an entirely different world that is filled with an abundance of detail that usually goes unnoticed by the naked eye. 

Here is a collection of 40 truly amazing macro photographs from various photographers. To see larger versions of the photographs and to learn more about both the photograph and photographer, be sure to click on the images.