When you’re taking a picture , everything hinges on the split second when the camera shutter goes off. It can be the difference between an all-time great pic and one you’ll immediately delete. Or, if you’re especially lucky, your timing will capture something truly special.
“Laser lit up the cocktail.”
In the moment, the lasers were probably flashing on and off too quickly for her to appreciate the fact that her drink was lit up perfectly like this. But that doesn’t matter, because we have this awesome photo that shows it.
“Perfect timing.”
When you pop a bubble, you can see, very quickly, the way the surface tension breaks and the bubble itself ceases to exist. It’s pretty cool to see it slowed down: half of the bubble is intact, while the other half is no more.
“I accidently captured my bumper coming off when my brother was hitting a puddle!”
I have two thoughts here: to the photographer, I say great job with this photo. To the driver, I’d recommend not revving it through deep puddles like this.
“Dragonfly landing on the nose of a water snake.”
Both of these creatures are predators, and in this moment, it almost feels like they’re both recognizing this fact. It’s a bit of an awkward encounter, but both will soon return to their predatory ways.
“Perfect timing to catch my ice cream drip.”
This photo is so perfectly composed that the ice cream drip almost looks fake. I mean, in real time it’s just a blur, but in this photo it almost looks cartoonish.
“Headshot!”
This photo’s timing is exquisite. In a split second, the kid on the right will probably be bawling and the kid on the left will be looking for excuses. The moment captured in this photo represents the calm before the storm.
“Went to take a picture of the rainbow and lightning struck at the exact same time.”
I’m not sure if the dashboard Jesus has anything to do with his awesome photo of natural phenomena, but I’m guessing his presence doesn’t exactly hurt.
“Perfect timing!”
There are so many variables that influence this photo, including weather conditions, time of day and time of year. Props to the photographer for having the patience to snap this pic at the exact perfect time.
“This can happen when you blink faster than the shutter on the camera.”
Here’s a true photographic glitch, the kind you probably could never capture if you were trying to. Like, there are probably just a couple of thousandths of a second when this would be possible.
“Wife snapped this perfect action shot on accident.”
When you see birds that have beef, it’s usually just a blurry, fluttery mess. But when you slow it down thanks to the magic of photography, things look a good bit more epic.
“A pilot with a snack.”
I find it hard to believe a smaller bird would literally hitch a ride on a bigger bird, but that seems to be what’s happening here. I wonder how much longer this arrangement lasted after the pic was taken.
“My mom took a picture of the sunset and a dolphin jumped in the shot.”
This would be a perfectly Insta-worthy pic even without the dolphin, but the dolphin (and the fish it’s tossing) elevate the photo to another level.
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“Slippery sidewalk.”
You know that feeling of slipping, where you know you’ve lost your footing and things are going to hurt really badly in about two milliseconds? Well, that’s almost certainly what this person is feeling in this particular moment.
“Pop loved teasing me. Here he is holding me up by my suspenders.”
If not for the telltale snapped suspenders above the kid’s head, you’d be hard pressed to know what’s going on here. This is the kind of photo that becomes a family classic.
“Perfect timing (bird-boarding edition).”
In real-time, this was probably incredibly chaotic, with screeching birds, possible pecking hazards, and maybe a little bird poop thrown in for good measure. It’s a wonder that it looks so chill when taken as a freeze-frame.
“Walking on water.”
In reality, that person is probably being blasted at unfathomable speeds. But in this image, it looks like he’s seen the wreck happening behind him, and has resolved to swiftly walk away from the whole mess.
“Posing for a picture when an unexpected someone decided to swoop in.”
When you really think about it, birds are nature’s most prolific photobombers. They’re always whizzing around, almost unseen, until they decide to divebomb someone’s photo op. It’s a big-time troll move.
“Perfect timing, three headed stag.”
Do deer usually hang out this close together? Like, you literally can’t make out three different bodies, just one body with three heads. In any event, nice job by the photographer, because this probably didn’t last long.
“Perfect timing (bird selfie edition).”
It’s incredibly rude of this bird to just fly up to a window, stare inside and take a picture for posterity. There should be some sort of expectation of privacy when you’re on one of the higher floors.
“Noticed a levitating man in our photo from the State Fair of Texas.”
It’s tough to upstage a gigantic statue like this, but the guy in the blue shirt has found a way. It looks like he hiked his pants up so hard that he momentarily defied gravity.
