Mobile

Apps for working out the best times to shoot in natural light based on your location are not new, but the GoldenHour.One App by Hana Kusova brings together the perfect ingredient of features to compliment any photographer’s planning process for outdoor photography.

As Instagram continues to evolve as a platform serious photographers use to showcase their work and gain new clients, the app continues to introduce features that make those tasks more easily accomplished. Starting today, users can archive posts, making them viewable only to themselves.

In reality, this shouldn't even be a comparison. We all know what the outcome is going to be, yet we still love to see the results. That or we secretly hope that the phone in our pocket can really keep up with a Hollywood workhorse that is used to film some of the most popular movies and television shows that are being released.

Based on Instagram being so important and popular for photographers at this particular time, and as a follow up on some Instagram tips I wrote about before, we constantly look for ways to stand out and be different or better.

Have you ever watched a Marvel Avengers movie wishing you had your own personal AI just like Tony Stark? At Google I/O 2017, Google CEO Sundar Pichai revealed a new technology lovingly branded "Google Lens" which aims to bring mankind a breath nearer to each person having their own personal Jarvis. Google Lens is a new technology designed for Android devices that allows a user to point their camera phone at any object in order for contextual information to be gathered about that object and to convey it back to the user.

Google’s Pixel has been hailed as one of the best on the market, some even calling it the best. I’m not saying the iPhone’s camera is lackluster, but is there something missing?

With the availability of cameras in mobile phones and the ever-growing presence on social media, a lot more people are taking photos of all sorts of theses. The quality of the cameras have improved over the years, so much so that there has been some professional photoshoots done completely using the camera on their phones.

I've written about FTC rulings on paid social posts in the past, and most recently here, but we are at it again with one of the biggest fiasco's of the year so far in the form of the Fyre Festival. Celebrities went wild with posts in prep for the music festival set in Bahamas by promoting it and getting paid in excess of $100,000. Though, when the event started to go south and become a complete PR nightmare many celebrities deleted their posts and removed themselves from the issue, but kept the money paid to promote it. Not good.

Love it or hate it, social media has taken over many of our lives. And in the case of a photographic life, no social media name reigns more supreme than Instagram. With its photo dependent backbone and emphasis on visuals over verbals, shutterbugs rush to the app either as a means of expression, or a means of impression. It’s the one single place where your posts have an equal opportunity of being seen by a stranger in a small remote village as by a photo editor in the slightly larger village of Manhattan.

Instagram's popularity with photographers is incomparable. What is essentially a free portfolio building app disguises itself as a powerful marketing tool to connect with prospective clients, but it suffers at times due to its sheer size and scope. Maybe you're bored of sieving through lame #goals and #inspiration posts, and want to know what mobile friendly alternatives are out there? Well folks, I'm here to tell you.

Your phone takes the best pictures, right? That’s why you bought it.

Not so fast, says tech vlogger Marques Brownlee in a YouTube video, where he pits the top five smartphone cameras on the market in a blind test against one another to see which one comes out on top.

Score one for authentic interaction. Today, Instagress, a prominent Instagram bot service, shut their doors after being "requested" to do so by Instagram.

When the initial iPhone came out with a camera that took rather decent photos I was so excited about it. To have a camera in your pocket whenever you needed one was now possible. Then the social networks became visual feeds and the phones started focusing more and more on the cameras to make them shoot printable photos and 4K video. Many have said the iPhone was a camera that you could make a call with. But, what if they removed the camera from the mobile phone? According to The Verge, the end-game of cameras is having no camera at all.

Spoiler alert: building a successful Instagram page takes work. Hard work. I'm sorry, but to be incredibly honest with those that have followed me since the beginning it takes more than a snapshot with my iPhone and hitting the post button. Breaking down the hours and even minutes in my day to show you my process and commitment to the platform will give you an insiders look to the mindset you need to be successful on Instagram.

There isn't a lot of information about this Adobe App and whether this technology will be added to the desktop software yet, just that it's called Sensei and they have this video to show its potential. It uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to make your selfie or basic smartphone photo look like it was taken by someone who knew what they were doing.

Propelling Fstoppers into the successful community it is today and inspiring a slew of shooters to create without limitations, the iPhone Fashions Shoot was meant to prove that a talented photographer needed little more than their own knowledge and creativity. In these one minute spots for the Huawei P10 mobile phone, Chinese Malaysian photographer CY Wong continues to demonstrate the point: it's not the camera that makes a photographer.

Everyone wants to make money doing what they love. We love photography, and for many of us, getting paid to take photos is a dream. I never wanted to be a photographer; I liked it, but shooting full-time was never a goal I had early in my career and still isn't. That all changed when Instagram came along, and after a couple years of posting nearly every day and unknowingly honing my skills, people began coming to me specially for posts on Instagram to share about their brands. Here, I explain how that occurred, how you can find clients, know your value, and make money posting on Instagram.

Fed up with audience members filming the show with their phones, one musician stopped playing mid-song and turned their own behavior back on them.

Instagram is very much a calling card for a good amount of photographers these days. Many of my friends with successful photography businesses attribute a large proportion of their client influx to the app. Here's a great video on how to make your account better.

As phone cameras continue to become more powerful, apps are developing at breakneck speed to match them. Today, Adobe introduced Lightroom Mobile for iOS 2.7 and Android 2.3, which brings a new raw HDR mode and other features.

As a photographer, I take and see a lot of photographs. As a photographer who does a fair amount of work for an art museum, I see a lot of art. So, I don't really know how to feel about this new concept I just found out about (via a user-submitted story idea! Go ahead and submit things!) that involves using a mobile device to view a photography exhibit... that has no photographs hanging in it!

Be ready to freak out, Instagram lovers: you can now upload up to ten photos or videos – all in a single post! Going live today, you can now choose series of photos or videos inside one single post on your page without having to debate whether to share those b-side shots. This all comes with the announcement on their blog, which has a little promo video and a simple how-to-use lifestyle tutorial.

Keeping your gadgets charged on the go is essential if you travel a lot and expect to get any work done on the road. Thanks to the millions of battery packs that are out there, charging your phone is easy enough. But what if you need to keep your laptop charged while off the grid for a day’s shoot or while on a long flight without an outlet? Omni 20 is one of the only, and most recent, solutions that will charge anything you throw at it, including that ultra-powerful new MacBook Pro.

Last month, I wrote an article called Hacking Instagram to Grow a Huge Following and Build Better Engagement with "Instagram Pods" that was received far better than I ever thought possible. I received hundreds of direct messages within the app of people asking about Instagram pods as well as wanting to join one. I apologize to those I have not yet gotten back with but rest assured, the hack seems to work and has sparked new life into my social media experience on the platform. Not only has it doubled my engagement, likes, and blown comments through the roof in comparison to a few months ago but its become a new found way to connect with new creatives from around the world.

In today’s age, it’s safe to assume that more people are taking pictures with phones than with actual cameras. I’m not here to say that the practice is wrong or that it’s right. I am just here to identify Amazon’s number-one selling mobile printer so you can bring some of those images stored on your phone to life.

Polaroid has been an iconic brand for over 80 years in the photo community. Even though they have had a few recent slips to adapt to the fast-growing tech world, it's finally finding its grass roots in the latest generation of photographers. Their latest offering comes with the incredibly fun and portable Polaroid Snap Touch. The Snap Touch is an all-in-one camera and printer just like the original, but this time it comes packed with a 3.5-inch LCD touch screen and full video capabilities.

Moment Lenses has been on the scene of mobile photography for a few years now and truly separates themselves from the crowd of phone lens attachments in many ways. First, their products are of damn good quality. Having shot with my Moment Lens since their first Kickstarter a few years ago, it's been a great addition to my bag of tricks while out and about shooting. Today, they are announcing their new Kickstarter to help build the next line of incredible products including a new 18mm lens, as well as a battery case and basic photo case.

It looks like album uploads will soon be coming to Instagram. The photo sharing app appears to be playing around with a new feature that will allow users to upload multiple images in a single post. The Verge, Droid-Life, and Philip Chang on Twitter have all confirmed the presence of the new (albeit buggy) feature in the latest beta version of the Instagram app for Android devices.

Towards the last half of 2016 many people, especially photographers, began to write off Instagram as a lost cause. So much frustration over lost engagement and dropped followers lead many to leave the platform or simply lose interest in posting more. The algorithm that began with a Facebook style feed that did away with chronological order and brought you "what you wanted to see" was the main cause for all of this. Though, with that comes new techniques to grow a following and hack the system if you will; enter "Instagram pods."

Apple lovers around the world, including myself, now have some serious reason to leave behind their beloved iPhone they have for the new Google Pixel. Introduced back in October the phone was welcomed with huge praise boasting some incredible specs. Running their latest Android 7.1 along with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 paired with 4GB of RAM and both a 5 inch and 5.5 inch display option. Let's dig into why this might just replace your iPhone and finally bring you to the dark side, Android.

There is a theory that the best creative people have to live in a world that is chaotic and unstructured. Whilst there may be some great examples to cite such as Amy Winehouse and Janis Joplin, imagine what they would have created with clear minds. Being organized, having effective systems, and achieving mindfulness creates more time for creatives to do what they do best; Think with clarity. Here are three great apps that will help you achieve this.

Your smartphone is about to take another step toward becoming a professional videography tool. Filmic Pro will soon be releasing an update that will include a log mode, increasing the app's versatility and capabilities all the more.

Cell phone cameras have undoubtedly advanced to levels that make them legitimate photographic instruments in the right circumstances. ASUS is continuing to push the envelope with their new Zenfone AR, which can shoot massive 92-megapixel photos.

ExoLens the iPhone case company that is known for its protective cases that are compatible with their range of Zeiss lenses, have just announced a new case for the iPhone 7 at C.E.S. Bringing professional-grade lenses to the iPhone, and now even more protection. The new protective case for the iPhone 7 will be available for purchase during the first quarter of 2017, though a price is not yet released.

I’ll admit that I’m in a creative rut. And like any photographer that feels frustrated, there’s only one thing to do: go in a different direction. For well over a year I’ve been shooting hardly anything besides studio portraits. While I love that genre and the work that I’ve created in that time, I feel like my work has hit a wall creatively. After watching several photographers and filmmakers doing these a-photo-a-day projects, I decided to give it a go in 2017.

Adobe is known as being the creator of Photoshop. Then, they went and bought Macromedia in 2005 which changed the game a lot for the creative industry. Since then, apps were bundled, we’ve moved to a subscription model with Creative Cloud, and all the apps now work together intuitively. I have a great respect for the company that makes the software I use every day. But there are certain workflows that I think can improve.

Yet another challenge for you, gear fans. There is a nice short film shot with an iPhone 7 Plus and a RED Weapon. You watch one of the versions. Can you tell if it's shot with a $50,000 camera or with a sub-$1,000 one?

Apple just released some quick tips from professional photographers for shooting in Portrait Mode on the iPhone 7 Plus. For those that thought you'd find some tricks in the Tips app on your iPhone, you thought wrong. But Apple is finally sharing a few tips online. Although fairly easy to use, these tips can help an unfamiliar user to better understand the dual-camera system and how to get the best out of Portrait Mode.

It's no secret that Instagram is a bit of a free-for-all in some respects. Every day, I fend off the usual swarm of bots and comments offering me services of questionable legality. Instagram seems to have recognized this, introducing several new tools today, all designed around increased control and positivity in the app experience.

The idea of a travel tripod causes hesitation. On one hand, you have a size that makes bringing a tripod on location no longer a physical strain. On the other, these tripods tend to be thin, causing them to be less sturdy than larger, thicker tubed tripods. The key to a good travel tripod is striking a balance of size and strength. For the past few years, MeFOTO has been the leading brand in travel tripods with their wide selection of sizes. Their introductory line of tripods offered everything from tabletop height to a full size 64" tripod. With their newest release, they seem to be pushing the boundaries of how small a tripod can really be.

Anyone installing the latest Instagram update will be able to make full use of two brand new features. The first is live streaming, which allows you to broadcast simply by hitting the Start Live Video button when on the camera menu. The other allows for "disappearing" images to be exchanged over Instagram Direct, reminiscent of the format that Snapchat made successful.

It’s impossible to deny the rise of video in recent years. Even on the high street, many shops are replacing print campaigns in favor of TV screens with moving advertisements that showcase a larger range of their products. With video, even though you lose the subtlety of capturing a single moment in time, you can share so much more. So what’s the compromise? A new micro-video app by the name of Polaroid Swing combines movement with moment in a one-second clip to create what it calls “interactive photographs.”

If you weren't aware, there is quite a market for mobile lenses within the photography community, and sitting atop the pack is a little company called Moment. They came bursting on the scene about two years ago with the plan to bring high quality glass to the mobile photography market. Here are my thoughts on their brand new super fisheye lens, the Superfish.

Are you using Instagram Stories in your marketing? Are you wondering how photographers are using Stories? With new features like tagging and Boomerang being added this week as well as the possibility of links being added in the near future, Instagram Stories is quickly becoming a great tool for marketing that every photographer should take advantage of. Here is a list of ways you can start using Stories for your business today.

Kirk Mastin and Mastin Labs are the creators of some of the better known (and more highly regarded) sets of develop presets for digital images to emulate the look of film. Kirk has been working on a mobile app to achieve similar results on the go for a while now, and that app has finally been released. Meet Filmborn.

Everyone might not be familiar or privy to the changes that Instagram has made over the last couple years, but one thing is for sure, they are doing some great things when dealing with brands and how they feed ads to their consumers. Next week, they will begin to roll out a feature in which select brands will be able to tag specific products for people to click through and purchase with one click, all in-app.

Depth of field fakers rejoice, Apple has just released the official build of iOS 10.1. This update notably includes the heretofore beta Portrait Mode for owners of the iPhone 7 Plus, allowing users to simulate depth of field effects on photos taken with the 7 Plus' new secondary camera. The update is available now via over-the-air download or by updating your phone via iTunes.

Eastman Kodak and UK-based Bullitt Group yesterday announced a new smartphone which capitalizes on image-making. The 21-megapixel Kodak Ektra comes with a 6-axis optically stabilized f/2 front camera which sports a 26.5mm equivalent lens and uses a 1/2.4-inch Sony Exmor RS IMX230 sensor.

I know that all of the iPhone 7 hype is on the portrait mode and DNG file capture that the new camera has, but I was particularly interested in another aspect of iOS's photo capability. Having been stuck on a Nexus 6 for the past year and a half, I missed out on a lot of the new tricks that the iPhones were offering. Specifically, Lightroom Mobile's new raw file support, giving it similar editing capability as the desktop version of Lightroom.