Mobile Photography

The best camera is the one you have with you — and for most people, most of the time, that's a smartphone. Modern mobile cameras are genuinely impressive, but getting the most from them requires understanding their strengths and limitations. This section covers mobile photography techniques, the apps that extend what's possible, and the accessories that make smartphone shooting more capable and intentional.

Instagram is Beta Testing a New 'Albums' Feature

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. 

Fstoppers Reviews the Google Pixel, a True iPhone Killer

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.

Create the Space For Your Creativity With These Three Great Apps

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.

You'll Soon Be Able to Shoot Log Video on Your Smartphone

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. 

ASUS Zenfone AR Takes 92-Megapixel Photos

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 Case With Zeiss Lenses for Your iPhone 7

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.

Why I'm Starting a 365 Day Project in 2017

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.

Changes We Wish Adobe Would Make to Creative Cloud

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.

Instagram Introduces New Features Designed for Better Control

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 Brand New MeFOTO Air: First Impressions

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.

3 Tips to Marketing Your Photography Brand on Instagram

In just a few short years, Instagram has become the number one social media marketing tool for photographers. Whilst the platform is well established, content is king. We sat down with Instagram marketing expert and CEO of Socially Rich, Ramon Berrios, to get the lowdown on how to establish your photography brand to monetize your impressions.  

 

Instagram Launches Live Video and Snapchat-Style Disappearing Photos

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. 

New App Utilizes the Best of Photo and Video to Create Addictive 'Interactive Photographs'

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?

Fstoppers Reviews the 170-Degree Superfish Mobile Lens by Moment

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.  

Using Instagram Stories as a Marketing Tool for Photographers

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.

Mastin Labs Releases Filmborn App for Mobile Film Emulation

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. 

Apple Releases iOS 10.1 With Portrait Mode for iPhone 7 Plus

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.

How Viable Is Lightroom's New Raw Editing Capability

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.

The iPhone 7 Plus Fashion Photoshoot: Blondes, Brunettes, and Bokeh

What happens when you throw together a shoot with two fashion models, one photographer, and an iPhone? We went ahead and found out for ourselves. As a professional photographer, the most popular question I receive on a daily basis is, "What camera and lens do you shoot with?" I also hear "My camera isn't good.

Fear, Love, and the iPhone's Simulated Bokeh

Background blur has been the mark of the pro almost exclusively since the digital revolution began in the early 2000s. That polished and premium look is now coming to the world's most popular camera, which until now has been beholden to the physics of tiny sensors. Professional photographers may have more to fear than just fear itself. 

Light Painting Made Easy by the New iPhone App Pablo

For most, light painting photography is out of reach. Usually requiring a DSLR setup, most photographers don’t want to spend the time, energy, or coin to create dynamic images painted with light. But, for those who love the idea of using concentrated light to add flare to their images with little to no effort, Pablo is here.

Cyclops: The Pocket-Sized Interchangeable Lens Camera

The world's most popular camera is the iPhone. That isn't news anymore, but it does highlight a number of interesting points about how people consume photography these days. Firstly, if people have a camera on their person that's readily available, they'll take pictures. Although this is somewhat obvious, it does draw the eye to one of the drawbacks of DSLRs and ILCs: size.

Adobe Announces Ability to Capture and Edit Raw DNG Photos in Lightroom Mobile

Adobe has announced the 2.5 update to their popular Lightroom Mobile app. The new update adds the ability to shoot directly to Adobe's open source raw file format, DNG, avoiding the compression and data loss inherent in standard JPEG files. To capture in DNG, users will need a device running iOS 10 that has a 12 MP sensor, such as the iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone S

Musicbed Completely Revamps iPhone App With a New Design and New Features

Musicbed, the popular music licensing platform for creatives looking to perfect their stories while supporting musical artists, has announced an all new app for iPhone. Touted as not “just some update,” the app has been completely rebuilt to share the same experience of the new Musicbed website that was launched earlier this year.

No Joke: You Can Make Money by Upgrading to the iPhone 7 [UPDATED x4]

Some things are too good to be true. But every now and again, the world offers you an opportunity to feel like you got the lucky ticket for two on an all-expenses paid vacation to Disneyland. This isn’t quite that good, but I don’t know many people who would say, “No,” to a free iPhone, let alone one that can make you money.

Sports Illustrated Photographer Uses iPhone 7 Plus Camera at NFL Game

Last week Apple unveiled the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, the later featuring a 28mm wide-angle and a 56mm “telephoto” lens, and both sporting a faster f/1.8 aperture with a 12-megapixel sensor. At today’s Titans-Vikings game, Sports Illustrated photographer David E. Klutho shot some of the first images with the iPhone 7 Plus before the phone’s September 16 release date. 

Apple Announces the New iPhone 7 and 7 Plus

Apple just finished their keynote announcing the new iPhone 7. The new 7 and 7 Plus include some pretty awesome (sounding) camera upgrades that should be another step forward for mobile photographers and videographers.

How to Effectively Scout Locations For Your Upcoming Photoshoots

Developing an idea for a memorable photoshoot is not an easy task. It involves concentration, creativity, discipline, managing skills, and much more depending on the type of photoshoot. Often, we start with a barely visible image in our head. But having a strong sense what we want, will help us develop it into a final, achievable visual. An inspiration is a crucial part of this algorithm.

Lightroom Mobile's Amazing Raw Editing Workflow from Start to Finish

Back in July of 2016, Adobe released a major update to Lightroom Mobile for iOS that allows it to work directly with any and all raw files supported by the desktop version and to also sync them seamlessly with the desktop. But what does this actually mean for real-world use? What problem are we actually solving?

The Newest International Photography Hall of Fame Inductee: Steve Jobs

The latest list of inductees to the 2016 class of the International Photography Hall of Fame reads like a who's who of top tier photographers and industry pioneers. Gracing the list are the likes of Annie Leibovitz, Sebastiao Salgado, Ken Burns, Tom and John Knoll, Ernst Haas, and Steve Jobs. Wait, what? Steve Jobs? 

Research Shows Taking Photos of Events Increases Enjoyment

A team of researchers recently placed study participants in different situations such as a bus tour, a museum, or a simulation of a live event. Some participants were allowed to take photos, while others were not. The team consistently found that those who were allowed to take photos enjoyed the experience more and showed higher levels of engagement with the material. 

Is Microsoft Pix Better Than the iPhone Camera App?

This is a wild claim to make. The camera is one of the most used apps on the iPhone, and most of the photos shared online are taken with one. So, why would this app beat the iPhone’s camera app? According to the video, Microsoft Pix is a smart camera, and looking at the features, it seems like they might’ve developed something quite great.  

My Biggest Instagram Pet Peeve

Instagram is a really cool thing; it's chock full of amazing work that inspires. It's also a great place to connect with the people who make that work. However, when people create fake connections by following and unfollowing, I get quite annoyed. 

How To Reduce Your Dropbox, Google Drive, and iCloud Storage Space and Save Cash in the Process

As photographers, we have a never-ending, ever-perpetuating growth of photos piling up on our hard drives. Inevitably, whether that work is professional or personal, our photos end up taking space on cloud storage accounts that we keep upgrading whenever we reach the limit. But what if you could cut the size of these files in half without losing any visible quality?

How Snapchat Filters Work

If you're one of the hundreds of millions of people who uses Snapchat every day, you've probably played with its lenses that transform your face into all sorts of humorous, interesting, and horrifying things (trust me, I face-swapped with a clock once, and I looked like a Dali disaster).

Qualcom SnapDragon Uses the Director's Cut as the Main Marketing Message

SnapDragon is the name of a processor made by Qualcomm. The company just released a short film titled "Lifeline" and a behind-the-scenes video where the Academy Award-winning director, Armando Bo, runs through the plot and how they used a mobile phone to create the timeline and tell the story. 

Lenovo Demos a Bendable, Wearable Smartphone

Bendable smartphones have been teased in the past, but this may be the first time we've seen a fully functional prototype that morphs with such ease and to such an impressive degree. It's an intriguing glimpse into a future full of possibilities.