If you care about not having your photographs used with permission, there’s a Firefox extension called Image Search Options that can help you find copyright violations easily. What it does is add reverse image search options to the right click menu for images, allowing you to find other places on the web your photos appear (if any) with a couple clicks instead of having to manually enter the image URL into reverse image search engines (IQDB, SauceNAO, TinEye, GazoPa and Ascii2D).

Image Search Options (via Lifehacker)

Did you know that reading glasses can be used as a cheap macro lens for your camera phone? Make reader Sean Lee discovered this neat hack and wrote a short tutorial on the technique.
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If you need some quick white balancing for whatever reason, and don’t have a white balance card or Expodisc handy, you can try using a standard coffee cup lid. Photographer Steve Bennet always has some lids lying around in his car, and found that they work as rough white balancing tools.

To use, I set the focus to infinity, place the cap over, then set the custom WB. I dont even need to hold it as it fits nicely inside my lens hood, but that is just a lucky coincidence.

Of course, this won’t deliver perfect results that rival professional tools, but if you’re not shooting RAW and need a quick approximation, you might want to give this a shot.

Image credit: Emergency Exposure Disc by Steve Bennet and used with permission

Here’s a quick tip by Vimeo user Braxton McCarthy: use rubber bands when panning and tilting on a tripod to make the movement smoother.

(via Photoxels)

Here’s a quick photo related life hack: if you have a lens filter that just won’t come off, try using a rubber jar opener to do the task. If you don’t have one already in your kitchen, there might be cheap ones at your local dollar store!

(via Pixiq)

Here’s a useful idea related to the memory card recovery tutorial we shared yesterday: if you’re ever confronted by someone who forces you to delete your photos (and our magical photographers’ rights gray card doesn’t work), go ahead and delete them! What most people don’t know is that deleted photos can easily be recovered afterward. Even photos on a memory card that’s formatted and completely wiped can usually be restored.
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Some battery chargers (e.g. those that come with Canon’s pro and prosumer cameras) plug directly into the wall and have prongs that fold into the charger, while others (e.g. the Canon T2i charger) connect to the wall via a removable cable. Though this may be more space efficient when connecting to a socket or surge protector, the extra chord takes up space and can be a hassle. CheesyCam has a clever solution: use an Apple wall plug duck head adapter to transform the charger into a wall charger.
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We found and shared a pretty useful tip a while ago that involved organizing loose cables with binder clips. I switched to a new desk recently, and found myself with the messy cable problem:

The cables had to be pulled somewhat far into the desk to prevent them from slipping into the crack between the desk and the wall. I tried using binder clips, but my desk is too thick for them to be attached.

Look around for another solution, I decided to try using some old tennis balls. I have quite a few lying around the house from the glory days of high school tennis. Here’s what I used:

The small screwdriver set and scissors are simply used to cut holes into opposites sides of each tennis ball. There’s probably other (and easier) ways of doing this, but a box cutter didn’t work for me.

Puncture the tennis ball using progressively larger screwdrivers until the hole is large enough to shove the scissor blade into. Then cut or tear a hole using the scissors.

Create a coin sized hole in both sides of the tennis ball, with the slits lined up. This allows an opening to be created in the tennis ball when it’s squeezed:

Thread each cable through a tennis ball, and voila! They can be neatly stored at the edge of the table without falling into the crack:

When you need to use a cable, you can simply pull it through the tennis ball while leaving it pressed against the wall. This helps you avoid having tennis balls scattered all over your desk:

Yay for organization and efficiency! Do you have any personal tips for organizing your cables?

If you find yourself carrying around loose batteries all the time, here’s an organization tip: store batteries in ammo boxes.

Michael Page discovered this clever “hack” recently, and posted the advice to DIYPhotography’s Flickr group:

The “big bore” rifle cartridge box is the perfect size for storing and carrying AA batteries, and “small rifle” is exactly right for AAA.

An easy way to keep track of which batteries are depleted and which are fully charged is to simply flip the empty ones upside-down in the box.

(via DIYPhotography)

Image credit: DSCF1005 by mikepageky and used with permission

If you’re like me, then you have a bazillion cables lying on and around your desk for various gadgets, including laptops, cameras, cell phones, Bluetooth headsets, and the like. Here’s a tip for organizing all those cables to always have them neat and ready for action: use binder clips.

You can attach the clip to the side of your desk, and use the loop handles to hold your cables. When lifted up, the handles provide a large enough opening for most cables to slip through, and when closed, the loop holes the ends of the cable neatly in place.

(via Boing Boing)

Image credit: Photograph by David Rudolf Bakker