2017

A new set of filters for iPhone cameras look like they might be the next best thing in the world of phone camera add-ons. Cinematic-style films and photos are just a clip-on attachment away with this offering from SANDMARC.

Here's a strange story that shows the power of Internet crowdsourcing in doing unusual reverse image searches. It all started with a blurry, seemingly questionable photo seen on a smartphone in the hands of a politician in the UK Parliament.

Best Buy already does price matching with Amazon, but it'll soon be launching another weapon in its fight against the giant online retailer: a try-before-you-buy program for electronics. For photographers, this will mean you'll have the opportunity to rent camera equipment before you buy it.

As a photographer you're probably quite a creative person, and no doubt you are therefore critical of your own work. The 'inner critic' is that voice in your head, badgering you and questioning your decisions behind the camera. Canon Australia conducted an experiment to show the effect your inner critic can have when you allow it to take hold.

Blend Modes in Photoshop are simple at a glance, but it’s easy to forget exactly how each of the 27 modes work. This 10-minute video from Blake Rudis of f64 Academy goes in to detail on Luminosity and Color, which are both very useful for photo editing.

Photo artist Erik Johansson was commissioned by Clinea, a Swiss company leading in the field of psychiatry and psychotherapy, to create something a little different. Johansson shot the images in Prague and Austria this year, creating beautiful photo manipulations that capture the essence of such a company.

Good news for iPhone and iPad users who are running low on storage space: Apple’s upcoming iOS 11 update will bring more efficient compression technology that the company estimates will save users up to 50% on storage needs.

Here's an inspiring video by Mango Street about one of the most important things you can learn to do as a photographer, which is storytelling. In addition to organically capturing moments as they happen, you can also conceptualize and execute an idea that inspires you, and Rachel and Daniel show how it's done in the 5.5-minute video above.

Camtraptions, the brainchild of wildlife photographer Will Burrard-Lucas, has released the latest infrared motion sensor in its line-up. Used for wildlife camera trapping, these sensors activate a camera should an animal move past it.

After the highly anticipated Sony a9 began landing in the hands of photographers, there were some reports of the camera displaying its overheating indicator icon after short periods of use in ordinary environments. Israeli photographer Senya Alman came up with a clever way of keeping his own Sony camera cool: he built it a little hot shoe cover for portable shade.

If you're taking your light stands outside, then you'll probably be using sandbags to weigh them down. But they're clumsy, take up a lot of space, and can be messy if punctured accidentally. StandDaddy offers a new, innovative way to stop stands from blowing over in a compact, easy-to-use form.

When Kevin Scruggs's daughter Mackenzie started first grade 12 years ago, he decided to pull out his camera and shoot a short interview with the 6-year-old. He then did the same thing on her first day of school for the next 12 years, and this year he turned all the clips into this touching 3-minute video wishing Mackenzie a happy graduation from high school.

There is an extremely talented landscape photographer called Thomas Heaton whose YouTube videos I find very instructive and entertaining. Recently he featured a new product he was sent to try out: the Loupedeck, a physical console that lets you control Lightroom (the main software I use to sort, catalog and edit my photographs).

Watching old family photographs fading away in treasured photo albums is a sad reality. However, bringing the digital age to these old film photographs can deliver them back to life. Colorizing old black and white photos can immediately transform an aged, washed-out capture into an image full of realism.

VSCO has just announced that it's releasing its popular mobile app photo filters on desktop. The filters are packaged in a pack called VSCO Mobile Presets 01 (MP1).

A little while back, I was working for a small local newspaper outside of Houston, Texas. I was working on a series about adrenaline junkies around the area. One article I really wanted to write was about skydiving at Spaceland Houston.

Off the top of your head, do you know how much more light f/2.8 lets in compared to f/5.6? Do you know the f-stop number that comes after 11? This 1.5-minute video reveals the simple pattern used by the scale.

The Lydith 30mm f/3.5 lens was introduced in 1964, and grew a cult following due to its excellent sharpness, contrast and color fidelity. Meyer-Optik now plans to create a modernised version, and the Kickstarter project has already tripled its goal.

This incredibly creative ad from Gatorade uses a "liquid printer" and precision-timed strobe photography to create a stop-motion athlete from drops of water. What’s more, it was created entirely in-camera, according to the company.

Sherpa is a free iOS app that turns top geotagged Instagram photos in to a travel guide and location scouting tool.

Sony has just released a wave of new firmware updates for its mirrorless cameras. Found among the various fixes and improvements are solutions to the a9 overheating warning issue and the "star eater" issue reported by astrophotographers.

In Phase One’s recent update to Capture One Pro 10, it added a new Styles & Presets tool for applying presets to images. The company has now begun selling presets in Style Packs, each containing 15 to 18 Styles.

Amazon is tightening its belt when it comes to its cloud data storage services. The company has just announced that its $60 a year plan for unlimited data storage is being abruptly discontinued. For that same rate, you'll now only be able to store 1TB of data.

Google has been steadily adding features to their Google Photos app since I/O 2017. The new archive feature isn’t the most exciting of them, but it has an interesting trick up its sleeve.

In the fall of 2008, Barack Obama had just become the Democratic candidate and was heavily favored to win the White House to become the first African American President of the United States. His popularity created media frenzy as the world was thirsty to learn more about the young Senator from Illinois. Because Obama was a presidential candidate, a media corps began to follow and report on Obama’s every move.

Here's a 5-minute video by Tony & Chelsea Northrup that will teach you how to use Photoshop to stack multiple exposures of a moving silhouetted subject. The end result is a unique effect that conveys motion in an otherwise still image.

A couple of photojournalists in the UK covering the general election today accidentally made the news when another camera caught them fighting for position.

National Geographic photojournalist Paul Nicklen has spent decades documenting the Earth’s poles. In this 45-minute interview with NPR, he discusses the dangers of his work and the impact of climate change on the fragile, icy ecosystems that he photographs.

Zwelethu Mthethwa, a well-known South African photographer, has been sentenced to 18 years in jail after being found guilty of the 2013 murder of a sex worker in Cape Town.

Following the winding down of its business, Triggertrap has followed through on its promise to open-source its mobile apps and hardware. This could mean that the product will live on, despite Triggertrap’s demise.

It looks like there are many photographers who want an intelligent camera assistant that helps determine optimal camera settings. Arsenal, the camera add-on that promises to offer just that, has just blown past the $1 million mark in crowdfunding on Kickstarter.

Canon have added 5 new videos to their Explorers of Light showcase series, in which members of their pro team discuss their careers and their passion for photography.