Ryan Mense

Senior Staff Writer

Ryan Mense is a wildlife cameraperson passionate about sharing visual stories of birds and their ecology through filmmaking and photography. He’s the guy driving under the speed limit in front of you, binoculars in his lap, head whipping every which direction in search of new avifauna. As a writer, he has been covering photo industry news and producing camera gear reviews for the last decade.

Articles by Ryan Mense

How to Do Street Photography with a Smartphone

Street photography might be one of the easiest genres of photography to slide into — it’s just you, a camera, and more or less walking around documenting humankind with an artistic flare — yet it can be quite difficult to progress beyond snapshot-looking images. This article will explore tips for improving your street photography using nothing more than a smartphone.

Tips for Photographing a Vacation with Your Smartphone

Photos are a time machine to the past. Nothing better represents this than vacation pictures. We aren’t taking these photos for us now, we’re taking them for us a year or more down the line to look back on. This article shares ways to think about vacation photography and how all it takes is a smartphone to create lasting memories.

PowerVision PowerEgg X Drone Review: What In Tarnation Is This?

Picture an egg. Now picture an egg with a camera on it. Now picture an egg with a camera on it that can fly. Now picture an egg with a camera on it that can fly in the rain. Now picture an egg with a camera on it that can fly in the rain and land on water. You are now picturing the PowerEgg X.

ON1 NoNoise AI Versus Topaz DeNoise AI: Noise Reduction Throwdown

ON1, an established photography software company located in Oregon, recently released its new noise reduction application called NoNoise AI. As a longtime user of Topaz Labs DeNoise AI, it only made sense to pit these two machine-learning-based noise reduction programs against each other and see which one comes out on top.

Photographers to Follow on Instagram: May 28, 2021

On Instagram, PetaPixel is sharing photos that inspire creativity and show off the incredible talents of our daily readers. Here’s a look at our recent favorite posts and more about the photographers who shared them.

Sigma fp L Camera Review: Does Size Really Matter?

Making cameras is a tough gig. Every release demands to stand out from the crowd in some way. For the Sigma fp L, it’s turning heads by the remarkably compact size and resolution-dense full-frame sensor. Is it enough?

Tamron Launches 150-500mm Super-Telephoto Zoom for Sony E-Mount

Tamron has announced the 150-500mm f/5-6.7 Di III VC VXD, the company’s first full-frame super-telephoto zoom lens for Sony mirrorless cameras. Where the Tamron 150-600mm has proven popular for DSLRs, the new 150-500mm is sure to entice Sony sports and wildlife photographers as well as other long-lens shooters with its focal length, compactness, and price.

The Great @PetaPixel Instagram Revival (and How to Get Featured)

Instagram means different things to different photographers, whether that’s the place to search and be found for new work opportunities, the go-to spot for becoming inspired, or where to post photos and get feedback from the largest photography community on the Internet. At this point, it would be silly to not have an active account on Instagram, right? ...Right?

Is Back-Button Focus Becoming an Outdated Photography Technique?

As camera technology continues to progress, the way in which we operate them is changing as well. Photographers should always use the most familiar and effective technique to get the shot, and to that end I want to be clear about the purpose of this article: I’m not trying to convince anyone to blindly stop using back-button focus.