Photography

Apple product photographer talks tradecraft, gear and more

Cody Lee ∙ May 8, 2013

Apple is well-known for its minimal, yet seemingly flawless product shots. With their realistic lighting and signature white backgrounds, the images of iPhones and iPads scattered across the company's website almost look like they were computer rendered.

But as photographer Peter Belanger can attest to, that's definitely not the case. The longtime product-shooter spoke with technology blog The Verge recently about his experience working with Apple, and what kind of preparation goes into each photo shoot...

Instagram rolls out Photos of You

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Good news, iPhone photography lovers! Facebook-owned Instagram has issued an update to its iOS and Android client today, introducing a new Photos of You feature - another way to share and discover stories on Instagram, basically a dedicated profile section which collects photos you’ve been tagged in.

As part of the roll-out, Instagram said users can now tag people as easily as you add hashtags. What's more, you can even tag any account on Instagram, "whether it’s your best friend, favorite coffee shop or even that adorable dog you follow". They also created a nice promo video to promote the feature, jump past the fold to watch it...

Adobe shows off Lightroom-esque iPad app with RAW support, cloud syncing

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 2, 2013

Photoshop maker Adobe has a few more or less useful apps on the App Store, most of them tied to its Creative Cloud offering and the Creative Suite family of desktop products for pros.

Although the company caters to photography buffs with iPhone and iPad versions of Photoshop Express, Photoshop Touch, Ideas and other apps, they're pared down versions conceived as companion apps to their desktop counterparts.

But pro photographers have reasons to rejoice as Adobe's group product manager for Lightroom Tom Hogarty today on Photoshop guru Scott Kelby’s show The Grid showed off a yet unnamed prototype iPad app that will bring pro-level photo editing and image manipulation capabilities to the owners of the Apple tablet.

Among the features being promised: RAW image support, seamless sync that leverages Adobe's cloud technologies and advanced Lightroom parameters, such as exposure, clarity, shadows, highlights and white balance...

New iPhone commercial: Photos Every Day

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoVW62mwSQQ

Apple has posted a new commercial on its website and on its YouTube channel, and it's one of the better ones I've seen in recent memory. The video — entitled Photos Every Day — is a montage of the many ways that people use their iPhone's to take photos in everyday situations. The commercial ends by saying: "Everyday, more photos are taken with the iPhone than any other camera."

Looking for inspiration? The iPhotography Assignment Generator app can help [review]

Lory Gil ∙ April 25, 2013

It’s not secret that we love iPhone photography. We love it so much that we even have a special guest in our midst who likes to pop in and visit every once in a while.

Learning how to take amazing pictures with your iPhone is one arduous task. However, photographers suffer another dilemma when it comes to capturing stunning images from everyday life. Getting out there and doing it can sometimes be the most difficult part of photography. Maybe 6:45 a.m. is too early in the morning for you, but nature doesn’t sleep in and the Golden Hour won’t be back until sunset.

The iPhotography Assignment Generator is a useful app for photographers that are having a hard time coming up with ideas. Sometimes, creativity just sits in a corner and waits for someone else to light the fire. This app is the spark that your creativity needs to get going...

FocusTwist: boost your iPhone photography with refocusable photos

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 24, 2013

There is no such thing as too many photography apps. Being an avid iPhone photography fan, I've found that every single photography app I downloaded from the App Store - and boy did I download ton of these - serves a slightly different purpose, letting me go the extra mile adding something unique to my photos.

Enter FocusTwist, a new iPhone application from Arqball which gives you ability to capture your snaps now and focus later. The software achieves refocusable photography by taking several images rapidly, each at a different focus setting.

The clever software then combines those snaps into a single image that can be posted online for your friends to interactively refocus later...

Popular iPad photo editing app FX Photo Studio HD goes free for a limited time

Cody Lee ∙ Updated October 12, 2018

Those in the market for an iPad photo editing app will be happy to hear that the folks over at MacPhun have just announced that following the success of last week's free iPhone app offering, they've made their popular FX Photo Studio HD free for a limited time.

The team says that the $1.99 discount is in celebration of the iPhone version of FX Photo Studio hitting over 1 million downloads during its 3-day free promotion last week, where it became the top free photography app in the App Store of 39 different countries...

Make your photos pop with PopAGraph

Lory Gil ∙ April 12, 2013

Since the dawn of the camera phone, photography hobbyists have found ways to turn low-resolution, pixelated images into works of art. When Apple put a camera in the iPhone, it literally changed the photography landscape, allowing anyone to turn the most mundane images into interesting photos using a wide variety of apps.

PopAGraph is a photo-editing app for the iPhone and iPod touch that takes it one step further by allowing you to mask objects and “pop” them out. This gives the impression of a virtual three-dimensional picture that you can share immediately on social networking sites like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter...

500px app updated with Flow for iPad and other improvements

Cody Lee ∙ April 2, 2013

Premium photo sharing site 500px made a big splash last fall when it finally launched a native app for the iPhone. And despite getting pulled from the App Store for a week in January, it's managed to garner more than a million downloads.

Today 500px has updated its iOS offering, bringing the app to version 2.1. The update includes a new Following and Followers list, so you can keep track of your network, performance improvements and adds the Flow feature to the iPad...

Quick review: Handy Photo for iPhone and iPad

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 22, 2018

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNx7rUjOdeM

Sebastien and I share a passion for iPhone photography so when he asked me to take a look at Handy Photo the other day, I was overly excited. So what does this new photography app does that your favorite software can't? How about AntiCrop and TouchRetouch, two interesting features that work a lot like content-aware fill in Photoshop?

Or, perhaps you'll be impressed by the ability to perform complex touch ups and work with 36-megapixel images (not a typo)? The promo video is a bit cheesy and heavy on superlatives, but it does a nice job highlighting key features of this handy program. I've included more info and a few screenies after the break...

Apple researching high-res iPhone camera with optical zoom

Ed Sutherland ∙ March 14, 2013

Cameras with optical lenses frequently produce images superior to all-digital alternatives most often required in mobile phones. Now Apple appears to have found a hybrid approach permitting future iPhones and iPads to offer a high-resolution camera with an optical zoom lens, but not disrupt the devices' slim lines.

While many patented Apple inventions never see the light of day, iPhone photography buffs in particular will welcome Apple's camera advancements, especially should the company decide to implement them on future iPhones and iPads.

Additionally, the patented technology could even save money for the consumer electronics giant. In 2011, the company filed for a patent entitled "Digital camera with light splitter." The iPhone or iPad camera includes a zoom lens with a moveable lens made possible by a cube which splits light into its component red, green and blue colors...

‘Instahancer’ brings a bunch of new options to Instagram

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 11, 2018

Instahancer is a new jailbreak tweak that enhances the usability of the iPhone’s Instagram app. It does so in a vein similar to another recently released jailbreak tweak called InstaSave, a tweak primarily focused on saving photos from the service.

While this tweak, too, focuses on saving Instagram photos, it attempts to justify the price premium with the addition of extra features like zooming, caption drafts, and the ability to copy direct URLs. Does Instahancer succeed in its endeavors? Take a look inside for the full scoop…