Photography

The Internet is not a great place for honesty. Do you know how I know this? One hint is the fact that Facetune is currently in the top 5 of the top paid apps for the iPhone. It's a $2.99 portrait photo editor that lets you improve your looks before uploading a profile picture or otherwise sharing photos of yourself online.

Facetune provides 10 easy-to-use tools that let you pinch and swipe to edit your photo. For each tool, you use two fingers to zoom in and move around your image and one finger to apply an effect.… Read more

Using a GoPro to capture your first bungee jump, a skydiving experience, or a 5K race is a fun way to document your experience. With the latest of the GoPro line, the Hero 3, there's a free software update that brings the ability to remotely control your camera using the iOS or Android version of the GoPro app.

Get started with the software update by syncing all photos and videos off of your memory card. Or if you're using a memory card you haven't used with your GoPro yet, take a photo with your GoPro to format … Read more

The smartphone self portrait -- the selfie -- is a part of today's modern world, whether you are using it for a social-media profile picture, want to show your friends yourself in an interesting location or having a particularly good time, or are simply experiencing a vain moment without a friend nearby to snap a shot of you.

Most selfies require you to hold out your phone as far as you can reach to snap the shot. If you'd like to lose the outstretched arm and snap your selfies with an iPhone, I encourage you to try out … Read more

From the weekend Picassos to the accomplished digital Michelangelos, Corel can get you inspired to make some gorgeous digital art with its Paint It and Painter Lite software.

Paint It gives you the ability to add personal touches to any photos. More than a basic filter, Paint It lets you control the creative process with a variety of tools including multiple painting styles, brushes, and realistic effects. Restore details, brighten colors, and add your own special signature. The result is a hand-painted portrait ready for the art gallery. (We can't guarantee this, but it will surely impress your friends … Read more

The makers of the popular Wood Camera app are out with a new iPhone camera app called Viewmatic. It lets you apply vintage viewfinder overlays to your photos, among various filters and effects.

The app costs 99 cents, which provides 10 viewfinder overlays and 10 filters, which Viewmatic calls lenses. You can double down on the number of viewfinders and lenses at your disposal via in-app purchases.

Oddly, for an app that mimics viewfinders, Viewmatic does not let you snap a shot. Instead, you can add photos from your Camera Roll or paste one that you may have copied to … Read more

Sure, you could mess with Photoshop and its Background Eraser Tool to remove a background from a photo, but what if you don't own a copy of pricey Photoshop? I do own a copy of it but have never mastered it and don't like to use it. I don't even like waiting for it to load. For the Photoshop-less and Photoshop-averse, Web app Clipping Magic is worth a gander.

After navigating your way to Clipping Magic, you can simply drag and drop an image on the site or select a photo via the Choose File button. With … Read more

Digital photography is a blessing and a curse. OK, it's more of a blessing than curse. Freed from the cost of purchasing and developing film, digital photographers can take multiple shots of the same scene in an attempt to capture the perfect shot. Unless you dutifully manage your photo library and cull the extra shots from each photo shoot, your library quickly becomes difficult to navigate and your hard drive cluttered. PhotoSweeper for Mac identifies duplicate and similar photos and lets you dump the ones you don't need in the trash. The app costs $9.99 in the … Read more

I'm a big fan of Sony's Alpha NEX-7 and NEX-5n mirrorless cameras. They're practically more lens than camera, but both deliver exceptional image quality and advanced features for their small size.

For the past month I've been casually shooting photos and videos on the NEX-7 and scouring the Web for advice on getting the most from this camera. One tip that really changed the way I shoot video is Camera Dojo's advice on matching shutter speed with your camera's frame rate.

In the above video, I'll walk you through the steps to optimize … Read more

Step aside, home photo printer! The age of the 3D printer is just beginning. But then what are you supposed to do with all those digital photos sitting on your hard drive?

Well, thanks to Amanda Ghassaei of Instructables -- who showed us how to make a 3D-printed record -- you can try printing them in 3D. Using an Objet500 Connex 3D printer that prints at 600dpi, along with ModelBuilder library and the Processing open-source programming language, Ghassaei converted her photographs into a printable topography.

How do they work?… Read more