photography

The most popular reason nonprofessionals buy dSLRs or other types of interchangeable-lens cameras is because they want better photos or faster performance than a point-and-shoot can deliver; the power of manual controls and interchangeable lenses seem to be a secondary concern. Nevertheless, I'm still routinely surprised when someone hands me his dSLR and it's set to auto and equipped with a standard kit lens.

The best (and cheapest) way to advance your photography is to switch out of auto; here's a map for venturing into that new territory. But the next best -- and not-so-cheap -- way … Read more

If this week's news of Facebook tinkering with Instagram's privacy policy before backpedaling has you heading for the exits, Flickr's iOS app is probably your best bet for snapping, filtering, and sharing photos. But for a more disciplined approach, or if you'd like to start a photo-a-day 365 project, check out Blipfoto for iPhone.

Blipfoto features five buttons along the bottom: Camera, Newsfeed, Browse, Map, Search, and More. Camera mode lets you snap a shot or grab a photo from your Camera Roll. The only editing tools the app provides are 12 rather underwhelming filters, 5 … Read more

Alas for those excited by a video seemingly showing an eagle's unsuccessful attempt to carry off a child: it's not real.

"A shadow analysis revealed some pretty severe inconsistencies," said Kevin Connor, president of Fourandsix, an imaging forensics specialist. "It appears to be a fake."

Just as Fourandsix was digging into the matter, a Montreal school said animation students were behind the video. It "was made by Normand Archambault, Loic Mireault, and Felix Marquis-Poulin, students at Centre NAD, in the production simulation workshop class of the Bachelors degree in 3D Animation and Digital Design," a statement from the center said. "Hoaxes produced in this class have already garnered attention, amongst others a video of a penguin having escaped the Montreal Biodome." … Read more

If you are like me, then you use Instagram mostly to snap shots of your kids. And if you are like me, then you feel a bit uneasy after reading the news this week about Instagram's change to its privacy policy, despite its apology and reassurances a day later that it harbors no plans to sell your photos. If you are looking for an Instagram replacement, I would steer parents toward iPhone app 23snaps.

In actuality, 23snaps is more like a mini-Facebook than Instagram. It lets you create profiles for each of your kids and post status updates along … Read more

If the events surrounding Instagram over the last few days have made you want to close your account and start using a different service such as Flickr, we understand. But before you go and delete your Instagram account, wouldn't it be nice to have all of your photos imported to Flickr for you?

Check out @freethephotos to automagically migrate @instagram pics to @flickr bit.ly/VQ5wQs

As you can see from the tweet above, it's possible and the process is simple.

Freethephotos is a new Web site created during the … Read more

If Instagram's privacy policy shift (or not) has you packing in your Instagram account and looking for an alternative photo-filtering and -sharing app, you might want to give Aviary a try. In fact, you might already be familiar with Aviary. Its technology powers the new Flickr app for iOS and Twitter's new photo filters, but Aviary can also be used on its own. The company offers both iOS and Android apps. Here's a quick look at how the app works on the iPhone.

After launching the app and granting it access to your Camera Roll, you'll … Read more

PARIS -- After a year doing its Apple-centric groundwork, start-up Everpix is ready to find a wider audience for its photo sync and organization service.

Today, the company announced version 1.0 of its Windows software, an out-of-the-way utility that slurps photos from people's hard drives and uploads them to company's servers. There, Everpix analyzes each photo mathematically for a variety of characteristics then synchronize the files with iPhones, iPads, and the Everpix Web site.

Everpix, though, isn't really about syncing files like Dropbox or Google Drive. It's also not about online photo communities such as … Read more

Aiming to make it easier for photography enthusiasts to evaluate photo gear, DxO Labs today announced a new method of measuring lens sharpness it hopes will make more intuitive sense.

The idea, called the perceptual megapixel, shows how much of a camera's original sensor resolution a particular lens can preserve when factors such as lens sharpness, optical defects, and sensor pixel size are taken into account.

One example the company provides: on a 21.1-megapixel Canon 5D Mark II, the Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG lens gets a score of 17.2 perceptual megapixels and the much higher-priced Carl … Read more

Flickr updated its iPhone app today, ushering in a new design and features, including photo filters similar to those the world has fallen in love with over at Instagram. Allow me to walk you through the radically changed Flickr for iPhone app.

When you first launch the app, you'll need to sign up via Facebook or sign in to your account via Yahoo, Facebook, or Google. After logging in, you'll see a layout akin to Instagram's. Running along the bottom edge are five buttons to navigate the main areas of the app. From left to right they … Read more