Photography

At long last, Instagram is increasing photo resolution to a sharper 1,080-by-1,080 pixels

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 18, 2016

I love Instagram but have always had a first-world problem with its paltry photo resolution. In today's age of ultra-crisp mobile screens, 640-by-640 pixel images just don't cut it anymore. Well, it took only a couple of years but Instagram just announced that it is rolling out support for bigger, crisper images on both iOS and Android.

“We're rolling out 1080x1080 uploads (and higher-quality viewing) for Instagram on iOS and Android,” Instagram co-founder Mike Krieger wrote in a tweet today.

The company's iPhone application wasn't updated today with support for uploading and viewing crisper photos so it's likely a silent update on Instagram's servers. The official company blog did not share details about the sharper photography experience at post time.

Instagram for iPhone adds curated collections, trending tags and places, place search and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 23, 2015

Fans of iPhone photography should check out Instagram 7.0, the latest update to the Facebook-owned mobile photo sharing app. The new versions surfaced Tuesday on the App Store with interesting new social media discovery features such as an improved search and a much enhanced Explore tab.

With dynamically updated trending tags and places under the Explore tab, Instagram users can now check out, in real-time, what's happening around them and what's trending all over the world.

Relook review: incredible editing tools for portrait photos

Lory Gil ∙ June 10, 2015

Whenever I see a picture of myself, I always notice my flaws. Whether it is redness on my cheeks, lines under my eyes, or that age spot on the right side of my face, I see that more than I see the overall picture.

With Relook, you can fix all of those flaws and give your subject great skin, a wider smile, and perfect lighting, every time. We've got an app review of Relook for you today.

Mobile Monet turns your iPhone photos into art

Lory Gil ∙ June 5, 2015

Since the dawn of photography, people have been finding ways to alter images and add effects. Since mobile photography rose to the top, companies have come up with numerous types of effects apps that do all manner of interesting things to your basic snapshot.

East Coast Pixels is one of those companies and their art rendering photo app MobileMonet just received a major overhaul with new processes that provide a more painterly effect. We've got a hands-on app review of MobileMonet for you today.

Olloclip launches new telephoto and ultra wide-angle Active Lens for latest iPhones

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 14, 2018

Joining its existing range of various lens attachments and special cases for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, Olloclip on Wednesday announced a new Active Lens accessory that combines a telephoto lens with an ultra wide-angle lens.

The pocket-sized accessory requires no extra parts, can be snapped on both front and rear-facing cameras and ships with three wearable pendants to keep your lens safe and within arm’s reach.

Cool Google project automatically creates amazing time-lapse videos from public photos

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 18, 2015

Google researchers teamed up with scientists from the University of Washington on a unique project which taps into a rich poll of public photos on Yahoo's Flickr, as well as on its own Picasa and Google+ services and other places, to automate the creation of amazing time-lapse videos of popular tourists landmarks, Engadget reported Monday.

Leveraging sophisticated algorithms, the project clusters a whopping 86 million photos and stitches them together into landmarks and popular viewpoints.

The Case Star Octopus Tripod will help you take steady photos without breaking the bank

Lory Gil ∙ May 18, 2015

Since Apple Watch can be used as a remote control for the iPhone's camera, you can bet that wide-shot personal pictures will become the new trend, especially since you don't have to use one of those silly "selfie sticks" to get a shot of yourself in front of the Eiffel Tower.

The Case Star Octopus tripod will make wide shots even easier because you can wrap the legs of this mini stand around just about anything and get the best possible shot.

Take your mobile photography a step further with Olloclip 4-in-1 Photo Lens for iPhone 6

Lory Gil ∙ May 16, 2015

If you fancy yourself an iPhone photographer and are looking for some accessories to make your hobby more interesting, lenses work great for creating a wider variety of looks.

The Olloclip 4-in-1 Photo Lens kit provides a fisheye, wide-angle, and two different macro lenses that attach to your iPhone 6, giving you a multitude of picture taking options.

Fusion – HDR Camera review: get quality shots with little effort

Lory Gil ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

There are dozens of camera apps out there that promise SLR quality results, but I’ve realized that many of them don’t offer a whole lot more than what the iPhone’s stock camera app can do.

Fusion – HDR Camera actually provides something special that gives your pictures an additional boost of depth without you needing to do much of anything at all. Today, we’ve got an app review of Fusion – HDR Camera for your reading pleasure.

SelfieX helps you take better selfies using the rear camera of your iPhone

Lory Gil ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

You know you’ve done it. We all have. No matter how much we hate the word, and want to deny our narcissistic tendencies, we have all taken a selfie. Since the creation of the front-facing camera, selfies have become so common that even the president of the United States has been known to participate in the culture.

Unfortunately, the iPhone’s front-facing camera is always abysmal in comparison to the specs of the back-facing one. SelfieX is an app that will solve the poor picture quality problem of the front-facing camera.

Apple buys Israeli camera technology company LinX Imaging

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 28, 2016

In a bid to potentially boost its mobile imaging prowess, Apple has purchased an Israeli camera technology company called LinX Imaging for a reported $20 million, according to a Dow Jones report cited in a tweet by CNBC and later confirmed by Apple.

LinX, which builds miniature multi-aperture cameras designed for mobile devices, could help improve imaging features of future iPhones.

And because its technology is also used in tablets and so-called ultrabooks (ultra-thin notebooks akin to Apple's MacBook Air), there's a reasonable likelihood that we may see significantly improved cameras come to Apple's Mac computers and iPad tablet lineup.

Memories – Instant Photo Scanner review: digitize your film photographs with ease

Lory Gil ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

Say it’s Thursday, and you are frantically looking for some hilarious high school picture of yourself to share with the world on Facebook or Twitter. Once you’ve found the pic, you can’t seem to get a good angle to take a picture of it with your iPhone in order to turn it into a JPEG to post online. Too much glare. It looks blurry. It’s too dark.

That is where Memories – Instant Photo Scanner comes in. You can quickly take digital pictures of old film photographs for sharing and preserving. We’ve got an app review of Memories – Instant Photo Scanner for you today.