Everybody hates Instagram. Well, not everybody, but it sure sounded like that this week. You certainly heard two Kardashian sisters, a Change.org petition and high-profile bloggers raising their voices in opposition to Instagram’s shifting to a virtual all-video platform. It’s all part of the effort for Instagram and sister app Facebook to try and catch onto the success of TikTok, the China based app that has made a huge dent in not just Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, but Google as well....

There isn’t usually a lot of innovation in tripods. Occasionally we’ll see new materials being used, like the introduction of carbon fibre, or improved mechanisms to make things work more smoothly and easily. The HEIPI tripod, though, seems to rethink the whole concept of a travel tripod, by splitting the centre column into three for not only more stability when it’s raised but also to act as a second mini tripod....

Combining photography and kitchen? Yes, please! I love spending time in my kitchen experimenting with food as much as I love taking photos of it. Well, Marc Klaus has “cooked” beautiful portraits in his kitchen using some of the items that we usually use to prepare food. In this video, he’ll show you how to use stuff from your kitchen to take some creative portraits at home. I find these tips to be perfect for the current situation, considering that most of us are spending lots of time at home....

Christmas lights are everywhere these days, and it would be a shame not to use them to get some lovely bokeh. In this video, Sweet Lou Photography will give you six ideas for using Christmas lights in your photos, both indoors and outdoors. You will need: White and colorful Christmas lights (obviously)Some fishing lineMasking tapeA fast lens So, here are the ideas: Bonus tip – here’s one I’d like to add, in case you’re not feeling the Christmas spirit this year and the holiday euphoria is wearing you down....

Attaching the NiSi Vario filter to a lens basically means that we have added a fourth dimension to our camera. The exposure triangle; aperture, iso, shutter speed, has been expanded with a fourth variable with which we can play to achieve a desired effect or outcome. This of course opens up for new creative opportunities in our photography, and also adds a lot of flexibility to our shooting. Let us assume I would like a 30 sec sunrise exposure where my main goal is to smooth the water....

What does your camera sound when you press the shutter? Do you like what you hear? Guys from Lensrentals compared 16 of the most popular cameras from almost every major manufacturer. They include both DSLR and mirrorless models tested for something not exactly common: shutter sound. The team ranked them from best to worst. So, let’s hear the sounds, see their ranking, but also make our own verdict. The Lensrentals team chose the Nikon D850, Olympus PEN E-PL7, and Pentax 645Z to be the best when it comes to the shutter sound....

Have you ever seen an f/0.7 lens? Stanley Kubrick used one regularly. If you are lucky enough to be in San Francisco right now, you can pay a visit to the Stanley Kubrick Exhibition (it’s curently playing at the contemporary jewish museum). If not, former Mythbuster Adam Savage takes you on a filmed tour. There is some interesting trivia about this lens. But first we need to see what camera the lens connects to....

I have tested Photoshop’s new sky replacement feature which yielded some very nice results. But, how does it compare with Luminar? Skylum was the first software developer to implement an AI algorithm that swapped a boring sky with a nice one with no effort. Of course, this has caused some controversy and plenty of discussion among photographers. Skylum has kindly allowed us to test the beta version of the upcoming Luminar AI....

“Imitation is not just the sincerest form of flattering, it’s the sincerest form of learning” – G. B. Shaw. This is one of the quotes that open Sean Tucker’s latest video, and I find it to be a perfect description of the importance of imitation. Imitating other artists is an essential process of learning and growing. We’ve all done it, and maybe we still do. But when is it time to stop?...

I find light painting a really interesting and versatile technique. If you’d like to start experimenting with tube light painting, Eric Paré and Kim Henry have prepared a fantastic tutorial for you. In only two minutes, they share all you need to know to get started with tube painting. The tube First of all, it’s good to know that light painting tubes are really easy to make, and they’re dirt cheap....

I’d argue that nearly all of us owned a speedlight at some point before we owned a studio strobe. When we’re looking to dip our toes into supplemental lighting, strobes seem like a big investment. It just makes sense to pick up a cheap speedlight to play with right? Like many others, I did the same thing. I bought a cheap speedlight (that was ultimately pretty crappy), then I got a proper one, but I was still unhappy, whereupon I quickly bought a strobe....

It’s the age-old question. If I’m shooting outdoors in bright conditions and I want a shallow depth of field with flash, should I go high speed sync or just stick an ND filter over my lens? This time, it’s Gavin Hoey’s turn to try to answer the question. In this video, Gavin shoots a series of identical images using both 3 & 5-stop ND filters as well as the Godox AD400Pro strobe to see how the methods compare and what the advantages and disadvantage of each are....

Recently, we’ve seen a bunch of upscaled and colorized historic footage: from 1911 New York to 1972 Apollo 16 Lunar Rover ride. Even videos as old as the iconic 1896 The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station are possible to upscale to 4K and get a splash of color. While many of us find them inspiring and exciting, historians don’t seem to share the opinion. In fact, they argue that the whole process is “nonsense” and they’d like YouTubers to stop doing it....

It’s December again, which means lots of us are sitting there wondering what to buy for ourselves or the photographer in our lives this holiday season. We’ve been saving up all year to get that something special, but we don’t want to deal with in-store queues – or maybe we’ve just slacked on our Christmas shopping this year. We want to stay at home where it’s nice and warm and see what we can find online that gets delivered straight to our door!...

A few days ago, my boyfriend found some old 35mm negatives. I really wanted to see baby photos of him, so I was wondering: can I “scan” these films with just my DSLR and the stuff I had lying around? I’ve never done it before, neither with a proper scanner nor by improvising. So, I gave it a shot and after some DIY solutions, improvisation and lots of fun – I did it....

Okay, we know that phone cameras can’t really compare to high-end professional gear. But this doesn’t mean phone cameras aren’t getting better and can’t give you some neat results. Lee Morris from FStoppers compares the new iPhone X with his favorite camera for the video, Panasonic GH5. He shoots 4K footage on both cameras in different conditions, and I have to say – the iPhone is surprisingly close to the GH5....

If you’re into light painting, chances are you’re following ‎Zach Smidt’s work. We’ve featured his photos before, and recently, one of his stunning shots especially caught my eye. Surrounded by the serene pink sunset, with gorgeous clouds as a backdrop, Zach’s model Juli stands reflected in the mirror-like water. The white wings are light-painted behind her, giving the additional sense of serenity to the image. I loved everything about this photo and wanted to know more....

Most of us have our favorite location for taking photos, a place that inspires us more than the others. But have you ever photographed the same place, from the exact same spot, a few days in a row? In this interesting video, Norwegian photographer Oddbjørn Austevik has done just that. And the result shows you that you can get six different photos even if you photograph the exact same composition day after day....

TikTok, the video-based social media app, usually conjures visions of teens mimicking the latest dance craze, but it’s probably better described as short attention span YouTube. In 2017, ByteDance, the Chinese-owned parent company of TikTok, acquired the Musical.ly app, which had gained a toehold with an under-18 demographic by becoming a replacement for the comedy-oriented Vine app along with a burgeoning lip synching community. On this week’s episode of the PhotoShelter podcast Vision Slightly Blurred, @sarahjake and @allen3m discuss how TikTok is helping inspire a new crop of photographers....

I don’t really shoot all that many landscapes, but I do shoot in landscape locations a lot. I photograph people in them. Being based in the UK, my biggest issue with location work, as much as I love it, is the weather. Specifically, the bad version. At least with human subjects, there are often alternative spots we can go to with a little more cover. Sometimes, though, weather changes are subtle, and can actually work in your favour....