guide

Want to Learn How to Shoot Film? Here’s How!

Amazingly, in the age of AI image creation, film photography is not only popular but it's growing again after an initial decline. More and more, people are finding value in timeless, handcrafted imagery.

How to Delete Duplicate Photos on iPhone

It's a common problem — dozens of nearly identical photos on your iPhone, eating up your storage and making it difficult to find what you're looking for. How does this happen, and, more importantly, how can you delete or merge those duplicate photos?

How Autofocus Works in Photography

When it was first introduced, many people sharply believed that autofocus would never have a clear place in the photography industry, puns intended. Why have a machine guess where to focus when you can just turn the focusing ring yourself? Today, autofocus systems are among the primary selling points for new camera and lens technology.

How to Contact Facebook Support

Facebook is one of the largest social media networks in the world, with about three billion active users. That equates to a massive demand for Facebook support. Like most prominent internet companies, Facebook tries to handle support with automated systems to reduce the burden on its representatives.

How to Shoot an Astro Timelapse

Milky Way season is the best time to learn how to plan and shoot an astrophotography timelapse, capturing the majestic galactic core in motion!

How to Delete Your Snapchat Account

Snapchat is a popular social media app that makes it easy to keep in touch with friends and quickly share selfies, photos, and videos. With 382 million daily active users, it's also a great place to get brand exposure.

Caffenol: A Guide to Developing B&W Film with Coffee

One of the greatest things about film photography is its friendliness toward do-it-yourself approaches. Want to hack together a working camera out of discount hardware store supplies? All the power to you! Want to shoot on art paper coated in a home-concocted emulsion, contact-printed using authentic techniques from the 1800s? Why not?

Best UV Filters

The Best Protection Filters for Lenses in 2023

If you want to get a rise from fellow photographers, hop onto any online photography forum and discuss ultraviolet (UV) lens filters. You can say they're excellent or that they're worthless. Either way, you're sure to kickstart a less-than-friendly debate. Like most online debates, there'll be no winners.

Food Photography: A Complete Guide

Food photography is one of the easiest photography disciplines to start out with. You can arrange food however you like. It doesn’t scamper away mid-shoot and doesn’t get tired. It’s also relatively contained and easy to practice.

A Beginner’s Guide to Zone Focusing in Photography

Zone focusing (ZF) is a great way to pre-set your camera's focus and aperture, then use that setting for multiple shots. Street shooters love it. And it's also great for sports, pets, jumpy kids, parties, or any subjects in motion.

PictureThis: The Best Plant Identifier Camera App

PictureThis is the most popular plant identifier app, and it works with the camera on your iPhone or Android phone. While the recognition of PictureThis isn't perfect, it generally proves to be remarkably accurate thanks to its well-trained AI.

A Guide to Third-Party Chinese Lens Brands

Lenses are big business: while we have seen the value of camera shipments nose-dive year-on-year, lens value has slowly increased and is now equal to about a third of the camera market. It's for this reason that third-party manufacturers have increased their stake in this market and particularly at the low-cost end where Chinese manufacturers proliferate. Who are these companies and what does their appearance presage in terms of the camera market as a whole?

What is Focal Length in Photography?

One of the most basic and common terms in the world of photography is the focal length of a lens. In this guide, we will dive down deep into what focal length is and how it works.

How to Scan Photos on iPhone

Physical photographs can be scanned with an iPhone and it's easy to get good results with a little preparation and attention to detail. There are several apps that you can use to speed up and simplify the process, each with a different approach. The app that's best depends on your particular needs.

How to Reverse Image Search on iPhone

Reverse image search is an incredibly useful technology, allowing you to locate online photos that are an exact match or similar in some way to your own. It can also be used to search for products and places just by supplying a picture, even if it's an image that you found online. With the right app, it's possible to get a live result from your smartphone's camera.

What is Dynamic Range in Photography?

We’ve all heard the term "dynamic range" when reading the latest and greatest offerings of camera manufacturers -- "this camera has the highest dynamic range in its category!" We understand that a greater dynamic range is generally a good thing to have.

UV Filter: Should You Use One on Your Camera Lens?

Photographers use a range of different filters on their camera lenses for different effects and purposes, and one of the most common filters found in a camera bag is the standard UV filter.

What is Chromatic Aberration? How to Deal with Color Fringing

If you've ever noticed an unsightly colored fringe or halo on objects in your photographs, you've seen chromatic aberration. It's a common problem in photography and can detract from an otherwise good image. Fortunately, there are ways to minimize or even eliminate it, both before you hit the shutter button and after when editing your picture.

How to Find Hidden Cameras

Hidden or inconspicuous cameras are fairly common in businesses with security concerns. Those black balls you see in ceiling corners or hanging from stems near checkout are undoubtedly watching and recording shoppers to make sure merchandise is being paid for.

Film Photography: A Complete Guide

Film photography. It’s coming back, and more and more photographers are dusting off their old film cameras or going out on a search to purchase one. Many people don’t see the appeal and feel quite comfortable with their phone camera. But for others, it’s becoming the only way they create images.

Do You Tip Photographers? (And If So, How Much?)

You've hired a photographer and they've delivered the photos. Now you come to a question: should you tip the photographer? Not every society has tipping as a common practice, and even in those that do, whether or not photographers should be tipped continues to be a much-debated topic.

A Guide to Camera Lens Features

There's more to consider than focal length and price when buying a new lens. Lenses come with an assortment of features such as stabilization and weather sealing, plus issues like distortion and bokeh.

A Complete Guide to Leica M Lenses

Leica. The name conjures notions of luxury, history, quality, and precision. This especially applies to Leica’s M-mount lenses. While some of Leica’s latest camera bodies like the M11 have gathered praise, the lenses have set the industry gold standard.

Light Painting: A Complete Guide

Light painting has become a popular technique in the age of digital photography. If you have always wondered how to do light painting photography yourself, you've come to the right place.

RAW vs. JPEG: Which Image Format is Best?

We all have been there at some point in our photographic journeys: Our cameras, set to AUTO, pointing and clicking, saving JPEG images that we perhaps edit a little and put in an album to archive. Maybe we throw on an Instagram filter to fancy it up for social media. Then we forget about these images for a while.