App News

How much do I hate smartphones? Let me count the ways. But seriously, they aren’t going away anytime soon and many photographers, although not moi, have found clever ways to harness the power of these mobile devices. That said, I do own a smartphone albeit an older model and am on many social media platforms.

This morning Adobe announced an update to their popular Lightroom Mobile app that lets your smartphone do things previously possible only with a true digital camera. Key to the update is a new HDR Raw capture mode enabling mobile photographers to achieve dynamic range on their mobile device rivaling that of a DSLR or mirrorless camera.

Our local supermarket has Halloween candy and scary witches on display, so that can mean only one thing in New Jersey—school is about to open. Annually, each and every elementary school student produces, on average, 331* metric tons of precious artwork; add another 11* tons if they attend summer camp. Some of the items are small enough to fit on the refrigerator door, and all of them are worth keeping forever. Short of renting offsite storage space to house and curate their youngsters' souvenirs of academia, how do sentimental parents cope?

[ *Author's estimate based on absolutely nothing. ]

What if there was one app that could fix the worst case of blur in a photo with just the click of a button? Well, there's a much-talked-about new piece of image software that promises to do just that and, according to a recent test by software guru Unmesh Dinda of PiXimperfect, it's surprisingly effective.

I ended the March 2017 column on my must-have lenses for travel photography and the tripods that support them with a promise that there’d be a part two on the gear that goes beyond cameras and lenses to enable me to get the pictures I envision.

Remix is an AI engine that generates images you can do something with immediately. The gateway enticement is Magic Camera, a snappy app that lets you shoot a selfie, add a text prompt, and simply be amazed. Even if you've become weary from reading about AI this and AI that, go to Magic Camera (it's 100% free) and give it a shot. Link in story below.