At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, in January 2019, I got a sneak peak at the Pivo Tracking Photography Mount ($179). The Pivo is a slick automatic phone or camera mount that can rotate via Bluetooth controller. The free companion app allows the mount to automatically track a user by face or action. I was really impressed, and now that the Pivo is real and I've tested a sample unit, I can finally vouch for it.
Hurricanes. Floods. Fires. Disaster can strike at any moment, and our most precious memories are often the most vulnerable. Recently, I started going through my old photo albums to scan and upload my pictures and negatives to a hard drive for safekeeping. Of course, it’s not just photographs that we want to preserve. Vinyl albums, cassette and VHS tapes, analog photography, and even old diary pages are subject to the ravages of nature, storage space, and time. Fortunately, new technologies make it possible for us to preserve and protect our memories in the digital realm. From USB-equipped turntables to flatbed scanners large enough to copy an entire sleeve of images, the means of archiving your most precious memories are only limited by your imagination. But don’t worry, we imagined for you and have a list of devices and apps we think you’ll love.
By Todd Bernhard
Let's face it; while the iPhone is a great camera, the flash is only suitable for lighting up close objects. For serious videography and photography, you may want to check out the LitraTorch 2.0 ($89.95) which Litra sent me to check out. The LitraTorch 2.0 is a heavy duty 16-LED light that offers numerous mounting options, including Tripod, SLR cold shoe, and GoPro, plus a magnetic base that works with the included metal disc with adhesive backing. You could attach the disc to your iPhone case and then attach the LitraTorch magnetically when needed, Or use a separate tripod or action camera mount.
By Mike Riley
Most professional videographers agree that high-quality audio capture is just as important, if not more so than, high-quality video capture. Watching a low resolution YouTube video with superb audio reproduction is far more tolerable than watching a high resolution video with poor audio quality. That is why I find it so surprising that Apple has focused so much of its iPhone feature attention on camera and video capture quality while still utilizing a run of the mill embedded mono microphone for audio. The founders of Hooke Audio saw this subpar configuration in not just the iPhone but other smartphones and video capture devices like GoPro's, and built a product to address this discrepancy. Read on to find out if the Hooke Verse wireless binaural 3D audio microphone system ($159.99) succeeds at eliminating this mobile audio capture fidelity problem.
By Hallei Halter
You know how to take a screenshot with an iPhone, but did you know one of the fastest ways you can share it? Here's how to share a screenshot from your iPhone in just a few taps. Below, I show how to open the share menu directly from the screenshot, so if you don't want or need to edit the screenshot, you can send it to someone as is.
By Conner Carey
Apple introduced the Live Photo feature with the iPhone 6S, and it's still a fun and popular feature of the native iPhone Camera app. Unless you've unselected Live Photo settings in the Camera Settings, the Live Photo function is on by default when you open the Camera app, so you need to turn off Live Photo if you want a traditional still shot. Sometimes, though, we all forget to turn off Live Photo; now what? No worries, you can delete the Live Photo version of your picture and keep the still photo.
By Jim Karpen
One of the great features of our mobile devices is the ease with which we can share photos and videos. You can use your iPhone or iPad to send multiple photos via email or messaging. And if you want to send recent photos, you can easily select multiple pictures to send to someone in the Photos tab in the Photos app. Here’s how to share multiple recent photos on the iPhone.
By Hallei Halter
I have an iPhone XR, and when I take a screenshot, it shows as a small icon in the corner of my screen and stays there for a long time unless I do something to get rid of it or I tap on it to mark it up. Here's how to move a screenshot off the screen of an iPhone X or later.
We've already gone over how to sign up for Instagram on your iPhone, how to create a second Instagram account, and even how to deactivate your Instagram account if you need a break, but there's one more thing we need to go over. A major frustration for Instagram users has been the inability to download Instagram on their iPads. After all, it would be great to edit photos or watch a video on a larger screen, to switch back and forth between watching a movie on the iPad and checking Instagram notifications, and to just have another option for using the app. In the past, you needed to use workarounds to download and install Instagram on your tablet, but now there's an official iPad version of Instagram. Unfortunately, the official version is tiny; it doesn't fill the iPad screen and leaves a large, black frame around the app. Don't worry, though, we'll go over a trick you can use to get fullscreen Instagram on your iPad
By Hallei Halter
Instagram may be one of the most well-known social media apps. Also called Insta, and gaining popularity with its Instagram Stories feature, it's one way to get a peek at people, businesses, and events. You can post a photo, add a caption, and throw in some hashtags to participate in the community, or just use it to browse accounts you like. Instagram can be used for as much or as little as you want.
The new iPhones are out and they continue to get better, in particular when it comes to photography. But one area that could use help is lighting, especially when it comes to using the self-facing camera. That's where the Lighting Kit for Smartphone ($99.99) comes in. Lume Cube gave me a kit to try. I often record videos from trade shows and I can see how valuable this will be for me.
By Hallei Halter
Typical vintage filters for photos slap on a yellow tint and call it a day. VSCO, a photography app that doubles as a photo editor, imitates analog camera settings to make your images look like natural film photos. The app also offers VSCO X, a yearly subscription that bulks up the app to include over 100 filters and tools to edit your photos to look like professional pieces.
By Hallei Halter
I love taking photos and my Instagram account shows it. The Layout app from Instagram helps me combine multiple photos into one collage. So if I have pictures from a party or a walk around the park, I can put several of them together into one frame. Layout makes it easy to customize, share, and save my creatively arranged photos.
By Rheanne Taylor
iPhone cameras are improving every year, to the point where we can all take (and edit) professional-grade photos with just our phones. Still, once you've dived into iPhone photography there are a few accessories you may want to try out; we've rounded up our favorite photo gear for this very reason. From iPhone camera attachments like lenses, to our favorite iPhone tripod, to an awesome starter drone, an iPhone photo printer, and of course a selfie stick, we've gathered our favorite gear of the year right here. We've also included a few extras like a travel bag, a waterproof iPhone case, and some great free photo filter and editing apps to take you from start to finish on your photography adventure. Let's get started!
By Abbey Dufoe
By default on Mac, iTunes opens automatically when you plug your iPhone or iPad into your computer. If you have a Mac, the Photos app will also automatically open. But for many people this causes a lot of problems, including computer freezes. Luckily, you can disable iTunes auto launch pretty easily. We’ll go over how to stop iTunes from opening automatically when your iPhone is connected as well as how to disable Photos auto launch when your iPhone is connected. You’ll need to change these settings on your computer, so have it ready.
By Conner Carey
WatchOS 4 for Apple Watch added a lot of quality features to the smartwatch, including new watch faces. My personal favorite addition is the new Kaleidoscope watch face that uses either a built-in photo or a photo of your choice to create a colorful image in one of three different styles. We’ll go over how to use the Kaleidoscope watch face and how to create your own Kaleidoscope Apple Watch face on iPhone.
If you're into iPhone photography and filming, there will come a time when you feel the need to start investing in accessories to improve your results. One of the most basic yet helpful extras you can buy is an iPhone tripod. A phone tripod can help you get your best shots by stabilizing your iPhone, thereby eliminating unwanted movement and jiggling while you film or live stream. A tripod is also very handy when the time comes for a selfie or group shot where you'd like to include everyone. Whether you have the newest iPhone or an older version like the iPhone 6, iPhone 7, or iPhone 7 plus, there's a tripod out there that will help you take your filming and photography to the next level. Let's get started learning about three of my recommendations for your upcoming purchase.
By Sarah Kingsbury
Need iPad and iPhone help? Sign up for iPhone Life Insider and Sarah will help you with all your iPhone troubleshooting and iOS-related issues. To learn more go to iPhoneLife.com/Insider. In this Hey Sarah column, one Insider wants to know how to remove everything from their old iPad so they can give it away to a friend while another wants to know if it's possible to delete photos from their iPhone without also deleting them from iCloud.
By Todd Bernhard
I love my dog, but getting her to sit still for a photo is tricky, let alone for a selfie with both of us in the picture. There's just too much to coordinate. The folks at Model Citizen had the same idea, but they did something about it! They created the Woofie ($9.50). It's not a selfie-stick, but rather a snap-on attachment for your phone.The idea is to insert a dog treat in the top of the device so it gets your dog's attention. And it works!
By Conner Carey
If you weren’t able to tune-in live or if you’d like to watch it again, here’s the workshop video for iCloud Photo Library versus Google Photos. This workshop focuses on giving you the information needed to make an informed decision on which cloud-based photo storage tool is right for you. Thank you to everyone who joined us and all of you who watch it now. This was our second ever workshop, and we are thrilled with your feedback. We had almost 400 of your join us live! So again, thank you! Learn more on what we covered and watch the full replay below.
