photography

Worried the photos you share on your various social networks are being used without your permission? For iPhone photographers, Marksta is easily worth the $1.99. The app lets you add a watermark to your photos and provides a wealth of formatting options to protect your photos without ruining them.

To get started, tap the camera button in the upper-left corner to snap a photo or select one from your phone. Marksta will load your photo, below which are seven buttons to create a watermark.

From left to right, the seven buttons let you:

1. Add a border.

2. Change … Read more

Google, which found early success for Google+ among photographers and has been working to keep them happily sharing on its social network, has added the ability to zoom into pictures.

Flickr, Facebook, and other photo-sharing sites offer a larger view of photos, but it's usually at least one click away from the smaller photo that shows by default. Google offers that ability, and last night went one step further by letting people use the mouse scroll wheel to dive further into a photo.

Once zoomed in, clicking and dragging lets people pan around to explore the photo at the … Read more

PicsArt has been a favorite photo-editing and -sharing app for Android, and now it's available for the iPhone. This free app provides an impressive array of editing tools, including collage and drawing functions, along with its own photo-sharing network.

The app's home screen provides a colorful mix of six buttons: Effect, Collage, Draw, Camera, Edit, and Shop. You can also swipe left to view your profile and swipe right to view PicsArt's feed of what it deems interesting photos (think Instagram's Popular feed). You can use the app without creating an account, but with an account, … Read more

If you're bored with the run-of-the-mill images produced by your dSLR's kit lens, the dSLR Wheel of Filters may pique your interest with its ability to add a lo-fi twist to your pictures.

The system consists of two components, an adapter and two "wheels." First, the adapter mounts on your dSLR like a regular lens, which will allow you to attach the two supplied "wheels." One lets you choose between colors, dual colors, and color surrounds, while the other comes equipped with macro lenses, kaleidoscopes, and prisms. … Read more

This is how you sell tech gear:

Yesterday I walked into B&H Photo in New York, which claims to be the country's largest non-chain camera store, and asked one of the many sales representatives if he was an expert on tripods. He smiled and responded: "It's a ball and three legs so you really don't need to be an expert."

I told him I needed to upgrade my tripod and he showed me how to get more life out of my old one. A few weeks ago, a B&H sales person … Read more

The most popular reason nonprofessionals buy dSLRs or other types of interchangeable-lens cameras is because they want better photos or faster performance than a point-and-shoot can deliver; the power of manual controls and interchangeable lenses seem to be a secondary concern. Nevertheless, I'm still routinely surprised when someone hands me his dSLR and it's set to auto and equipped with a standard kit lens.

The best (and cheapest) way to advance your photography is to switch out of auto; here's a map for venturing into that new territory. But the next best -- and not-so-cheap -- way … Read more

If this week's news of Facebook tinkering with Instagram's privacy policy before backpedaling has you heading for the exits, Flickr's iOS app is probably your best bet for snapping, filtering, and sharing photos. But for a more disciplined approach, or if you'd like to start a photo-a-day 365 project, check out Blipfoto for iPhone.

Blipfoto features five buttons along the bottom: Camera, Newsfeed, Browse, Map, Search, and More. Camera mode lets you snap a shot or grab a photo from your Camera Roll. The only editing tools the app provides are 12 rather underwhelming filters, 5 … Read more

Alas for those excited by a video seemingly showing an eagle's unsuccessful attempt to carry off a child: it's not real.

"A shadow analysis revealed some pretty severe inconsistencies," said Kevin Connor, president of Fourandsix, an imaging forensics specialist. "It appears to be a fake."

Just as Fourandsix was digging into the matter, a Montreal school said animation students were behind the video. It "was made by Normand Archambault, Loic Mireault, and Felix Marquis-Poulin, students at Centre NAD, in the production simulation workshop class of the Bachelors degree in 3D Animation and Digital Design," a statement from the center said. "Hoaxes produced in this class have already garnered attention, amongst others a video of a penguin having escaped the Montreal Biodome." … Read more

If you are like me, then you use Instagram mostly to snap shots of your kids. And if you are like me, then you feel a bit uneasy after reading the news this week about Instagram's change to its privacy policy, despite its apology and reassurances a day later that it harbors no plans to sell your photos. If you are looking for an Instagram replacement, I would steer parents toward iPhone app 23snaps.

In actuality, 23snaps is more like a mini-Facebook than Instagram. It lets you create profiles for each of your kids and post status updates along … Read more