Photo & Video

If you love hiking in the mountains, camping and fishing at a favorite lake, or just going for a walk in the woods, you likely already know that time in nature does a world of good for both physical and mental health. Researchers at the University of East Anglia performed a meta-analysis of more than 140 studies completed in 20 countries that objectively confirms these subjective impressions. Exposure to wild spaces reduces the production of stress hormones, lowers pulse rate and blood pressure, decreases sleep disturbances, and increases happiness, well-being, and even creativity. For many people, spending time in the great outdoors, whether for an afternoon or weeks at a time, means a break from technology. But there are so many practical benefits of having your phone with you! So before you escape to the woods to eat roots and berries and forget human speech, think about adding some of this essential camping gear and equipment to your packing list. While you're at it, check out our collection of travel, hiking, plant identification, and bird apps.

I recently reviewed the SmartCine Complete Universal Smartphone Kit. It's a handheld mount that holds a smartphone in place for use in videography. I was intrigued to see how the "complete" kit could get better when Movo sent me its SmartCine Wireless All-in-One Video Kit ($149.95) to try. It turns out there was quite a bit more that could be added. First, Movo added a wireless lavalier microphone option. When combined with an added telephoto lens, this makes it easy to record a distant subject while keeping them in the picture. The kit has a convenient headphone jack as well to check audio levels. Make sure you have your own Lightning to 3.5mm audio converter to accept the output of the wireless receiver.

If you have an iPhone 11 Pro or an iPhone 11 Pro Max with 2x optical zoom and 10x digital zoom, you can easily select the exact amount of zoom you'd like to use with each shot with the zoom slider. With Ultra-Wide thrown into the mix, your zoom menu has changed to make it easier for you to swap back and forth between your cameras. Learning how to use the zoom on the iPhone gives you more freedom to play with photography, so let's get started learning how to use the zoom slider on your iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max.

Ever lost a precious memory because you forgot to back it up? With these two major photo management solutions, Apple Photos and Google Photos, those concerns should be a thing of the past. But which one should you pick? In this article, I'll go in depth to find out. I'll compare cost, file formats, upload quality, and a number of other factors in order to help you make an informed decision.

High-Key Light Mono, for the iPhone 11, 11 Pro, and 11 Pro Max, is a gray-scale portrait effect that whites out the background and turns up the highlights on your subject. To use this effect, open your Camera app and use the Portrait Mode lighting wheel to select High-Key Light Mono. Here’s how to use High-Key Light Mono in the Photo app on your iPhone 11, 11 Pro, or 11 Pro Max.

As a native of Rochester, NY, home of Kodak, I always have a soft spot for Kodak gear. The company created the photography industry but then watched as competitors like Polaroid and later smartphones took over. It looks like Kodak is back in the game with its new Kodak Smile Classic ($149.99) which the folks there sent to me to try. I own the latest Fuji and Polaroid instant cameras so I was pleased to see several enhancements that those devices don't match.

Even though I have three DSLR cameras and a variety of wide and telephoto lenses sitting on my shelf, I still prefer to shoot videos with my iPhone X. I used to do it to prove a point—that you can make quality videos with just your iPhone. But nowadays I shoot with my iPhone for other reasons I’ve discovered along the way.

One of the biggest reasons I enjoy using my iPhone is that it lends itself better to intimate storytelling, which is important for the types of videos I like to make. I’ve found that when shooting with my iPhone versus a DSLR, my subjects act more natural. That’s because most everyone is familiar with iPhones. It’s like ordering mac and cheese at a restaurant. You’ve had it before, and you’ve made it yourself at some point. It’s not a mystery. It's also easier to carry three iPhones than it is to haul three DSLRs with a variety of lenses. And if the impact of the story is going to be the same regardless of the tool used, then heck, why not shoot with an iPhone?

I go to a lot of trade shows, not just technology ones like the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas but also the NY Toy Fair, hoping to find smartphone-related gadgets that would be of interest to iPhone Life readers. That's how I discovered BLOCKERZ Camera Covers ($13.99) from Zorbitz. They are a wholesaler but you can find their products at Amazon, Urban Outfitters, and other retailers. They gave me a sample to try and it turns out, it's not just for iPhones.

Decluttering my physical surroundings changed my life. Getting rid of the things I didn’t need or that brought me down gave me space to breathe and feel more peaceful. I knew that this would become a lifestyle for me and that I could never go back. Once my physical possessions were under control, I realized that although I had taken the time to clear out my closet and my bookshelf, I had let myself hang on to digital possessions long past when they served a purpose. And just like with physical clutter, removing digital clutter reduced stress and gave me peace of mind. So even if you’ve used the KonMari method on your wardrobe and narrowed down your books and files, you’re not done if you haven’t decluttered your phone and computer. That’s where I come in.

Apple's September 10 event is over and, as expected, the tech giant revealed three new smartphone models shipping later this month: the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and the iPhone 11 Pro Max. So, what sets these phones apart from their predecessors, and who might want to purchase these new devices? Let's go over the pre-order and shipping dates, pricing, and specs of the new iPhone release. We'll discuss how the 2019 iPhones are similar, how they differ from one another, and what that means for your iPhone upgrade this year.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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 

App Saturday: Instagram

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.

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