Latest Photo & Video Opinion

  • 23 May 2013

  • Opinion: How to photograph the moon

    It's hard to believe today--especially since you can just look up at the sky and see our crater-covered moon with your naked eyes--but there was a time when people weren't intimately familiar with what the surface of our nearby neighbor looked like. Before the Renaissance-era invention of the telescope, the moon was generally thought to be a perfect, unblemished sphere. These days, with even a moderate telephoto lens, you can photograph the moon and see the surface details for yourself.

  • 08 May 2013

  • Opinion: Protect your camera with rain covers

    Portable electronics have the same Achilles' heel as the invading aliens in M. Night Shyamalan's movie s--Signs: water. It's not a good idea to get your digital SLR wet. Taking photos in a rainstorm can end the life of your camera. So how do you protect your camera while taking pictures in a spring shower or a summer deluge? Dress your camera in a rain cover--usually, waterproof fabric that keeps water away from the lens and body, while leaving both the business and control ends open for business.

  • 30 April 2013

  • Opinion: How to shoot macros of flowers and bugs

    This time of year tends to slow down my progress whenever I'm outdoors; my wife, it seems, can't pass a flower without taking a picture of it on her phone. Indeed, no matter what kind of camera you own--SLR, compact, or smartphone--spring is a great time to take photos of flowers, insects, and other small details of the natural world.

  • 05 April 2013

  • Opinion: Master the Camera app on iOS

    Both the iPhone and the iPod touch make for stellar pocket cameras, and the iPad and iPad mini aren't too bad in a pinch either. An iOS device isn't perfect for every photographic need. But it can serve awfully well in many situations where you might once have needed a digital camera.

  • 22 January 2013

  • Opinion: How to fix jerky YouTube video in Google Chrome

    Lately I've noticed that whenever I play a YouTube video on my PC, it's jerky. Choppy. Call it what you will--it's really frustrating.

  • 12 January 2013

  • Opinion: Television ancestors

    If you've watched all the modern TV there is to see, maybe it's time to take a look at some of the shows that inspired your favorite television. This week we look back at some of the shows that inspired the modern TV landscape and some of the programs where your favorite stars and creators got their breaks.

  • 30 October 2012

  • Opinion: Can Skype really take the place of a face-to-face meeting?

    It's the ultimate business hack: Instead of traveling to meet with a client, a design team, or anyone else you need to see face-to-face, you stay put and set up a video call instead. The technology is there--Skype, WebEx, etc.--and it can save you considerable time and money.

  • 09 October 2012

  • Opinion: How to organize, showcase, and share your out-of-control photo collection

    I’ve amassed more than 30,000 digital photos over the years. I shot most of them; others I scanned from prints gleaned from photo albums and family archives. I’d wager that 95 percent of them are junk—poorly composed, badly lit, over- or underexposed, people with their eyes closed, you name it.

  • 28 September 2012

  • Opinion: The Week in iOS Apps: Albert Einstein's brain

    This week’s roundup of iOS apps is all about the multimedia entertainment: We’ve got video, we’ve got music, we’ve got games, and we’ve got the brain of Albert Einstein.

  • 07 September 2012

  • Opinion: Ask the iTunes Guy: Manipulating files

    [Ask the iTunes Guy is a regular column in which we answer your questions on everything iTunes related. If there’s something you’d like to know, send an email to the iTunes Guy for consideration.]

  • 05 September 2012

  • Opinion: DVDFab Media Player worth a try for Blu-ray fans

    Few Blu-ray movie players are on the market because of the royalties for the technologies involved, but there are some. DVDFab has joined the PowerDVDs and WinDVDs of the world with its own player, aptly titled DVDFab Media Player ($50, 30-day free trial with feature limitations).

  • 03 September 2012

  • Opinion: Three Painless Ways to Get Photos Off Your iPhone

    They say that the best camera is the one you have with you. By that measure, smartphones are the best cameras around. As I've previously reported, iPhones are the number one camera used to upload photos to Flickr, and I can attest to the fact that it fits in my pocket better than my Nikon D7000. In the past, I've given you some advice on how to take better smartphone photos, which is great, but the most vexing part of using the iPhone is getting photos onto your PC. Rather than emailing photos back to your PC all the time, try one of these three handy ways to automate the process.

  • 24 August 2012

  • Opinion: Ask the iTunes Guy: iTunes tips 101

    [Ask the iTunes Guy is a regular column in which we answer your questions on everything iTunes related. If there’s something you’d like to know, send an email to the iTunes Guy for consideration.]

  • 23 August 2012

  • Opinion: Organize Your Photos

    Taleh asked the Digital Cameras & Camcorders forum to recommend a good photo organizer.

  • 20 August 2012

  • Opinion: Take a Great Photo Every Time: A Preflight Checklist

    They say the bumpiest part of any flight is when the human pilot turns off the autopilot and takes over the controls. Photography is similar: Your camera is generally a lot more knowledgeable about exposure controls than you are, and under typical conditions, it'll take better photos than if you tried adjusting the settings yourself. Don't get me wrong--I absolutely recommend taking control of your camera to shoot better photos. But when you fiddle with your camera, that's when you can accidentally adjust settings incorrectly, leading to a ruined photo. This week: My preflight checklist of things to double-check to make sure your camera is set back to its "default" state for error-free photography.

  • 16 August 2012

  • Opinion: This Raspberry Pi Camera Grip Turns Your DSLR Into a Smart Camera

    DSLRs are basically made to only do one thing very well, and that's taking photos. Beyond that, though, it's pretty much useless for editing those photos or sharing them until you get to a computer.

  • 10 August 2012

  • Opinion: Ask the iTunes Guy: Converting music files

    [Ask the iTunes Guy is a regular column in which we answer your questions on everything iTunes related. If there’s something you’d like to know, send an email to the iTunes Guy for consideration.]

  • 07 August 2012

  • Opinion: Curiosity Sends Back its First Color Image of Mars From its 17-Camera Arsenal

    Even though it just landed this past weekend, the Curiosity rover is already hard at work. On Tuesday, NASA received its first color image from the car-sized rover of the surrounding Gale Crater, where it will begin its scientific mission to find evidence of water and life forms on Mars.

  • 05 August 2012

  • Opinion: This is Now Shows Real-Time Instagram Uploads

    Instagram's more than 50 million users know the mobile app is fun to use because its filters and frames give plain old photos pizzazz. Not only that, but its social features let you share your snapshots with friends and keep up with the images others are posting, just by opening the app on your smartphone.

  • 30 July 2012

  • Opinion: Improve Black-and-White Photos, Obtain Ideal Scanner Settings, and More

    Have a question about digital photography? Send it to me. I reply to as many as I can—though given the quantity of email that I receive, I can’t promise a personal reply to each one. I round up the most interesting questions about once a month here in Digital Focus.

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