Articles about Photography

German software developer Ashampoo has unveiled Photo Optimizer 8.0, a major new release of its Windows photo-editing tool. The first major update since June 2018, version 8 builds further on the 1-click optimization tool introduced in version 7, plus offers additional manual fine-tuning tools alongside a new perspective correction feature.

Photo Optimizer 8 opens with what Ashampoo admits is a 'significantly improved' 1-click correction tool, designed to detect potential weaknesses in the original photo and provide improvements with no user involvement required. The improved algorithm has undergone two years of development and trial runs, with many thousands of setting combinations tested to help lift photos suffering from dull colors, poor lighting and a lack of contrast.

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The Raspberry Pi can be used for all sorts of maker projects, and the foundation has offered camera modules for it since 2013, adding vision-related functionality.

The first module was a modest 5-megapixel affair that was eventually replaced by an 8-megapixel Sony sensor four years ago. Today, sees the arrival of a new much higher 12.3 megapixel quality camera, and a range of interchangeable lenses.

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If you are into digital photography, picking a camera is only part of the equation -- you also need to buy a storage card. Nowadays, this is most likely going to be an SD card, but there are cameras that use other types, such as microSD and CompactFlash. If your computer doesn't have an integrated card reader, you may need to get a USB variant -- that is probably the easiest and fastest way to transfer the photos.

Over on Amazon, there are lots of USB card reader models to be had, but many of them are by unknown brands with questionable quality. Trust me, you don't want to corrupt or damage your card because you bought a cheap reader -- your photos are worth more than that. Instead, you should stick to a reputable brand. Today, one such brand, Lexar, unveils two new readers -- one is a 2-in-1 model, while the other is 3-in-1. Neither are revolutionary, but they look to be well-designed and are reasonably priced.

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A bug has been discovered in the Image Capture app that's part of macOS. The app is used to import photos and videos from other devices.

The bug kicks in when importing images from an iPhone or iPad, and it can result in a hard drive being filled up with empty data.

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MyHeritage offers a handy online tool called MyHeritage In Color which automatically colorizes old black and white photos in seconds -- and does an amazing job of it.

Users without a paid plan are normally limited to colorizing just 10 photos, but MyHeritage is making the service free, and unlimited, for one month because -- you guessed it -- the coronavirus.

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For most home consumers, when you need to read a card from your camera, you just insert it into the reader on your laptop. This is typically an SD card reader, although many newer computers are doing away with them. Instead, you must purchase a USB reader -- they are plentiful on sites like Amazon, and very inexpensive too. But what if you are a professional photographer? Well, then -- you might not be using SD card at all. Instead, you could be using CFexpress or XQD.

The company ProGrade Digital has a new card reader that is sure to excite professional photographers. The "PG04," as it is called reads both CFexpress and XQD cards using the super-fast Thunderbolt 3 connection. For those not yet using TB3, the company also releases the PG05.5 -- a USB-C reader for both CFexpress and SDXC.

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With the launch of the Pixel 4, many people were surprised to find that Google was not offering full-quality photos backups as it had done in the past. For iPhone users, however, the use of the super-efficient HEIC format means it is a different story.

iPhone users have been happy to discover that their original photos are being backed up for free because the compression used by HEIC is more efficient than Google's JPEG compression. Google refers to this as a "bug" and says it is working to address it.

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Adobe has released major new versions of its entry level image and video-editing suites with the joint release of Adobe Photoshop Elements 2020 and Adobe Premiere Elements 2020 for Windows and Mac.

Both new products add a smattering of new features to add to their already rich capabilities. Photoshop Elements includes the ability to automatically colorize photos and select subjects in a photo with a single click, while Premiere Elements adds a feature to reduce grain from noisy videos.

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Flickr now offers protection to its users in the form of image theft detection. The site has partnered with Pixsy and uses reverse image search technology and AI to monitor for unauthorized use of photographers' images.

The service is only available to Pro subscribers, and is being billed as one of the "Pro Perks". Flickr says that when a copyright infringement is detected, users will "get access to a variety of tools and services that will help you deal with the unauthorized use of your work".

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When Flickr announced changes to its free accounts, many users were upset to find that they were going to be limited to 1,000 photos unless they were willing to pay for Pro account. On top of this, Flickr said it would be deleting any images that took users over the limit.

But now the company has announced something of a loosening of the rules. Flickr says that all public Creative Commons works on the site are now protected from deletion. There are also new "in memoriam" accounts for deceased members.

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It is a few months since Flickr announced major changes to its free accounts, and today is the day the impact starts to be felt.

Users unwilling to upgrade to a Flickr Pro account are now limited to storing 1,000 photos online, and any images above this number will be deleted starting today. Anyone who hasn't downloaded or backed up their photos risks losing them forever.

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Three months ago, Flickr announced sweeping changes to its different accounts, the most significant of which was the news that anyone with a free account would be limited to storing 1,000 photos online.

If you are a Flickr user with a free account, you may well have already noticed that you are unable to upload any more photos -- the new limit kicked on in January 8. But in under two weeks, Flickr will not only prevent you from uploading photos that tip you over the magic number, it will start actively deleting files to keep you within the 1,000 limit. If you want to keep your photos, you'll have to upgrade to a professional account or -- as we'll show you -- download them.

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Facebook is throwing in the towel on Moments as the company kills off yet another of its apps. The photo-sharing app will close down on February 25, meaning there's just a month left for the service.

If you're one of the relatively small number of users, you don't have long to grab a copy of the photos you want to save. Facebook has set up a special website to help you to download copies of your images.

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The internet is a serious and valuable tool for research and commerce, but we all know it's mostly about cute kittens and celebrities.

Photo service Shutterstock has been analyzing the search data from its site to reveal most searched for names around the world and has produced an infographic of the result.

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As we wrote yesterday, Flickr is introducing a number of changes to both its free and Pro packages. For users of the free tier, the most significant change is undoubtedly the slashing of free storage to just 1,000 photos and videos.

This is clearly a move designed to encourage people to upgrade to a paid-for account, complete with unlimited storage. But if you're determined to stick with the free option, you'll need to take action or risk losing huge numbers of photos in a few months' time.

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