If you’re in the market for a new laptop, you’d be forgiven for feeling a little bewildered by the amount of choices. There are, after all, a huge selection of models on the market, what with hardware makers pushing out dozens of new models every year.

The good news is that you don’t need to look at every single laptop out there in detail, because you can quickly narrow your options down by asking a few questions about what you want in your next computer.

Consider both portability and power

Every laptop is a compromise between portability and power, and they all vary on where they draw that line. A faster and more capable machine needs bigger internal components and more room to keep them cool—which means it will end up larger, heavier, and more battery-draining than a less-powerful computer.

As portable computing power has improved over the last few years, this compromise has become less of an issue. Today, decent processors and graphics chips slip into svelte laptop frames. Still, if you want a laptop capable of the most demanding tasks—primarily gaming and video editing—it’s going to have to be relatively chunky.

The other obvious factor that affects portability is screen size, which is usually listed first in a laptop’s specs. Go for a bigger screen, and you’ll have more room for your Excel spreadsheets and Netflix movies. Opt for a smaller one, and you’ll get something that’s easier to slide into your messenger bag. If you use Google Spreadsheets, both will work. But maybe you want to create an Amazon business one day, for which you’ll need a bigger screen to use an Amazon FBA calculator. Laptop displays typically range from around 11 inches to around 17 inches.

You can find laptops to suit every point along the portability-power scale, so you’ll need to decide which is most important to you. How much of your time will you be spending carrying your laptop from place to place? Will it have to last a long time between battery charges? How much heavy use do you want to get out of it? Answer those questions, and you’ll be able to quickly pare down the list of suitable choices.

Pick an operating system

Your choices for a laptop operating system are Windows, macOS, and Chrome OS, and they’re all speedy, stable, secure, and reliable. Each OS has its pros and cons, and it’s hard to definitively rank them in any objective way. Ultimately, most people tend to just stick with what they’re already familiar with, which can make picking a new laptop a little easier.

Windows remains the most popular of the three, which also means it’s the biggest target for malware and viruses, so make sure you have a robust security system in place (the built-in protections will be fine for most users). As many different manufacturers make Windows devices, you’ll have a broader range of laptop designs to pick from—standard ones, folding laptops that double as tablets, and more.

Apple’s macOS has a stronger reputation for stability and security, and it comes with a host of software, from office apps to music-making tools. On the flip side, there’s a smaller choice of laptop designs to pick from, and prices tend to be toward the higher end of the scale. This OS plays well with other Apple devices (from the iPhone to the HomePod), but less well with non-Apple gadgets.

Chrome OS is essentially just the Chrome web browser, so you’re limited to web apps (no Microsoft Office or Adobe Photoshop here), but it also means the lightweight, streamlined OS needs little in the way of maintenance. Chromebooks running Chrome OS are available in a variety of designs and are usually competitively priced, too.

That’s a whistle-stop tour of your three main options, but it should give you a flavor of what each has to offer. Unless you’re buying your first ever laptop, you’re already going to be familiar with at least one of these operating systems. If you’re thinking about switching to something else, try a test run on a laptop owned by a friend or family member to see how you like it.

Microsoft, Apple, and Google all make laptops to show off their respective operating systems: Check out the MacBook Pro for macOS (from $1,299 from Apple), the Surface Laptop for Windows (from $999 from Microsoft), and the Pixelbook Go for Chrome OS (from $649 from Google). They should give you a better idea of what each platform can do.

Related: Best 2-in-1 laptops

Select your specs

Browse through the laptops at your local store, and you’ll see a whole host of specifications—but don’t get overly worried about the small print. As a useful shortcut, just look at the prices, which will often tell you which computers are more powerful than others. Still, it helps to know a little bit about what you’re dealing with.

The central processing unit, also known as the CPU, or simply, the processor, is the brains of the operation, controlling all the calculations that hum through your laptop’s circuitry. To find out how capable a computer’s CPU is, look for references to a clock speed (in gigahertz), which is how fast it does its thinking. Also keep an eye out for the number of cores, which are basically mini CPUs: More cores means more simultaneous thinking.

These specs are often hidden behind brand terms, like Intel’s labels of i3 (low-end), i5 (mid-range), i7 (high-end), and i9 (power users). Watch out for the generation of the chip, too (Intel’s 10th-gen CPUs are the top of the line in 2020)—a new generation means better performance with less battery drain. That’s why, when a new generation of processors arrives, you’ll often see laptop prices updated across the board.

Another important spec is the RAM, which essentially controls how much your laptop can think about at any one time. More RAM means more support for lots of browser tabs, bigger images, more open applications, and so on. Basically, RAM lets you have a lot more going on without forcing your machine to come to a grinding halt. The absolute minimum these days is 4GB, though if your needs are even somewhat demanding, you’ll probably want to go above that.

Next up: The graphics processor, or GPU, which is basically just a CPU dedicated to graphics. It’s important for gaming and video editing, but not so important for anything else. If visuals are important to you, make sure you look at resolution, which is measured in pixels. More pixels means a sharper screen (and unfortunately more of a drain on the battery). If you see an otherwise decent-looking machine for a relatively low price, the discount may be because the screen resolution isn’t up there with the best.

There are a few other specs to consider. The hard drive size indicates the amount of room a computer provides for files and applications. If you’re planning to keep your videos, photos, and music on your machine (as opposed to storing them in the cloud), make sure the hard drive you buy can handle all your data with room to spare. Also pay attention to the number of input and output ports a laptop has, especially if you’re planning to connect it to a lot of peripherals (like external hard drives or wired speakers).

Don’t forget price and hands-on appeal

The one big factor in your decision that we haven’t really talked about yet is price. If you’re on a budget, this is another way to quickly narrow down your choice of laptops. To save some cash, look for older models that have since been superseded by something new. This is a particularly good option if you know you won’t be taxing your laptop too hard and thus won’t need cutting-edge specs.

Two final tips: Use laptop reviews in tech publications to get a sense of which machines are currently more impressive than others, and actually walk into a store to handle some sample laptops. This can give you a feel for screen sizes, build quality, and so on—even if you intend to buy online.

The post How to choose the right laptop for you appeared first on Popular Photography.

Articles may contain affiliate links which enable us to share in the revenue of any purchases made.

Selfies show up everywhere on social media. After all, why snap a scenic view, major landmark, or gang of friends if you can’t feature your face alongside them? Sometimes you’re recording a precious moment for posterity; sometimes you just need to mark your current mood for five Snapchat seconds. Either way, you want your selfies to look their best. From photo modes to selfie sticks, here are a few tricks to make that happen.

1. Find the right angles

No one wants to gaze at the top of your head or stare straight up your nose. So keep your phone up at face level or slightly higher. Make the camera angle as level as you possibly can, using an outstretched arm (or a selfie stick—see below for more on that).

However, the exact angle also depends on what else you’re trying to fit into the shot (besides your face, of course). For example, if you’re trying to squeeze in the epic scope of the Eiffel Tower, you might need to adjust your camera position slightly.

2. Check the lighting

Decent lighting matters in every photography, including selfies. Most of us don’t carry lighting studio equipment wherever we go, but we can still make the most of the natural and artificial light in a given area.

Natural light is best, but when a selfie moment happens, you don’t always have time to rush to the best-lit part of the room. At the very list, ensure that all the faces in the shot are illuminated. You can do this by avoiding dim rooms and strong backlighting. Instead, try to keep the brightest lighting in front of the selfie subjects and behind the camera.

Some phones come with a front flash. On the default Android camera app, you’ll find the flash button in the top right-hand corner, and in the iPhone camera app, it’s in the top left-hand corner. Other apps have a separate flash button: In Snapchat, for instance, you can find it in the top left-hand corner. However, depending on the rest of the light in the room, a flash may or may not help.

3. Apply some filters

Filters can smooth over a variety of ills to make you look your best. So take some time and acquaint yourself with the options in your favorite selfie-snapping app.

For example, in Snapchat, you’ll find live face filters by tapping the smiley-face button just to the right of the shutter button. In Instagram, tap the smiley-face button down in the lower right-hand corner (note that this only appears in Stories mode). Whichever app you prefer, you’ll want to make it second nature to quickly tap and swipe your way to the right filter.

If you’ve already taken your photo, you can still apply color and brightness filters afterwards. On Snapchat, swipe left or right just after capturing a shot; on Instagram, choose from the thumbnails underneath the picture right after you snap.

Unfortunately, neither Android’s nor iOS’s default camera app offers filters. Because these overlays can drastically improve the appearance of your photos, you might want to stick with a third-party app that has them. On the other hand…

4. Test out selfie modes

Even if they lack filters, the camera apps on your phone might have special selfie modes that are worth investigating. These options can keep you looking good even when you don’t feel that way.

For example, with Samsung phones, you can swipe up or down on the screen to scroll to Selfie mode. Then touch the Beauty button to smooth off rough edges and hide blemishes. Meanwhile, on the iPhone X and the 2018 iPhones, you can swipe through the photo modes at the bottom until you reach Portrait, and then add a range of lighting and filter effects.

If you have a different phone model, you’ll still probably find options to level up your selfie game. Just hunt through the modes and settings in your camera app.

5. Grab a selfie stick

Everyone loves to make fun of selfie sticks, but—provided you don’t mind swinging your smartphone around on an extended pole—they can make a real difference to your mobile photos. The key difference is that the stick moves your phone farther away from you, allowing you to fit more objects in the frame. In general, the longer the pole, the wider the shot.

If you do decide to go full tourist, you can pick from a wide range of options, from the simple Kungfuren Selfie Stick ($7 on Amazon) to the more advanced Vidpro MP-15 2-in-1 Mini-Tripod & Selfie Stick ($20 on B&H), which comes with a detachable remote.

Just remember to double-check compatibility before you buy: Although most of these sticks now work with most phones, you don’t want to wind up with a product that doesn’t play nice with your handset model.

6. Try a remote control

Another way of getting extra distance between you and the camera is to push a remote control. Some of these come with selfie sticks, while others work on their own.

If you already plan to get a selfie stick, the Fugetek FT-568 ($19 on Amazon) selfie stick has a Bluetooth-enabled remote that works with both iPhones and Android devices. By snapping a photo with the press of a button, you can avoid physically holding on to the selfie stick, which means you can use it as a tripod instead. Set it up, get everyone into frame, and then tap the remove.

For a subtler option, give a stand-alone remote a try. If you own a Samsung Galaxy Note 9, for example, you can use the included S Pen stylus as a remote control: Fix the phone in place, frame the shot, and press the button on the pen.

Meanwhile, iPhone users might want to invest in an Apple Watch, which can act as a remote shutter button for the iPhone’s camera. This works through the Camera Remote app, which lets you frame your shot by referencing the wearable’s screen, then take a photo immediately or start a three-second timer.

Finally, if you have a Google Pixel smartphone and a Wear OS smartwatch, you can do the same trick: See what you’re shooting on your wrist, and then tap to snap a picture without having to touch your phone.

7. Set the timer

Just about every smartphone camera app has a built-in timer function. You can use this to position your phone on a wall or a chair, then step back and fit more friends into the frame. It also lets you avoid a having your arm obscure half of the shot.

If you’re using an iPhone, tap the timer button (the clock icon) at the top and then choose between a three or 10 second delay. On the default Android camera app, the timer button looks like a stopwatch and you’ll find it in the top left-hand corner. Again you can choose between a delay of three or 10 seconds.

Even on other phone models, the timer function should be fairly easy to find. Once you’ve activated it, tap the shutter button, then use the delay to stand back and get in position.

8. Upgrade your smartphone

If you’re really serious about quality photos, you might want to think about buying a new smartphone…or at least choosing carefully the next time you’re due for an upgrade. It might be a step too far to pony up hundreds of dollars just to get better selfies, but if you’re a keen portrait artist, you should consider camera quality when you’re deciding on your next phone replacement.

For example, the Google Pixel 3 XL ($750 and up on Google Store) has a dual-lens front-facing camera. This enables wide angles that can fit more of the landscape (or a larger group of your friends) into a selfie shot.

Similarly, the LG V40 ThinQ ($900 for the unlocked version on B&H) has its own dual-lens front-facing camera. This also gives the photo frame extra width when you’re snapping selfies.

Finally, the HTC U12 Plus ($800 on Amazon) not only has a dual-lens front-facing camera for ultra-wide selfies, but also comes with its own set of face filters. Plus, a “squeeze to snap” function lets you easily take a picture while holding the handset.

The post How to take better selfies in any situation appeared first on Popular Photography.

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This story originally appeared on PopSci.com.

When someone slips your phone from your pocket or steals your laptop from a cafe table, you might have to scramble to deal with the consequences. In one stressful rush, you must attempt to retrieve your lost photos, deal with the loss of your vulnerable data, and eat the cost of the physical hardware.

To avoid this difficult and expensive process, you can take steps right now—while your devices are still in your possession—to prevent thieves from pinching your gadgets. There’s no sure-fire way to prevent theft, but even if someone manages to swipe your electronics, a little preparation can protect the personal data within, keeping your information safe and accessible only to you.

Protect your devices

A lot of the best anti-theft advice for gadgets applies just as well to any possession, whether it’s a cuddly toy or a new iPad. In short, remain aware of your surroundings and keep your devices within sight at all times. When you’re not using them, stash these items away in a bag that also stays nearby.

When you’re on the go, avoid showing off your phone, tablet, or laptop to potential thieves. That means keeping them out of sight in the car, avoiding using them more than necessary on the street, and investing in secure bags, such as those with a combination lock.

You can also get tricky. For example, if your expensive laptop lives in an expensive case, think about toting the whole bundle in a nondescript or even scruffy bag, so that nobody will guess what’s inside. Of course, you’ll shatter the illusion once you start working in public, but this maneuver can help you on your way to and from your office—or local coffee shop.

[Related: Make a zippered tote bag out of leftover fabric scraps]

Speaking of coffee shops, when you work in any public space, including bars and trains, you should choose your placement with care. Ideally, your seat will provide a full view of your surroundings, and you get bonus points for finding a spot with a wall behind you. In that position, you’ll quickly spot anyone attempting to make a quick getaway with your stuff. A cozy corner offers a very secure position—even if it lacks a nearby wall outlet.

What about securing the device itself? Most laptops come with some kind of locking port. This is an outlet where you can plug in a cable that will fasten your device to something solid—like the table where you’re working—much like the way a bike lock secures your ride to a rack. Even if your computer doesn’t have a built-in locking port, you can adapt it to add one.

Last but not least, you should think about home security. Anything you already do to deter burglars on your own turf, such as securing your doors and windows, will also help protect your gadgets. For a more tech-centric approach, consider investing in items like a safe for your valuable electronics, a watchful security camera, or smart lights that follow an automatic on-off schedule.

Enable device-finding services

Every major computer and smartphone operating system—Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android—includes a built-in device-finding service. You have to enable this feature in advance, but once you do, you can immediately locate missing or stolen gadgets, and wipe them remotely so thieves can’t access your data.

On a Windows computer, activate this feature at Settings > Update & Security > Find my device. Then, when you lose track of your laptop, open this website on another device to locate your missing machine and lock up its data.

Apple’s device-finding features work similarly on macOS, iOS, and iPadOS. If you own a Mac, you’ll first have to ensure the Find My app is allowed to use Location Services. From the Apple menu, open System Preferences, Privacy & Security, and click the lock at the bottom of the window to make changes to Find My’s permissions. Then, go back to System Preferences, click on or sign into your Apple ID, and find iCloud. Select Find My Mac and click Allow. On an iPhone or iPad, go to Settings and tap your Apple ID, then select Find My. Once you’ve activated this feature, you can locate, erase, or lock down any of your Apple gadgets from the iCloud website or the iOS Find My app.

Over on Android, you head to Settings > Security and activate a service called Find My Device. If your gadget vanishes, you can locate or wipe it from this website or from that same Settings > Security > Find My Device page on a different device logged into the same account.

Protect your lock screen

Any device you own should protect its secrets with a lock screen that forces would-be users to enter a password or pattern, or to provide a fingerprint or face. Those requirements act as your first line of defense against unwelcome visitors.

Because it’s so effective, most modern gadgets will strongly encourage you to set up a lock screen when you first turn on the device. If you’ve left your phone unlocked, it’s not too late to change that. On Android phones and tablets, head to Settings > Security > Screen lock. If you’re using an iPhone or an iPad, go to Settings > Face ID & Passcode (or Settings > Touch ID & Passcode).

With computers, you’ll need to set up password-protected accounts for everyone who uses the computer—even if that’s just you. On a Windows machine, manage this in Settings > Accounts. On a Mac, you’ll find similar options under System Preferences > Users & Groups. While you’re tweaking the macOS settings, disable automatic login under the Login items tab.

Back up your data

If your device tragically vanishes into the ether, that doesn’t mean you have to bid farewell to your data. To retrieve photos, files, and other items when it counts, put a solid backup procedure in place right now.

We’ve previously published a comprehensive guide to all your backup options, but here’s a brief summary: Windows provides the built-in OneDrive service, Apple devices have iCloud, and Androids rely on Google Drive (check that it’s on at Settings > System > Advanced > Backup).

You’ll also find plenty of third-party options. For example, the aforementioned Google Drive works on Windows and macOS as well as Android. Dropbox has similar cross-platform capabilities.

[Related: 6 essential Dropbox tools you might be missing]

Finally, when you back up your computer, don’t discount the hardware option. Plug in an external hard drive, and you can manually copy your most important files on a regular basis.

Again, for more information about how these services work and how to set them up, check out this guide to backing up your data.

Help the device’s finder track you down

If you can’t find your device, that doesn’t necessarily mean someone has stolen it—you might have misplaced or dropped it. In that case, you should give whoever finds the gear a chance to get in touch with you.

To do this on a phone, you can set a message on your lock screen or choose a couple emergency contacts. For your lock-screen message, think about the information you’re comfortable sharing. Your name, email address, and maybe an alternate phone number will all give the device’s finder a good way to get in touch with you. However, you probably shouldn’t put up your home address, as that could compromise your privacy.

On an Android, go to Settings > Display > Advanced > Lock Screen. From there, find where it says “add text to lock screen” and type your information into the box that pops up. Hit Save to finalize it. On iOS, you don’t have the same kind of lock screen control. But what you can do is take a screenshot of this information in a memo app or photograph the same content on physical paper. Then set that image as your background photo so it will show up on your lock screen.

An emergency contact (or two) can also give a phone’s finder a way to contact its owner without unlocking the device. For your contact, choose a person who lives nearby and can easily get in touch with you—even when you’re temporarily phone-less. And once you have some friends or family members in mind, ask them for permission. That way, if a stranger calls them from your phone, they’ll be prepared to seek you out and share this information.

To set emergency contacts on iOS, open Settings, find the Health app, and choose Medical ID. Tap Edit to add an emergency contact. To do the same on an Android, tap through to Settings > About phone > Emergency information > Emergency Contacts > Add contact.

[Related: These smartphone settings could save your life in an emergency]

On macOS, you can set messages to appear on the lock screen and screen saver. To activate the former, go to System Preferences and open Security & Privacy. Then check the box next to Show a message when the screen is locked and tap Set Lock Message… to add text. To adjust the screen saver, open Desktop & Screen Saver from System Preferences, navigate to the Screen Saver tab and open Screen Saver Options… to add a message.

Windows, however, doesn’t allow you to set up emergency contacts or lock-screen messages. However, you might use an image editor to put your phone number on the lock screen or screen saver image, so it shows up when the computer is locked. Alternatively, write your contact details on a sticker and slap it on the bottom of your laptop. That way, your computer won’t share your personal information with everyone at the cafe where you work, but if somebody finds it, they can easily flip it over to learn more about you.

Insure your gadgets

Buying insurance for your possessions is a personal judgment call. That said, if your electronic devices had high price tags and you frequently carry them around with you, consider taking out coverage. This means you can earn compensation when your gadgets suffer damage as well as theft.

As always, check the small print before you sign. Many insurance packages, including AppleCare, don’t cover theft, or they require that you pay extra for that protection. So bear that in mind as you make your calculations.

If you do decide that insurance is worth it, start shopping around. You can often buy insurance from the store that sold your device, the manufacturer that built it, or the phone company that provides your cellular service. Check all outlets’ prices and see how they stack up. For example, Verizon will cover a smartphone’s loss and theft starting at $12 per month, with a device-dependent deductible. In comparison, Best Buy will provide similar coverage for $8 per month with a device-dependent deductible.

The post How to protect your devices and data from theft appeared first on Popular Photography.

Articles may contain affiliate links which enable us to share in the revenue of any purchases made.

This story originally appeared on PopSci.com.

In 2010, Instagram burst onto the web scene with a simple mission: To improve the quality of all our smartphone snaps. Since then, the photo-centric service has grown into a fully-fledged message and social network, becoming one of the most important platforms in the web.

You might be a heavy Instagram user, but you probably don’t know everything the app can do. Some of its best features may be hidden away, but we’re here to bring them to light.

Change filter strengths

Instagram originally made its name through filters, which overlay your image and make it look great. Today, filters are still the first set of options you see after you snap a picture in the app. What you might not know is that, once you’ve selected a filter, you can change its strength to get a more subtle effect.

To set how dramatic the alteration will be, choose a filter, then tap on the thumbnail again, and a slider you can use to adjust the filter strength will appear. While you’re toying with these settings, here’s a related tip for hiding away the filters you don’t often make use of—scroll all the way to the end of the filters and tap Manage to add or remove options you like or dislike.

Get alerts from your favorite people

We’re all fighting against notification overload from our smartphones. Luckily, you can adjust your notification settings so you’ll only see alerts when the Instagrammers you’re really interested in post something new. This option only works for users you’re already following, and it’s also pretty well hidden inside the app.

On your feed, find a post from the person you’d like to get notifications from and tap on the three dots in the top right-hand corner of it. Choose Turn on Post Notifications to get an alert for new updates.

See the world through other people’s eyes

You love your friends and family, of course, but they might not post the best photos. Tap on the Search & Explore tab (the magnifying glass icon) to see public photos and videos from users all around the world. You can also like and comment on these shared images.

One useful way to use this tab is to check out locations before you visit them. Just type the name of a city or place into the search box at the top of the screen, switch to the Places tab, and pick the place you want to look into. You’ll get a host of images and clips to browse through.

Save photos for later

Instagram recently added the ability to bookmark photos you like so you can look them up later. No one else can see the posts and collections you’ve saved—not even the account you’re saving photos from. So bookmark away as much as you like.

To save any photo or video, tap once on the bookmark icon located to the far right of the send icon—it looks like the tail end of a ribbon. Or press and hold on that icon to put the post into a specific collection or create a new one. If you’d like to see all of your saved posts, open the app, head to the Profile tab, go to the options menu (three lines in the top right of your profile) and then tap on Saved.

Use the app for instant messaging

Instagram has come a long way, adding more and more abilities to its roster. One of those features is instant messaging. Your messages don’t need to include a photo, although messaging can be a useful way of sharing pictures privately. You can also go through the photo posting process as normal and choose direct message at the end.

If you tap on the Send icon, in the top-right corner of the front screen, you can tap out a message to any of your contacts. If you’d like to send a message to multiple contacts, you’re in luck—Instagram also supports group chats.

As of recently, Instagram has also added videochat capabilities just like other instant messaging apps. Just open a chat with one or more users, and tap on the camera icon on the top right of the screen.

Make your Stories more private

Instagram hasn’t been shy about ripping off Snapchat’s best features, and Stories is already a characteristic feature of the platform—if you want to share something that doesn’t agree with your grid aesthetic, this is where to do it. But before you do, you can choose who can and can’t see these temporary posts.

Stories don’t appear on your Instagram profile, and you may not want them to be as publicly viewable as your main feed. Open the Profile tab, go to the Instagram options page (hit the menu button on the top right), and select Settings > Privacy > Story Control. From here, you can hide your Stories from specific contacts. You can also go to the profile of the person you want to hide your stories from, tap on the three dots on the top right, and choose Hide Your Story.

Keep your original files

When Instagram posts one of your pictures, it resizes the photo—partly to cut down on data usage and upload times, and partly to stop other people from stealing your images at their full resolution. But what if you want to keep the full-size copies? You can save them separately.

Go to the Profile tab and hit the button in the top-right corner, followed by Settings. Then scroll down to Account, and then tap on Original photos (if you’re using the iOS app) or Original posts (on Android). Here, you can make sure that Instagram is storing copies of your media on your phone as well as online, and you can back up these images to other places, such as Google Photos or iCloud Photo Library.

Share your pictures everywhere

Instagram includes some helpful options for sharing your pictures on more social networks so all your friends can see them.

When posting a photo to your feed, on the final sharing screen, tap Facebook, Twitter, or Tumblr to connect those networks to your Instagram account and seamlessly share your post across them all. For even more options, use the free service IFTTT, or If This Then That. Not only can you share your Instagram posts to more platforms, you can also do more with your photos and videos, such as automatically backing up your media to Dropbox or Google Drive.

Use your Nametag to make friends

Instagram added a feature called Nametag, which lets you add new contacts by snapping their Nametag with your phone’s camera. Think of it like an instant Instagram business card.

To find your own Nametag, open the Profile tab, tap the menu button on the top right, and pick Nametag. Now you can show your Nametag to someone else, let them photograph it, and become contacts in a snap . Alternatively, choose Scan a Nametag from the bottom to be the one who adds a new contact.

Scroll privately by turning off your activity status

Instagram lets you see which contacts are currently active: When you open the direct message section (from the Home tab, hit the Send icon on the top right), you’ll see green dots beside their names. While this might be helpful, it means everyone else will also be able to see when you’re scrolling through photos. If that bothers you, you can disable your activity status—just be aware that this prevents you from seeing when your friends last used the app.

To do so, open your Profile tab, tap the menu button on the top right, and select Settings > Privacy > Activity status. Here, turn off the toggle switch.

Change the font and add some flare to your Stories

When you put together Instagram Stories, you can now adjust the font. Even a slight tweak can change the mood of your post, so go ahead and play around with this feature.

After you capture a photo for a Story, tap the Aa button in the top-right corner and then hit the font name at the top of the screen to cycle through your options (Classic will appear by default). You can also create a post that’s just text and color: In Stories, simply swipe to the right before snapping a picture, and you’ll find yourself on the Create screen.

Finally, you can also choose the color of your font. When you type, you’ll have a 27 classic colors to choose from, but you’ll also be able to choose any tone included in your picture. Just tap the eyedropper icon in the far left, and a pin like icon will appear on your screen. Move it along and it’ll select whatever color you point it to.

Add hashtags and mentions to your profile

Your bio is a great way to tell people a little about you and perhaps attract some new followers. Recently, Instagram added the option to dress up this summary with hashtags and @mentions, allowing you to trigger a hashtag search or link to another Instagram profile.

To get started, tap the Profile button at the bottom of the screen and select Edit Profile. Then tap inside the Bio box and preface any word with “#” or “@,” turning those terms into hashtags or mentions, respectively. They’ll go live as soon as you save your changes.

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Companies like Apple and Google are eager for mobile users to do more of their computing on the go, and that extends to printing and scanning. It’s easier than you might think to print out a PDF or to scan in a document using nothing but your phone.

As you might have expected, there are apps for all of these tasks, and if you know the right ones to use you can greatly increase your mobile productivity. These are the apps you need to know about, and how to get them working for you.

Scanning from a phone

Scannable for iOS

As you may have noticed, your smartphone comes with a camera attached, which can double up as a scanner. You might not get the high-resolution, pixel-perfect copies you would from a real flatbed scanner, but these cameras are usually more than capable when it comes to scanning documents and forms.

Several apps will do the job for you, or you can snap a picture using your phone’s default camera app and store your scan as an image somewhere. If all you’re scanning are images (perhaps photos from an old album), then this is probably the best approach.

Google Drive for Android comes with a scanning tool built in, which can convert scans to PDFs, but unfortunately this feature hasn’t carried over to the iOS version yet. As an added bonus, Google Drive on the web can digitize your scans and let you edit the text inside them. Just tap the plus icon on the app’s front screen and then choose Scan.

Google Drive for Android

Evernote Scannable for iOS, meanwhile, does a great job for iOS devices (and isn’t yet available on Android). You don’t need to use Evernote to use Scannable, but of course the two work very well together if needed—your scans can then be saved as PDFs or images. As soon as you launch the app, you’re asked to get a document in view.

Other options are available. File syncing service Dropbox for iOS (and coming soon to Android) now includes a scanning tool, while Scanbot for iOS, and CamScanner for iOS and Android, are also worth a look. All of these apps are free so you can experiment with each one and see which works best for you.

The scanning process is broadly similar no matter which app you use, with the familiar picture-taking interface you’ll know from your phone’s camera app replaced with a document-scanning one. As you get your document in view, these apps will attempt to automatically detect the edges of whatever it is you’re scanning, then apply a few quick enhancements (to bring out text, for example). After the scan is completed you’ll typically be asked where you want to save or share the document.

Printing from a phone

Google Cloud Print

Scanning from a phone is a pretty similar process no matter what device you’ve got—you just install the app you want to use. But when it comes to printing, Apple and Google take slightly different approaches.

On Android, your best option is Google Cloud Print: This lets you print from any app to any printer that is Google Cloud Print-compatible. Many new printers that offer Wi-Fi come with the functionality built-in. They can communicate with the web directly, which means they can also communicate with your phone directly, once both are linked to your Google account.

You can register any printer connected to a computer for Google Cloud Print, but if it doesn’t have a direct line to the internet itself, then you need to keep the attached computer switched on whenever you need to get some printing done, as this handles all the communications. To set up a printer for Google Cloud Print, head to the online portal in a web browser, log in with your credentials, and choose Add a Classic Printer from the menu.

iOS print

Once you’ve worked through the setup process, your printer will automatically show up whenever you choose to print from an Android app, as long as it’s installed on an Android device linked to the same Google account—some rather impressive cloud magic from Google. If there’s no print or share option in the app you’re using, you might have to move your file to a different app.

You can actually use Google Cloud Print on iOS too, inside apps such as PrintCentral Pro, but it’s not broadly supported system-wide. Instead, Apple uses its own AirPrint technology, and like Google Cloud Print, you’ll find it’s built into most printers released in the last few years.

If you have an AirPrint-compatible device on your local network then it should just pop up as an option whenever you choose to print from inside an iOS app, like Apple Mail—just look for the share or print button. As yet there’s no option to print to an AirPrint printer remotely, from somewhere else on the internet, so if this is something you need to do then check for any bundled software that came with your printer, because a lot of manufacturers now include mobile printing facilities.

HP’s ePrint, for example, is one app that will allow you to send documents to a printer over the web using email, while Canon’s own print app for iOS and Android devices does something similar. If you’re still struggling, third-party apps like Printopia or Print n Share can get your iOS apps to “see” printers that don’t support the AirPrint protocol.

Once you’ve chosen the apps that work best for you, you’re ready to bring your home office on the road.

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Your smartphone can snap pretty good photos. But it’s not a dedicated photography device, and that shows. Good news: You don’t have to settle for any blurred, dark shots. Explore the host of dedicated digital cameras, and you’ll enter a world of sharp focus, low noise, and optical zoom. Your only problem might be finding a route through all of the different makes and models on sale. That’s where we can help.

In this guide, we’ll outline the different types of digital camera you can choose, how much you should expect to spend, and the sort of specs you need to keep an eye on. In the higher end of the market, you can experiment with removable lenses, and we’ll explain the basics of these too. Here’s what you need to know.

Camera types

The digital camera market shifts quickly. As a result, no two retailers seem to use the same labels and categories, which shows you what a lack of consensus exists. However, it is possible to split your options into two major categories. Broadly speaking, you’ve got cameras with attached lenses that you can’t swap out and cameras with interchangeable lenses that you can.

Traditionally, basic digital cameras have been known as point-and-shoot cameras, or compact cameras. As smartphone photography has grown more advanced, point-and-shoots have competed by becoming more sophisticated and expensive. Prices for this category range considerably, from less than $100 to $1,000.

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Point-and-shoots will take care of the average user’s photography needs. But if you’re gunning more flexibility or maximum image quality across a variety of situations, you’ll need to invest in a DSLR (short for Digital Single-Lens Reflex), or a mirrorless camera. DSLRs use a mirror-and-prism system to show you what you’re shooting through the camera’s viewfinder. Mirrorless cameras often have a similar form factor, but lose the mirror and instead use the camera’s imaging sensor and a viewfinder or the rear LCD screen for composing your shots. Various companies have different names for this type of camera like compact system camera (CSC) or mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera (MILC), but in the end, the category represents any camera that can swap lenses and doesn’t have a mirror inside.

Both DSLRs and mirrorless cameras start around the $300-$400 range, but can go up over $6,000 for a pro-level DSLR and over $4,000 for a high-end mirrorless body, and that’s before you add the lens. These interchangeable-lens cameras typically offer stronger specs and faster operating speeds than their compact, fixed-lens counterparts. The bigger cameras also often have larger image sensors inside, which typically translates to better overall image quality, especially when you’re shooting in low-light.

In recent years, mirrorless cameras have been catching up to DSLRs, which have typically offered the best overall performance. Mirrorless cameras like the Sony’s beastly A9 have spec sheets that surpass its DSLR competition in several areas like megapixel count. Buying a DSLR from one of the big manufacturers like Canon or Nikon, however, does open you up to a much bigger lens market, including a whole host of used gear available at cheaper prices on the secondary market. DSLRs are also typically much better on battery life than mirrorless cameras, too.

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Finally, you might see bridge cameras as you shop. As the name suggests, these are basically a bridge between point-and-shoot cameras and the more advanced CSCs and DSLRs. Not everyone uses the term “bridge cameras,” and you may find them merely bundled in with the point-and-shoots. But bridge cameras typically have more powerful features in terms of manual controls and zoom levels, while using only a single fixed lens. They’re a good option for those who want to pay a bit more for a better camera, but don’t want the hassle of swapping lenses. Prices range hugely, from hundreds of dollars to the low thousands.

You’ve probably already got an idea of which category you’d like to dig into, but as with every gadget purchase, picking a camera is a compromise between power and price. If you want to know how good a camera is, looking at its cost is a helpful shortcut. But many buyers won’t need premium-level features—you can still get high-quality snaps if you’d prefer to save yourself some cash.

Camera specs, explained

Whether it’s smartphones or digital cameras, megapixels have long been considered one of the key specs in any photo-taking device. This metric refers to the total number of pixels in a final image file. So, a camera that shoots images that measure 7,360 × 4,912 pixels (like the Nikon D800) would have an effective megapixel count of 36.3. However, megapixels aren’t the only spec that matters. When it comes to higher-end cameras, you’ve got more important details to look out for.

The quality of your photos depends on the size of the sensor inside your camera: A larger sensor can pick up more light, which gives you better shots, whether it’s broad daylight or the middle of the night. A bigger, better sensor also effectively gives you more options in terms of depth of field. If you want that effect where the subject is in focus and the background is wonderfully blurry, a big sensor will help. Of course, with a larger sensor, the price of the camera goes up accordingly. Here’s the terminology to keep in mind: Full-frame sensors are the largest (the sensor is the size of a 35mm piece of film), followed by APS-C, 1.5-inch, and then Micro Four Thirds. You’ll often find 1-inch sensors in high-end compacts. It’s worth nothing that the sensors don’t measure 1-inch in real life, but the designation is based on an archaic standard traced back to video technology.

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Zoom levels are pretty simple to understand, even for beginners. Essentially, they let you get closer to the action. This is where digital cameras beat the smartphone competition: Only the very latest cellphones have 2x optical zoom (the genuine, no-loss-of-quality type of zoom), and even a basic point-and-shoot goes way beyond that. That’s because a camera lens has way more physical space to work with.

You might also see ISO range listed with a camera. ISO is a measure of the device’s sensitivity to light. One of the advantages of digital photography in general is that ISO can be adjusted on the fly, something you couldn’t do with film. So when you’re shopping, look for both the ISO range (the different levels you can pick) and the “native” or “base” ISO (the levels you can get without adding noise). While sky high ISO ranges are good marketing tools (some manufacturers push the number into the hundreds of thousands), you should note that the higher you push your ISO, the more digital noise you’ll see in your photos.

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Lens specs

If you plan to shoot many different types of photo—from night-time party shots to portraits to landscapes—you may need to buy some extra lenses. Whether you’re looking at a fixed lens or interchangeable lens camera, you’ll see some technical terms in the lens specs. The f-number is how wide the lens aperture can open to allow light in—the wider the better. It gets a little tricky because a lower f-number actually indicates a wider aperture. So, a lens with a maximum aperture of f/1.4 will let in more light than a lens that can only open to f/2. Lenses that don’t zoom typically open wider than those that do, so you have to consider which is more important when buying a new lens. The f-number of your lens also has a huge effect on the amount of depth of field you get in a photo. The more wide open you shoot, the less depth of field you have and the more background blur you’ll see. This is why portrait photographers typically use a very fast lens to isolate their subjects.

The other number you’ll see is focal length. We typically use this number as short hand to indicate the angle of view you’ll get when it’s attached to your camera. This gets a little complicated when you talk about cameras with different sized sensors because that can actually change the effective angle of view. Most entry-level and even mid-level DSLRs ship with a “kit lens” with a focal range of 18-55mm. That’s what’s called a “standard” zoom because it goes from wide angle up to a short telephoto on the long end.

Other buying tips

It’s no exaggeration to say we could write an article three times this size and not cover every aspect of digital cameras. But with this information, you should at least have a handle on the basics, which will let you narrow down your selection. Don’t forget to consult professional and user reviews on the web to get a better idea of what a particular camera can do and whether it will suit you best.

We haven’t mentioned video yet, but most higher-end cameras are capable of shooting very decent 4K footage. If you’re going to be recording a lot of clips as well as stills, look out for a camera that can handle video well. Also look for Image Stabilization (IS), which limits camera shake and keeps your shots and video clips looking sharp.

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If you really want to progress with your photography skills, then look for models that give you all the manual controls (over ISO, aperture size, and so on) that you’ll need. If you just want the best results from pointing the camera at something and hitting the shutter button, these manual controls aren’t as important. Plenty of cameras hit a sweet spot between quality auto modes and more granular control. Again, it’s something to look out for in reviews.

Here’s another thing to bear in mind: Just because a camera is a few years old doesn’t mean it’s no good. Modern-day digital cameras age much better than smartphones. By going for slightly dated hardware, you can save yourself some cash and still get a perfectly decent device. Look for refurbished or second-hand options to save even more money.

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That also means the money you’re spending is an investment, so factor that into your budgeting. Your camera of choice is going to be snapping away for years to come, so it might be worth spending a little extra at the beginning. Remember to add the cost of accessories, like bags and lenses, to the cost of the camera itself.

To get the most of your new camera, you’re going to want to shoot photos in raw mode, which means you’ll also need a more advanced editing software solution. Adobe’s Photoshop Lightroom is the most popular option for its balance of a simple interface and advanced editing tools. Capture One Pro is another excellent option, but it has more of a learning curve and is a bit more expensive. Whichever one you pick will be able to help draw out more detail from a raw file than you could get from a camera that simply spits out JPEGs.

With specs improving and prices dropping all the time, there’s never been a better time to buy a digital camera. Once you start sifting through the different models on sale, you’ll find the specs aren’t quite as confusing as they first appear. Enjoy your camera shopping!

The post How to choose the best digital camera for you appeared first on Popular Photography.

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If you have a passion for photography, you don’t have to wait for your big break. While you work on your craft, you can earn money by selling your pictures on stock photo sites.

This is a great way to get cash from a hobby you already enjoy, but don’t quit your day job just yet—you probably won’t make big bucks through this method. Instead, think of it as a way to practice your photo skills, and perhaps earn a little extra change as you do so.

How it works

The basics of stock photography are simple: You offer your pictures to stock sites, they license them on to anyone who needs imagery, and you receive a cut of the sale price. Through this arrangement, stock sites get huge libraries of photos, photographers put their work in front of massive online audiences, and everyone walks away happy. It’s also ideal for amateurs or hobbyists, as it’s an extremely easy way to turn your images into cash—you needn’t handle commissions and sales yourself.

In fact, numerous stock photography sites will compete for your business, giving you lots of potential customers. Take time to weigh each one’s terms and conditions: They offer different royalties, and some will lock you into exclusivity agreements, where they pay you more if you promise not to sell your pictures anywhere else. If you avoid those contracts, then you’ll earn less money, but you can submit pictures to several sites at once. In addition, check to see who gets to retain a photo’s copyright. On most sites, you still own your photo—buyers purchase a license to use it under set parameters, rather than buying the copyright itself.

Once you’ve selected a site or several, you can submit your imagery, then upload it through a straightforward process. Some sites have stricter application procedures, but in general, your images will have to meet a certain quality threshold, which will vary from site to site. Similarly, payment arrangements can differ on each site, depending on how much a service charges for photos, how well your photos are selling, and whether you’ve agreed to an exclusive deal or not.

For more information on specific stock photography websites, read on.

Sign up for a site

The biggest and most well-known stock photography websites include Shutterstock, iStock, and Dreamstime, all of which we’ll cover in this section. We recommend that beginners start working with one or more of these big three. Once you start feeling comfortable with the world of stock photography, you can check out more of these services, such as Adobe Stock, 123RF, and 500px.

Shutterstock, one of the oldest players in the stock-photo game, has amassed an audience of a million users in 150 countries. The site itself is responsive and easy to navigate. To upload your images, you must first complete a contributor application form. If the site accepts you, which it should do within 24 hours, you can earn a flat fee of $0.25 to $2.85 each time someone buys one of your photos. That price depends on the buyer’s subscription plan, the size of the photo, and the number of photos you’ve already sold—as your total Shutterstock earnings go up, so does the cash you receive per image.

The other major name you’ll encounter is iStock, run by Getty Images. Its reach is even bigger than Shutterstock, with 1.5 million users in 200 countries. However, it can take longer to approve new applications, processing them within 30 days. In another difference, payments are a percentage rather than a flat fee. Royalty rates start at 15 percent, and they can go up to a maximum of 45 percent, based on the existence of an exclusivity agreement and the number of people who have bought the picture (to reach that coveted 45 percent, you’ll need at least 330,000 purchases). Your earnings will also depend on the price of the photo: Because iStock offers its buyers different subscription packages (purchasing multiple photos over a long-term period versus buying just one image), a picture can cost anywhere from $0.44 to $12, so your take-home fee will be somewhere between $0.07 and $5.40.

The reach of another well-known stock photo portal, Dreamstime, dwarfs the other options we’ve mentioned: It claims 20 million registered users. However, it’s unclear how many of those users are actually active on the site. The service doesn’t screen new contributors, so you can get started right away, but individual photos must undergo a review, so they will take a couple of days to show up after you upload them. Like iStock, Dreamstime pays in percentages: It will give you between 25 percent and 60 percent of everything you sell, depending on many factors, including whether your photos are exclusive, how much the buyer pays, how long you’ve been with Dreamstime, the size of the picture, and so on. To clear things up, you earn $0.34 to $12.24 for each shot you sell.

Know your market

Choosing a stock photo site and registering to sell photos is just the first step. If you want to make money, you need to take pictures that people actually want to buy. It’s not a question of throwing up some hastily-snapped shots and then waiting for cash to roll in. Instead, consider what potential buyers are looking for.

At the most basic level, your photos need to look technically sharp and polished. Take them with a professional camera (or at least a very good smartphone camera), and make sure the shots are in focus, correctly exposed, and properly framed. Unappealing or amateurish shots won’t sell. In fact, they may not make it past a stock photography site’s screening process.

These high-quality shots also need to have commercial or editorial value. Start by asking yourself whether someone could use them as illustrations for an article, advertisement, poster, or brochure? If you’re unsure, then pay attention to the images that pop up as you read news stories or scroll through social media. This article, for example, opens with a picture of a camera and a laptop sitting on a table. When sites like Popular Science post articles about technology, we need to include an image of the gear being discussed—and we often turn to stock photo sites to find it. Similarly, cooking sites need images of food and kitchen utensils, lifestyle sites show off smiling models participating in healthy activities, and so on.

In addition to emulating the type of photos you see online, follow some of the guidelines that Shutterstock has put together for its contributors: producing honest images that have broad appeal, different layers of meaning, and an aspirational look. The formatting can also help draw in potential purchasers—the service recommends that your pictures include room for text, in case a website wants to format an article by placing the headline on top of the image. In another tip, Shutterstock suggests that you take several variations of the same shot in order to appeal to as many buyers as possible. For example, you might have a model pose smiling in one image and, with the rest of the scene the same, looking serious in another. Speaking of models, images that show cultural diversity and local culture tend to do well on this particular stock photo site.

Avoid potential pitfalls

Before you fully commit to stock photography, look into the potential pitfalls. You don’t want to set your expectations too high or waste your time on a hobby that ends up disappointing you.

First, be aware that creating piles of photos for stock sites can require a lot of hard work—for an uncertain, and perhaps tiny, reward. If your pictures don’t find buyers, you simply won’t make money, no matter how much time you spend on them. You may also have to invest in expensive gear, like a quality camera, lenses, lights, or tripods, to get your work up to the required standard. So don’t treat this as a full time job or a get-rich-quick scheme, because you don’t have any guarantee that you’ll make enough money to support yourself. In the end, you should be practicing a hobby you enjoy and having fun, with the money as a secondary concern.

In addition, a lot of contributors will be submitting their own photos to these sites. Just search any stock service to see how many flowers and rivers and trees pop up. To stand out, avoid generic images and instead brainstorm compositions that are unique to where you live or what you’re interested in. Selecting a niche can prevent you from disappearing into the crowd.

You also need to make sure your work follows the law. People featured in your shots need model release forms (more information here). Non-human items can’t feature labels, logos, or any other trademarks. In general, check the guidelines of any stock site you plan to work with, and follow their advice on what to avoid.

If you succeed in earning a little money, congratulations! Now you get to do a little more admin work when you’re filling out your taxes: You’ll have to declare any income that you make through stock photography sales. To prepare, track your earnings as they roll in and resign yourself to doing extra paperwork when tax season rolls around.

The post You don’t need to be a pro to sell your photos online appeared first on Popular Photography.

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In 2010, Instagram burst onto the web scene with a simple mission: To improve the quality of all our smartphone snaps. Since then, the photo-centric service has grown into a fully-fledged message and social network—and along the way, Facebook bought it up.

Even if you’ve installed Instagram on your phone, you probably don’t know everything it can do. Some of its best features may be hidden away, but we’re here to bring them to light. Read on for Instagram tips and tricks within the app, which you can use on both Android and iOS.

Change filter strengths

Instagram filters

Instagram originally made its name through filters, which overlay your image and make it look great. Today, filters are still the first set of options you see after you snap a picture. What you might not know is that, once you’ve selected a filter, you can change its strength to get a more subtle effect.

To set how dramatic the alteration will be, choose a filter, and then tap on the thumbnail again. A slider will appear: Use it to adjust the filter strength and then tap Done. While you’re toying with these settings, here’s a related tip for hiding away the filters you don’t often make use of: Scroll all the way to the end of the filters and tap Manage to add or remove options you like or dislike.

Get alerts from your favorite people

Instagram alerts

We’re all fighting against notification overload from our smartphones. Luckily, you can adjust your notification settings so you’ll only see alerts when the Instagrammers you’re really interested in post something new. This option only works for users you’re already following, and it’s also pretty well hidden inside the app.

First, you need to navigate to the profile page of the relevant person inside Instagram. Tap the three dots in the top right-hand corner, then choose Turn on Post Notifications to get an alert for new updates.

See the world

Search & explore

You love your friends and family, of course, but they might not post the best photos. Tap on the Search & Explore tab (the magnifying glass icon) to see public photos and videos from users all around the world. You can also like and comment on these shared images.

One useful way to use the Search & Explore tab is to check out locations before you visit them. Just type the name of a city or place into the search box at the top of the screen, switch to the Places tab, and pick the correct result. You’ll get a host of images and clips to browse through.

Save photos for later

Saving photos

Instagram recently added the ability to bookmark photos you like so you can look them up later. No one else can see the posts and collections you’ve saved—not even the account you’re saving photos from. So bookmark away as much as you like.

To save any photo or video, tap once on the nearby bookmark icon—it looks like the tail end of a ribbon. Or press and hold on that icon to put the post into a specific collection. If you’d like to see all of your saved posts, open the app, head to the Profile tab, and tap on the bookmark icon.

Use the app for instant messaging

Direct messages

Instagram has come a long way over the last seven years, adding more and more abilities to its roster. And one of those features is instant messaging. Your messages don’t need to include a photo, although messaging can be a useful way of sharing pictures privately. You can also go through the photo posting process as normal and choose direct message at the end.

If you tap on the Send icon, in the top-right corner of the front screen, you can tap out a message to any of your contacts. If you’d like to send a message to multiple contacts, you’re in luck—Instagram also supports group chats.

Make your Stories more private

Hide stories

Instagram hasn’t been shy about ripping off Snapchat’s best features. For example, they recently added the option to create Stories—a carousel of photos and videos that appear at the top of the feed for 24 hours before vanishing. If you have some fleeting impressions to share, this is where to do it. But before you do, you can choose who can and can’t see these temporary posts.

Stories don’t appear on your Instagram profile, and you may not want them to be as publicly viewable as your main feed. So open your profile, go to the Instagram options page, and choose Story settings. From here, you can hide your Stories from specific contacts.

Keep your original files

Save originals

When Instagram posts one of your pictures, it resizes the photo—partly to cut down on data usage and upload times, and partly to stop other people from stealing your images at their full resolution. But what if you want to keep the full-size copies? You can save them separately.

Go to your profile page and hit the top-right button to head to the Instagram settings screen. Then scroll down to Save Original Photos and Save Videos After Posting to ensure Instagram is storing copies of your media on your phone as well. You can then back them up to other places.

Share your pictures everywhere

Sharing options

Instagram includes some helpful options for sharing your pictures on more social networks so all your friends can see them.

On the final sharing screen, tap Facebook, Twitter, or Tumblr to connect those networks to your Instagram account and seamlessly share your post across them all. For even more options, use the free service IFTTT, or If This Then That. Not only can you share your Instagram posts to more platforms, you can also do more with your photos and videos, such as automatically backing up your precious media to Dropbox or Google Drive.

See what your friends are up to

The Following tab

You might spend the least amount of time in Instagram’s Activity tab (marked with a heart symbol), but it’s worth checking out. The Activity tab, much like Facebook’s News Feed, gives you a handy way of checking in on what your friends are up to, as well as finding interesting new people to follow.

Tap the heart icon at the bottom of the screen, then the Following tab at the top, and you’ll get an edited highlights breakdown of what’s been happening on your Instagram network. Tap on any photo, video, or user for more details. And to see your own activity, tap the You tab.

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So you’ve just purchased a shiny new drone. As soon as you register your high-tech device (required for fliers that weight anything from 0.55 to 55 pounds, which most consumer UAVs do), you’ll be ready to take to the skies. But wait—what if you crash and destroy your drone on its first outing? We’ve collected safe-flying tips from manufacturers and the Federal Aviation Administration, so you can avoid injuring bystanders or, more important, harming your expensive gadget itself.

Start slow

Let’s face it—nobody reads the manual. In fact, many gadgets no longer come with printed instructions. But when it comes to drones, you should read that guide to learn about the gadget’s controls before you take it for a spin. We know, it’s boring—think of the time spent as a sacrifice you’re making to ensure you don’t crash your expensive flying machine.

Once the drone’s features seem familiar, try a low-key first flight: Hover a few feet off the ground in an obstacle-free space like your backyard. This will give you an opportunity to become comfortable with the controls and settings before you head out to a more populated, distracting area like a public park.

Even if you’re eager to push the limits of your new toy, resist the temptation to do too much too soon. Although many of today’s drones include beginner-friendly features, such as avoiding obstacles and hovering in place on their own, you should learn how to perform these tasks yourself. If you’re still uncomfortable with the device after reading the instructions and taking a low test flight, then check out a beginner’s course: DJI, for example, runs occasional free classes.

Perform maintenance checks

Even after you become comfortable with the controls, you should take time before each flight to run a quick set of maintenance checks. Think of it like servicing a car before you the road, a necessary precaution to avoid future damage.

First, make sure to charge the main battery, as well as any spares you plan to carry. Next, look at all the device’s propellers: Check all of them for signs of wear and tear and, if they seem loose, securely fix them in place.

If your drone includes a compass, your final step will be to calibrate this instrument. Because locations can have unique electromagnetic profiles, the signals in one area may not match those in another. A compass calibration before flight will tell the drone exactly where it is—allowing you to position it accurately—once it’s in midair. You should find this process as an option in the app affiliated with your drone.

Keep the drone in view

If you can’t see your drone, you don’t know what it’s doing. So as long as it’s aloft, don’t let the gadget leave your sight. That’s not just good advice—it’s an official FAA guideline. Following this rule is pretty simple, and it’s even easier if you restrict your flying to daylight hours and avoid bad weather conditions. In addition, you should check your environment before taking off to make sure you won’t accidentally send your drone swooping behind a sight-blocking obstacle.

You should also stay in control of the drone at all times. Keep your hands on the steering, even when the drone’s in automatic takeoff or landing mode. Another way to stay aware of the drone’s orientation is to get in the habit of starting each flight with the drone, and its camera, facing you.

To avoid losing control, the FAA also recommends that you don’t fly while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. If you’re too sloshed to get behind the wheel of a car, then don’t pick up your drone, or you could end up with hundreds of dollars worth of broken gear.

Stick to wide open spaces

You need a lot of space to fly a drone, so restrict your flights to wide open spaces like parks and the countryside. These locales are also ideal for keeping your drone in view—you won’t be surprised by trees or billboards.

As the flip side of that, the FAA recommends steering clear of people, buildings, and the crowded areas you’ll find at public events. This will help protect not only your drone, but also other people. As a bonus, avoiding fellow humans means you’ll avoid situations where a neighbor might accuse you of surveillance.

In addition to people, you want to keep your drone away from animals. If the buzzing UAV spooks them, they can react unpredictably, sometimes going so far as attacking and destroying your gadget. Wooded areas and barns can hide wild or domestic animals, so err on the side of caution and don’t disturb habitats like these.

Avoid no-fly areas

Not even drones can roam everywhere in the sky. The FAA limits the maximum altitude you can explore, and restricts drones within certain no-fly zones. These rules aim to protect your drone from damaging itself or others.

Recreational drones must not fly higher than 400 feet into the air. Even at that restricted height, you might encounter other aircraft: Emergency responders, agricultural workers, and others can fly at low altitudes, and in places you wouldn’t expect. So obey the altitude limit, and keep your eyes and ears open while you’re aloft.

In addition, you shouldn’t fly within five miles of an airport or airfield, for obvious reasons: If your drone smacks into a passenger jet, then it’s probably game over for your flying machine. Of course, this can cause problems for the larger aircraft too.

Drones are also banned from the area around Washington DC, anywhere near an active wildfire, and other locations. For a full list of flight-restricted areas, check out the FAA’s website. Before you take you drone to a new location, make sure the site is far from flight paths, landing strips, and other verboten areas. And stay low.

The post A beginner’s guide to flying your drone without crashing it appeared first on Popular Photography.

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Smartphones’ ever-improving cameras encourage us to snap an ever-increasing pile of digital photos. And as these images build up in your phone’s storage, they become harder and harder to organize. That’s where apps come in.

Both Google Photos (for Android and iOS) and Apple Photos (built into iOS) can sort pictures by date, album, and other attributes (in addition to editing and backing up your precious snaps). On top of that, they also come with some lesser-known tools to organize your photo library—and thanks to the rapidly advancing AI underpinning both apps, they do most of the hard work for you. Here’s how to take advantage of these features.

Create albums

If you’re the type of person who loves bullet journaling and keeps her bookshelf in alphabetical order, you may want to sort your images into traditional folders. This makes them easier to access and allows you to browse through themed albums.

To create albums on your phone, you start by selecting the photos you’d like to include. You can scroll through all your images, which the apps automatically organize by date, or search for specific results to include.

In Google Photos, tap and hold on one photo. Once you’ve selected that image, you’ll be able to select any other pictures you want to include in your new album. Next, tap the plus icon on the top right and choose Album. The app will ask you to name the album, and then you’re done! To access any album, go to the front screen of Google Photos and choose the Albums tab at the bottom.

Inside Apple Photos, you need to tap Select on the top right before picking your photos. Choose Add To then New Album… and give your album a name. To find the album again, go to the front screen of Apple Photos and tap the Albums button at the bottom.

In addition to the folders you curate yourself, both Google Photos and Apple Photos will create albums for you automatically. They organize these albums by people or places, so you can scroll through images of your daughter or photos from your voyage to Shenzhen. You can access these albums the same way you view the manually-created ones: from the Albums page of the app.

Search smarter

When you’re trying to dig up a nearly-forgotten photo from your archives, searching by keyword is more effective than hunting through a system of albums. But very few of us have time to enable searches by tagging all our photos with descriptions. Luckily, Google and Apple Photos can automatically tag and categorize pictures for us.

For example, play around with searching by keyword. In whichever app you use, employ the search option at the top of the screen to look up “trees” or “sunsets,” and you’ll see a selection of pictures that match your query. Experiment with the feature by searching for different descriptors, and if you vaguely remember a photo from years ago, try digging it up with a search term—chances are these apps will be able to find it.

In addition to keywords, you can search by specific places. Most phones embed location data in photos’ metadata. Simply type a place you’ve visited into the search box to turn up images you snapped while you were there.

Searching for people is another extremely useful feature, but it takes a little more work than keyword or location searches. Google and Apple deploy smart algorithms to pick out faces that appear in multiple photos, but they rely on you to tell them who’s who. In Google Photos, tap the search box, and the app will show you a row of faces that show up in your photo library. Scroll through these until you find the person you want to identify. Next, tap the thumbnail, then Add a name to match the image with one of your contacts. Once you’ve done that, you can search for that person using the standard search tool. In Apple Photos, find a photo that includes a person you want to identify and swipe up. Tap the thumbnail of the person under People and choose Add Name. As you type, the app will match the name to a person in your contacts. To view all the photos of a certain friend, open the front screen of the app, tap Albums, then select People.

As for finding pictures by date, these apps arrange photos chronologically by default. As soon as you open your app, just flick up or down with your finger to go further into the past. You can also type something like “January 2017” or “2016” into the search bar to find pictures from those dates. In Google Photos (Apple Photos doesn’t yet enable this), you can also search for a specific date using the YYYY-MM-DD format or look for context-sensitive queries such as “last week” or “last April” work in Google Photos too. Again, any of the photos you turn up in a date search can be transferred to a specific album if needed.

Both of these apps let you combine search terms as well. Want to look for sunsets in Barcelona or pictures of your brother on a beach? No problem. Plus, Google and Apple are constantly upgrading the apps’ scanning capabilities, so expect them to get more intelligent over time.

Build highlights reels

If you like reviewing your very favorite photos over and over again, you’re in luck. Both Google Photos and Apple Photos let you combine your best shots into highlights reels that you view as albums, short videos, or collages. They even put together some of these memory collections for you. This gives you a cool way of arranging precious photos into a format you can look back on.

On Google Photos, start by tapping Assistant on the bottom left. Here, you should see suggestions for collections you can make. For example, if you’ve been taking photos and videos at the beach all afternoon, the app might ask if you’d like to combine those images into one video.

To put something together manually, first choose the type of content you want to create: Album, Movie, Animation, or Collage. Next, pick the images and video clips you want to use and click Create. If you decide to make a movie, you’ll first see a preview, which you can jazz up with special effects, using the buttons that appear at the bottom of the preview. Google Photos will automatically save anything you make to your library.

Over on Apple Photos, you begin by selecting Memories. Like in Google Photos, you’ll see that the app has put together some sample memories on your behalf, usually photos from specific places or dates. To accept a suggestion and create a movie of these shots, choose one of the suggested options and tap the play button. Once the clip finishes playing, you can change its style and speed by tapping the icons underneath it.

You can manually turn any album into your own Memories reel. Go to Albums, tap the one you’re interested in, scroll down, and select Add to Memories. As it does with its automatic videos, the app will add some basic transitions and effects to your slideshow. Then you can edit it further by playing the clip and then experimenting with the effects buttons below it.

The post Tech tricks to help you organize your digital photo library appeared first on Popular Photography.

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