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Posts Tagged ‘Selfies’

iPhone mount converts an Apple Watch into a live viewfinder for selfies and vlogging

27 Nov

Apple’s iPhones have a front-facing camera for selfies and FaceTime, but the front camera’s performance and image quality pales in comparison to the rear cameras. For those wanting a high-quality selfie or to record video content of themselves, your options have long been to use the front-facing camera so you can see your phone’s display or to try your luck with the rear-facing camera and hope everything is framed properly. Ulanzi has a new product, the ST-09 Phone Tripod Mount for Apple Watch, designed to solve this exact problem.

By using a paired Apple Watch and the ST-09, you can mount your smartwatch to the ST-09 and clamp it onto your iPhone. With the accompanying Apple Watch app, your Watch’s face becomes a live viewfinder mounted to the back of your iPhone.

As Gizmodo says, it may ‘seem like a foolish use for the $ 200+ smartwatch strapped to your wrist. But as you think about it more, you realize the mount solves a problem that many amateur vloggers who rely on their smartphones for all of their productions needs run into: using the back camera to film yourself is all but impossible.’ The target audience is somewhat niche, perhaps, but the ST-09 is an inexpensive, simple solution. Provided you already have an Apple Watch, of course.

On the bottom of the mount is a tripod a 1/4″ hole for mounting a tripod. On the top of the mount is a cold shoe, which can be used for attaching a fill light, microphone or other accessories.

Ulanzi ST-09 product details. Image courtesy of Ulanzi. Click to enlarge.

If you’re worried about scratching your devices, Ulanzi states that the product features an anti-scratch silicone pad design for the Watch mount and the clamps which adjust to your phone. Speaking of which, the tension distance is 58-89mm, meaning it will fit most iPhones, including the latest iPhone 12 models. With respect to Apple Watch model compatibility, Ulanzi only mentions the Series 5, so Gizmodo observes that the ST-09 may only be compatible with the Series 5 and Series 6 Apple Watches.

The Ulanzi ST-09 can adjust from 58mm to 89mm in order to fit a variety of iPhones. Image courtesy of Ulanzi.

The problem Ulanzi is trying to solve has been tackled by different manufacturers over the years. Gizmodo recalls the DJI Osmo Action, an action camera with a front-facing camera. (You can check out our hands-on with the Osmo Action right here). GoPro followed suit shortly thereafter with the Hero9 action camera. Smartphone manufacturers, on the other hand, have not gone this route. Smartphone displays drain battery and a second display on the rear presents power, engineering and cost concerns.

The Ulanzi ST-09 can be ordered directly from Ulanzi for $ 19.95 USD. The accessory is current on sale from its regular price of $ 29.99.

(Via Gizmodo)

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Apple patent shows how you may one day be able to capture ‘synthetic group selfies’

08 Jun

In the age of physical distancing, taking selfies with friends has become challenging to say the least, due to the worldwide suggestion to keep six feet apart to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. A recently-discovered patent from Apple, however, shows how we might one day be able to take a group selfie without needing to be next to each other — or even in the same room for that matter.

First discovered by Patently Apple, the ‘synthetic group selfie’ patent wasn’t created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, as it was originally filed back in July 2018. However, its usefulness is more valuable than ever, as the desire to feel connected in an age of physical distancing is growing.

A pair of illustrations from the patent showing how the layers within the composited scene could be moved around to better frame people within the selfie.

According to the patent, you could create a ‘synthetic group selfie’ by inviting friends and family to a shared photo session. The group selfie mode would then place those invited to the session next to one another in the image to give the appearance that everyone is right there in the frame. The patent also notes this mode could be used for video and livestreaming options with other options for changing the arrangement of people within the frame.

An illustration from the patent showing how the composition process would work.

As with all patents, it’s unclear if we’ll ever see this option in a forthcoming iOS update. But it would be a convenient option now more than ever, making virtual interactions more social while still staying distanced.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Next-Level Selfies – 7 Tips for Creative Self-Portraits (video)

21 Mar

The post Next-Level Selfies – 7 Tips for Creative Self-Portraits (video) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

Since one of our “At-Home, 7-Day Challenges” is fun selfies, I thought I’d share this video from our friends over at Cooph who give some fun, creative ideas that will take your selfies up a notch.

So, check out the video, get some ideas, then head over to our 7-day challenge page and share your selfie images with us (or share them right here on this page too), as we’d love to see them.

Enjoy!

You may also like:

  • 19 More Creative Mirror Self Portraits
  • Self Portraits – 7 Tips for Going Beyond the Basics
  • A Quick Exercise to Help You Take Better Self-Portraits
  • Dragging the Shutter for Creative Portraits
  • Expand Your Creativity by Taking Self-Portraits
  • 18 Stunning Self Portraits

The post Next-Level Selfies – 7 Tips for Creative Self-Portraits (video) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.


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NASA astronaut Jessica Meir uses Nikon D5 to snap two space selfies

31 Jan

NASA astronaut Jessica Meir caught the public’s attention over the weekend when she published two selfies captured during a spacewalk using a Nikon D5 camera. Meir has shared a number of images from the International Space Station since her arrival in September 2019, though few were as impressive as her full-body selfie captured as a reflection in ISS solar panels.

Meir shared the images on January 26, tagging them with the #SundaySelfie hashtag. One is a traditional shot of her face while the other image is a full-body shot of Meir in her spacesuit as seen reflected in some solar panels. The Earth is visible as a bright band of light behind her, as are bits and pieces of the space station.

As for the camera, Meir explains that she used a Nikon D5 camera with a 28mm lens and special protective housing that enables the camera to operate in space. NASA ordered a total of 53 unmodified Nikon D5 DSLRs from the camera company in 2017 with the intention of using them for recording ISS activities, as well as vehicular activities and astronaut training.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Easter Island tourists put iconic statues at risk to get nose-picking selfies

21 May

The remote volcanic island Rapa Nui, also called Easter Island, is under threat from tourists seeking a particular variety of images taken with the island’s iconic oversized head statues (moai): nose-picking. The trend is one of multiple types of disrespectful actions taken by tourists who are increasingly violating visitor guidelines, putting the statues at risk.

Easter Island has been a World Heritage Site for more than 20 years and is home to the Rapa Nui National Park. According to UCLA archaeologist Jo Anne Van Tilburg, who has been studying the island for almost 40 years, the number of tourists visiting Easter Island has skyrocketed over the past couple of decades.

Van Tilburg said to Newsweek, ‘In 1981 there were only about 2,500 to 3,000 people living on the island, and the yearly count of visitors was about that number. Today, the island hosts over 150,000 tourists per year.’

Many tourists have engaged in disrespectful behavior toward both the island and its residents, including walking over protected land, on top of graves, and climbing the statues. Some tourists violate these rules to get a picture of themselves picking the nose of one the head statues.

The influx of tourists is described as having ‘a hugely negative impact’ on the island’s natural resources and sense of community. Many tourists have engaged in disrespectful behavior toward both the island and its residents, including walking over protected land, on top of graves, and climbing the statues. Some tourists violate these rules to get a picture of themselves picking the nose of one the head statues.

Van Tilburg has called for greater efforts to protect the island and its history, telling Newsweek:

We all need to step up, whether scientist or tourist, and do our fair share to preserve the past. Tourists can study and learn before they travel to the island. They can show proper respect for others. They can remove their egos—and their selfie sticks—from the landscape and learn to appreciate the past.

Sadly, other popular protected destinations also face damage and destruction from tourists, particularly those seeking images to post on Instagram. Last year, for example, New Zealand officials revealed plans to place warning signs around the iconic Lake Wanaka Tree due to the damage it has suffered from people climbing on it.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Auschwitz Museum urges visitors to not be disrespectful by taking selfies on the train tracks

24 Mar

Train track, in operation May–October 1944, leading through the gate to the gas chambers at Auschwitz II-Birkenau

The Auschwitz Museum has asked visitors to be more respectful after an upsurge of pictures posted on social media showing people posing on the train tracks that lead to the main gate. The Museum is concerned that the tracks, which brought over a million people to their death in the camp during WWII, are being used as a photo opportunity with some visitors losing sight of what they represent.

The Museum used its Twitter page to urge those posting on social media to respect the memory of those who died there, stating that ‘There are better places to learn how to walk on a balance beam than the site which symbolizes deportation of hundreds of thousands to their deaths.’ The posting is accompanied by a collection of images showing people walking along the tracks apparently oblivious to where they are.

Speaking to the Business Insider website the museum’s press officer, Pawel Sawicki, said that posting pictures of people disrespecting the site wasn’t intended to shame them ‘but to raise awareness. People have to be aware of the nature of the place they visit.’

Searching under the hashtag #Auschwitz on most social media sites, such as Instagram above, demonstrates the prevalence of the behaviour the museum objects to, with those posing for pictures seeming to have forgotten what occurred at the camps during the Holocaust.

For more information see the Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial and museum website.

Photo credit: Nelson Pérez, used under CC BY-SA 3.0

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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5 Great Android Apps for Taking Creative Selfies

17 Feb

The post 5 Great Android Apps for Taking Creative Selfies appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Erin Fitzgibbon.

Selfies with a Creative Twist

Last year I wrote an article about pushing beyond the selfie. I wrote about trying to make self-portraits that spoke more deeply about who you are as a person; that we should all try to make a portrait that portrays more than just a smiling face. I still believe strongly in that premise. I’m not the type to shoot endless selfies and post them on Instagram. I want to show off the amazing energy and rich personalities of the people I photograph.

Using another app called Photo Lab I created this image in just a few quick minutes. The free version requires the Photo Lab logo.

Peer pressure

But the problem is I have friends who love taking selfies. Everywhere we go they want to make sure we capture the moment. You know the quick shots that commemorate a place and time and how much fun you’re having there. The creative in me wants to do more than just put a hand on my hip and smile. I want to do more. So as a tribute to my friends and salute to those of who you crave creative options I’ve compiled a list of Selfie and Photo Apps that can help you to take great images but also allow you some creative opportunities.

App #1

Sweet Camera – I love this app. If I’m taking a selfie (mostly for my gaming avatar) I use this app. It’s quick and easy to use, and I’ll admit it’s fun. There are a ton of free filters to download and if you want you can add endless combos of ears, sparkly fake earrings, etc. The app works nicely on Android and links quickly through the share option to all my social media accounts. My friends love this one for all the fun little options they can use. One of their favorites is the ability to change their hair color.

I created this image in just a few minutes using a large window for lighting and the Sweet Camera app.

App#2

Pip Camera – Photo Editor Pro – this one is really about the different filters you can use. Pip camera allows you to take your photos and insert them into fun frames. Take a full length shot then insert yourself into a glass bottle. The effect is a lot of fun. There are also options to use polaroid frames. You can even take your photo and edit it, so it looks like the front page of a magazine. This app is about easily using options to make creative images. It’s more than just a selfie app that hides skin blemishes.

I used the bottle effect to take this photo of my friend. It’s the typical joyful jumping shot with a little adjustment.

App#3

Retrica – Yes, Instagram has many filters you can use for your selfies, but Retrica is probably one of the most comprehensive apps. Its got hundreds of different filters you can play around with and use for free. The editing power for managing blemishes and smoothing skin isn’t as powerful as other apps, but there’s a lot you can do with Retrica.

The filters on Retrica are a lot of fun to use in experiments.

App#4

Photo Overlays – this has lots of backgrounds that you can use to create interesting overlays. For those of you who use Photoshop, it’s really about blending layers. For those of you who know nothing about Photoshop, it’s plain fun to insert you and your friend’s face into the moon. Give it a try. Just be prepared to deal with advertisements. There are lots of opportunities for creativity with this app.

Photo Overlays lets you play around with layers in a really simplified manner.

App#5

VSCO– VSCO is more of a photo editor than a selfie app with lots of options for creativity. VSCO also works as a social media sharing platform in and of itself. It comes with lots of preset options as well as some pretty comprehensive editing tools. This app is more of an editing program for your mobile device than a quick and simple selfie app. However, it’s fun to use if you’re the type that wants to do more than add some fun stickers. VSCO lets you get creative with your mobile photos.

 

Processed with VSCO with b1 preset

Be creative!

So basically, the sky is the limit for all of those out there who want to tweak their selfies. You don’t have to stick to the simple little stickers and filters you find in your Instagram toolbox. There are a lot more options out there. Give some of these a try and show us what you create. The world of mobile photography is always expanding. The really cool part about it is that it is accessible to all. Some may turn down their noses at the idea of using these apps and filters but for the average user its a lot of fun to experiment. For me, these apps can never replace Photoshop and Lightroom – I love the creative flexibility of those programs too much to give up on them. I’m still a huge advocate for creating more than the quick and simple selfie, however, if you’re less inclined to take time to shoot something a little more original perhaps these options can fulfill your creative needs.

So now it’s time to see your creative endeavors. I’ll leave you with a few more fun experiments, but I know the rest of you are a lot better at this than me. I’m not the selfie type. So it’s your turn show me what you can do in the comments below.

 

The post 5 Great Android Apps for Taking Creative Selfies appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Erin Fitzgibbon.


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Hydra app update brings zoom lens support and improved selfies

28 Aug

The Hydra app from Belgian company Creaceed is one of the more interesting iOS camera apps we have seen in the recent past. Applying multi-frame methods merging up to 60 exposures, Hydra offers a range of clever-looking capture modes, including an HDR mode that combines up to 20 exposures, a Hi-Res mode that can produce up to 32MP images and a Zoom mode that, by making use of the Hi-Res mode technology, allows for digital zoom with better detail than the standard method.

Now the app has received a major update, with version 1.5 finally supporting the optical zoom lens in iPhone dual-camera models. This means that the combination of optical zoom and the app’s advanced digital zoom you can now achieve even better zoom results up to a 8x magnification.

In addition HDR and low light modes are now available on the front camera, allowing for better selfie images in low light and high-contrast scenes.

Hydra 1.5 requires iOS 10.0 and can be downloaded from the App Store for $ 4.99. More information is available on the Hydra website.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Selfitis, the obsessive taking of selfies, may be a real mental disorder

30 Dec

A viral article published in 2014 claimed that the American Psychiatric Association had established a new mental disorder called “selfitis” — that is, the obsessive taking of selfies. That article, though fake, inspired a real exploratory study to determine whether a condition like the one described in the article could exist…and, the research shows, it very well may.

Of note, the fake viral article had claimed that selfitis existed across three levels of severity: borderline, acute, and chronic. To determine whether that could be true, researchers Mark D. Griffiths and Janarthanan Balakrishnan conducted interviews with a focus group of 225 Indian university students to attempt to create what they called the Selfitis Behavior Scale (SBS) based on those three severities.

Having created the SBS, and as explained in the recently published study, the researchers then attempted to validate it using exploratory factor analysis (EFA). For this, they recruited 734 total students, and identified 400 students as belonging to one of the three severity categories they’d outlined — the breakdown being 34% borderline, 40.5% acute, and 25.5% chronic. The most severely affected age group was 16- to 20-years-old at 56%, while 21 to 25 was the next highest age group at 34%. As well, men represented 57.5% of the categories, while women represented 42.5%.

As a result of the EFA, the two researchers were also able to identify half a dozen factors referred to in the study as “selfitis motivations” — they include social competition, seeking attention, modifying mood, boosting self-confidence, conformity, and enhancing one’s environment.

The researchers note that the study has some limitations, including that the data was self-reported and “subject to many well-known biases.” However, it indicates that a mental disorder like “selfitis” could possibly exist and that it is worth further investigation. “As with internet addiction,” the study states, “the concepts of “selfitis” and “selfie addiction” started as a hoax, but recent research including the present paper has begun to empirically validate its existence.”

Via: PetaPixel

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Apple patent shows camera system that helps you take better selfies

19 Jul

A newly granted Apple patent details a new type of camera system that aims to produce higher-quality selfies. The patent, first filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office in 2015, describes using a wider field-of-view with the iPhone’s front-facing camera when taking selfies in landscape mode. The wider FOV wouldn’t be fixed, however, with the camera reverting to a narrower FOV when a selfie is taken in portrait mode.

These field-of-view effects are designed to improve selfies when taken both in groups of people and alone. In the case of groups, the patent explains that turning the phone sideways would expand the camera’s field-of-view to cover a wider angle, ensuring everyone in the group is featured in the selfie. A self-only selfie taken in portrait mode, though, would feature a more traditional aspect ratio such as 4:3 and a narrower FOV.

The camera system in this patent would also be able to intelligently prod the user to take better selfies by selectively narrowing the FOV in portrait mode, requiring the user to extend their arm further away. The system could also adjust the previewed image in such a way that the user will need to change the camera’s angle, the end result being an overall better selfie with a more natural look, reduced distortion, and other improvements.

Explaining that latter point, the patent says the camera system may ‘crop/scale/zoom/shift the image window to coax the user to hold the camera device in a more optimal ‘self-taking’ position.’ As with any patent, it is possible Apple will never implement this technology into a consumer product, but it’s good to know so much technical thought is being put into… selfies.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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