Instagram's made it to Android. Now what?

How the feed looks

Instagram - the dastardly easy photo-sharing app - has been a darling of the iPhoneography community since its launch in October 2010. It had over one million subscribers within a month and two million within six weeks, all snapping photos, applying filters, and sharing them with the world via a live stream. Now, it has in excess over 30 million subscribers and over 5 million photos are uploaded every day. But anyone with an Android phone couldn't join in the fun because there wasn't an Android app. All the fun was reserved for iPhone-owners. Until today, that is, when Instagram launched its Android version. At last, anyone with a camera-phone running Android 2.2 or above with support for OpenGL ES 2 can download the app, for free, and start snapping and sharing.

If you're wondering just how left-out the Android crowd were feeling, there were over 430,000 people who'd signed up to the Instagram-for-Android waiting list.

Whether this is just people jumping on a bandwagon or they are genuinely excited to be able to share snippets of their days photographically, it doesn't really matter. The numbers are incredible. All of Instagram's numbers are incredible.

The same team who built the app for iOS also worked on the Android incarnation, with the intention of making the experience as similar as possible between the two platforms. Although there are a couple of features missing from the Android version that are extant on the iOS version (Tilt Shift/Blur, Share from Feed, Live Preview and Share to Flickr), they should be coming soon; but the filters and the community are the same. There're no features on the Android app that aren't on the iOS version, and this is something that Instagram intends to maintain.

So apart from ironing out a few kinks in the system and bringing the Android app completely up to speed, where next for Instagram? They're being pretty reticent about the future: 'We have nothing to announce at this time, but we are always actively considering ways to expand Instagram's utility to everyone in the world.' That could mean bringing it to other phones, but it could also mean making an app suitable for all those millions of beautiful tablets that are sliding their ways into people's bags and onto their coffee tables. Wouldn't that make sense?

Wherever Instagram goes next, I can't see it being in a hurry - after all, it took over a year to develop a non-iOS app - but if it's even half as eagerly anticipated as the Android version, then the astonishing rise of the photo-sharing app will take another - slow, but carefully placed - step towards social media domination.

The power of iPhone HDR

There's no doubt that HDR is a popular form of photography (I did a bit of a how-to, if you're not familiar with it), but mostly, I can't help but thinking that it's a bit of a specialist field.

Until, that is, I started using it on my iPhone. Most of the time, I don't need it; but the other day, I wanted to take a photo of a piece of graffiti. If I were photographing this properly, I'd have brought a SLR, and waited for the sun to go away so I could get even lighting across the whole image, but in this case, it was only going to be a quick snapshot.

I did my usual thing when I take photos with my iPhone:

1. Point
2. Shoot
3. Done

So, as you can see, it's a graffiti piece of God on a Sea-Doo. I thought it was pretty funny (those Porteños - that's people from Buenos Aires - really have a quirky sense of humour), but part of the image was missing.

The problem was that the direct sunlight was washing out the highlights on the far right, but the foreground was correctly exposed.I also tried exposing for the highlights (by pressing my iPhone's screen on the far right side, on the sphinx), but no avail: doing that plunged my right-hand side into deep darkness.

This is a great example of how limited dynamic range can make a photograph impossible: It is either too light, or too dark, and there's nothing you can do about it: You've hit the limits of the imaging sensor.

Or have you?

High Dynamic Range to the rescue

So, by using HDR processing, the iPhone takes two photos quickly after each other, and uses a HDR algorithm to use the dark bits from the light image, and the light bits from the dark image, to ensure you get an even exposure. In effect, you're cramming in a load of extra information - much more than the sensor is really able to capture in one exposure - into a single frame.

The result is nothing short of pure magic.

For the sake of comparison, let me post them both underneath each other here:

Non-HDR

HDR

Astonishing, eh? Now, we have detail both in the highlights AND in the shadows. Of course, it still isn't a masterpiece - it's still, unmistakably, a snapshot - but it's a technically much better snapshot than the first one.

And that's worth celebrating, I think.

Creative EVIL photography

When it comes to cameras, E.V.I.L. is good! E.V.I.L. stands for Electronic-Viewfinder, Interchangeable-Lens–and it’s the most innovative, hottest, and stylish type of camera to hit the photography market in the past five years.

Hip amateurs and professionals alike are snatching these cameras up, and this book is tailored specifically to today’s trend-setting users. Creative E.V.I.L. Photography highlights the unique advantages offered by these mirrorless cameras, including incredible image quality despite their small size, more discreet street shooting, and great HD video.

With this specialized guide in hand, photographers will easily exploit the unique characteristics of their new equipment.

On sale now!

The book has been popping up in online bookshops here and there, but it's finally April 3rd, which means it's finally officially on sale everywhere! How. Bloody. Exciting!!

Find out more over on my site, and get yours today!

Lensbaby goes mirror-less

Lensbaby Composer Pro

If mirror-less camera owners were a bit peeved that it was dSLR users who were getting all the fun with Lensbaby lenses, they need feel hard done-by no longer. Lensbaby Composer Pro lenses are now available with a heap of mirror-less camera-compatible mounts. From Lumix G-series cameras to Olympus PENs, via Sony NEX and Samsung NX, they can all enjoy some tasty tilt-shift-tasticness.

The Composer Pro ships with the 50mm Double Glass Optic installed; it creates a sweet spot that's in sharp focus, and you get to decide where by playing around with the tilting and swivelling lens body. However, the Composer Pro is compatible with all of the optics in the Lensbaby Optics Swap System, including the Edge 80, the Sweet 35, and the Fisheye, so opportunities abound for getting creative with your images.

If you're wondering about the aperture on a Lensbaby lens, the Double Glass Optic has a maximum aperture of f/2.0. By removing and inserting different sized aperture disks, you can change to f/2.8, f/4.0, f/5.6, f/8.0. f/11, f/16, and f/22.

Time to go buy one? They're retailing around $300 and are available from authorised Lensbaby retailers and their own online store.

Universal underwater housing patent... Could it work?

Today, an interesting article popped up in my RSS reader, from Photorumors. The article discusses an universal camera housing for use underwater photography. As an avid diver (I'm a PADI Divemaster), my ears perked up: Universal? For SLR cameras? What a fantastic idea.

Whilst it looks like a great idea initially, anybody who has done much diving will be able to tell you that it wouldn't work. The patent application outlines a type of rubber 'gloves' that would enable you to manipulate your camera underwater. However, there many problems with this. The biggest one is the challenge of pressure. Imagine, for a moment, that you fill balloon with air, and take it under water with you. When you dive down to only 10 meters (only a fourth of the depth that recreational divers can go), the pressure will have reduced the balloon to half its previous size. Take it down by another 10 meters, and it'll be a third of its original size. at 30 meters, it'll be a fourth, and at 40 meters (the max depth for recreational divers), it'll be a fifth of its original size.

The opposite is also true. If you fill a balloon with air at 40 meters (It is possible: You look like a fool taking your regulator out to blow up a balloon, but it can be done), and you ascend, the balloon will grow to five times its original size. Or, with a balloon being a balloon, it'll pop before you get to the surface.

How does a normal underwater housing work?

Most underwater housings are rigid. The idea is simple: By letting the pressure of the water simply press on the outside of the housing, the pressure makes it water-proof. All it needs to do is to withstand a lot of external pressure.

At that point, the challenge is simply an engineering challenge: Create a plastic or metal housing that can withstand 5 atmospheres of pressure.

The challenge with this design

Now, the problem with this patent is obvious: you'd need a rigid part (so your lens can take photos), but also flexible parts (so you can operate your camera's controls). The problem happens when you have both rigid and flexible parts - the flexible rubber-like parts would come under a lot of stress from the water surrounding the camera housing, and would likely collapse under the pressure from the outside. In effect, the 'glove fingers' would fill with water, extending their size hugely, making the camera hard to use.

The patent application further explains that the manufacturers plan to cancel that effect out by having a "A pressure equalization system". The easiest way to equalise pressure would be to fill the enclosure with a liquid (since most liquids don't compress at the pressures we are talking about), but since we're talking about camera equipment here, that's probably not going to fly. Of course, there are liquids that could be used without short-circuiting the electronics in a camera, but non-conductive liquids tend to be expensive, and either way, they would affect the optical qualities of the lenses and the camera.

So, the other way to equalise pressure is to simply add more gas (air) to the enclosure when you dive down, and let the air back out when you go up. Sounds easy, but anyone who has ever tried using a Lift Bag underwater, will know that maintaining the correct amount of air to equalise, compensating for the constantly changing pressure based on the amount of water you have above you, is bloody hard.

It seems as if they're trying to solve the problem in this patent, by equalising the pressure inside the casing with CO2 cartridges:

But I can't help but thinking that, whilst an universal underwater housing is a great idea, and I want SalamanderSkinz's invention to work, but based on the patent application alone, it makes me wonder whether anybody would ever risk their pride-and-joy camera to the device, if and when it ever gets built. I don't want to sound like a stick-in-the-mud, but for now, I think the other nearly-universal solution that already exists is a better (and much cheaper) option...

Canon C300: now with BBC approval

The Canon Eos C300

When it comes to approving cameras for use, the BBC is notoriously hardcore about the makes and models that it deems acceptable to film its programmes. And that's programmes produced by both its internal and external providers. They've got a reputation to uphold, I suppose.

It's understandable then, that Canon should be cock-a-hoop that the C300 has just been approved to shoot programmes that can be screened across the BBC's HD channels. The C300 is the third of Canon's camcorders to have received the BBC's seal of approval since January last year, the other two being the XF305 and XF300.

But you get the feeling that Canon is especially proud that the C300 passed the test, as it's the first in the EOS Cinema range, that combines Canon's video, broadcast, and dSLR expertise. Now they're excited to see how the BBC puts it to use. And I bet a few other people are interested, too.

Photographers on Twitter

Say hello to the Twitterati

For the past year or so, I've kept a repository of awesome photographers on Twitter - and today, we hit a really fun milestone: 2,000 photographers!

The list of Twittering Photographers can be found here, on Twittogs.

How can I join in?

Adding yourself to the list is easy: Simply follow @Twittogs on Twitter. As long as you keep following Twittogs, you'll be kept on the list. If you want out, simply unfollow @Twittogs again, and you'll be removed soon after.

If you want your Flickr to be listed separately, that's pretty easy too: Simply do an at-reply to Twittogs with the URL to your Flickr stream, like this:

Hi @Twittogs, please add http://flickr.com/photocritic

Every 24 hours or so, the little Twittogs robot checks its @replies, and adds the new Flickr accounts and Twitter followers to the list.

Check it out, and follow some awesome photographers on Twitter!

William Klein: Outstanding Contribution to Photography

Antonia Simone Barbershop New York 1961 Vogue. William Klein.

He didn't start out as a photographer. He was an artist who'd studied under Fernard Léger in Paris and happened to be exhibiting in Milan when his photographs of some turning panels inspired him to explore photography as a medium. Then he was spotted by Alexander Liberman and brought back to New York (he was a New Yorker by birth) to work for American Vogue. He worked on films with Fellini and made some himself. He's been exhibited all over the world. He won himself a reputation as an 'anti-photogrpaher's photographer', but still picked up award, after award, after award.

He's William Klein. And this year he's being honoured with the Oustanding Contribution to Photography Award at the Sony World Photography Awards.

Klein is famous for his high-grain film and his wide-angle shots. He has captured New York, Rome, Moscow, and Tokyo in their naked realism. His fashion photography favoured street and location shoots, not carefully controlled studios. His films, including Who are you Polly Maggoo? and The Model Couple were satires. Moving between art, photography, and film, he has always been an uncompromising and frequently controversial commentator on modern life.

So at the age of 83, he has been honoured with this award that recognises 'a body of work of incredible diversity, depth and individuality,' says Simon Baker.

Congratulations, Mr Klein.

There will be an exhibition celebrating his work at Somerset House, London, from 27 April to 20 May 2012.

Reorganisation at Sony: digital imaging a business priority

Sony's newest addition to the camera world: the SLT-A57

'Was the Roman Empire's collapse a result of over-expansion?' It's the sort of question that university lecturers put at the bottom of an exam paper to allow anyone who hasn't revised to ramble on interminably and at least write something. If Sony's latest corporate reorganisation fails, and the company continues it overall downward spiral, future business analysts might, too, ask if Sony's demise was precipated by being too big.

From 1 April this year, Sony will embrace a new corporate structure that merges consumer and professional branches, streamlines the decision-making process, and places digital imaging, gaming, and mobile devices at the foundations of its business. The initiative is called One Sony (how very unifying) and is the brainchild of the incoming CEO Kazuo Hirai.

Over the past few years, Sony has struggled to convince people that they should be buying Sony TVs, has divorced itself from Ericsson, and can't really compete with the likes of Netflix or Amazon when it comes to content access. But people love Playstations and Sony held second place in the market share of worldwide camera sales in 2010. (17.9%, compared to Canon's leading 19%.) So they know where their bread is buttered.

Another important move is to appoint an executive to unify Sony products and create a better user experience. Will this make it easier for us to get our photos from our Sony cameras onto our Sony tablets and our Sony HDTVs? Maybe.

Even if Sony cameras aren't your bag, they are a key player in the camera market; their video cameras are favoured by many cameramen, their development of SLT technology is exciting, and they're a prime mover-and-shaker in the EVIL camera market. Sony is one of the companies helping to keep things moving along in the digital imaging world, so hopefully this restructure will help it to stay that way.

(And as for the fall of the Roman Empire, size did have something to do with it, but it sure as heck wasn't the only factor.)

The birth of Mirrorless Cameras

The development of the EVIL (Electronic Viewfinder / Interchangeable Lens) platform has been a long time coming, and in a way, it has been pretty much inevitable.

From one end of technology development, digital compact cameras and bridge cameras have been getting more and more advanced.

At the same time, camera manufacturers realized that SLR cameras aren’t just for the photographic elite and advanced amateurs anymore. Anybody who wanted to start do a little bit more serious experimenting with photography was reaching for entry-level SLR cameras, which led some manufacturers (especially Sony) to launch more affordable and simpler digital SLR models.

A gap in the market...

In the gray area of very advanced compact cameras and very simple SLR cameras, there was a very obvious gap – which was eventually filled when Olympus revived their PEN name.

The Olympus PEN brand was first used in the late 1950s, with a series of very innovative cameras. The PEN name was attached mostly to non-interchangeable lens rangefinder. The first few models were ‘half frame’ cameras, which, at the time, was the smallest camera to use the standard 135 film.

This ‘rangefinder’ word is important: Instead of having a mirror, so the photographer can see what they are photographing through the camera’s lens, you would look through a small hole next to the lens, which would give you an approximation of the picture you were about to take – much like you would get on film-based compact cameras and disposable cameras.

The half-way house: digital rangefinder cameras

When Olympus launched the PEN EP-1, it immediately drew comparisons to the cameras from another camera manufacturer who have a long history in the world of rangefinder cameras: Leica.

Leica is one of those camera brands that most serious photographers have heard of, but that leaves amateurs scratching their heads. Hand-built in Germany, the Leica company is well-renowned for building high-precision, high-quality camera instruments that retail for obscene amounts of money.

In 2006, Leica introduced the M8, which follows in the footsteps of a long and rich history, going all the way back to the Leica M3, a rangefinder camera launched in the mid-1950s. The M8 was the first digital rangefinder from Leica, and it is still considered a very capable camera today. However, it doesn’t have Live View, so there is no way of seeing what you are doing – until after you have done it. A true purist’s camera, then, but considering that it was launched already in 2006, it was also an intriguing look into the future of what was to come…

Technology matures, and EVIL cameras become possible.

The introduction of the EVIL cameras is the culmination of a lot of technology coming to fruition, finally: Up until 2008 or so, there had been several attempts at launching cameras with electronic viewfinders (Among others, I remember the miserable experience of using a Canon Pro90 bridge camera in 2002 or so), but the technology, on the whole, was pretty much useless.

Using the camera’s sensor to display what the camera was seeing ‘live’ on a small screen in a configuration similar to that of a SLR camera was a brilliant idea. It wasn’t without problems, however: The imaging sensors were of poor quality imaging sensors – especially in low light – and the low-resolution displays available at the time made a pretty hopeless combination. Most people who gave EVF (Electronic Viewfinder) cameras a shot quickly returned to the safety of the SLR camera.

Meanwhile, in the Compact camera world, more and more people were using the LCD display exclusively, ignoring the optical viewfinder. Camera manufacturers were noticing this, of course, and decided to concentrate on making the LCD displays better, and ditched the optical viewfinders from their cameras.

Eventually, when live view became good enough that the viewfinder became superfluous, the technology was ready for EVIL cameras: Why should the users have to put up with the humpback design of SLR cameras when the mirror and pentaprism part was superfluous?

Exactly.

Customers wanted smaller, lighter cameras that didn't compromise on image quality; they didn't want the weight and size associated with the SLR platforms, but they did want the flexibility of being able to select the perfect lens for the job.

The rest, as they say, is history...

And so, the EVIL cameras were born...

The above is an extract from the introduction chapter of my brand new book, Creative EVIL photography. I'm biased, of course, but I think it's a fantastic book.

Whether you've already bought an EVIL camera, whether you're considering it, or even if you don't think you'll ever go near one, but just want a thorough introduction to photography, this is the book for you.

It has just popped up for sale on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk, so head over and buy your copy today!

Sony World Photography Awards: Open and Youth category winners announced!

Sossusvlei ©Bernard Pieterse, South Africa, Youth Category Winner, Environment, Sony World Photography Awards 2012

London is gearing up for a month of fantastic photo events organised by the World Photo Organisation. Kicking things off on 26 April will be the Sony World Photography Awards, held at the rather swanky Hilton Hotel on Park Lane. In the run up to these awards, the winners of the Youth and Open competitions have just been announced.

In the Open competition the category winners were:

• Architecture: Filippo Di Rosa (Italy)
• Arts & Culture: Sanket K (India)
• Enhanced: Victor Vargas Villafuerte (Mexico)
• Low Light: Natalia Belentsova (Russian Federation)
• Nature & Wildlife: Giovanni Frescura (Italy)
• Panoramic: Denise Worden (United States)
• People: Ana Gregorič (Slovenia)
• Smile: Piotr Stasiuk (Poland)
• Split Second: Tobias Bräuning (Germany)
• Travel: Krzysztof Browko (Poland)

The Youth competition category winners were:

• Culture: Kolyaskin Sergey (Russian Federation)
• Environment: Bernard Pieterse (South Africa)
• Portraits: Karina Sembe (Ukraine)

The overall winners for these competitions, together with the preofessional competitions, will be announced on the big night in London.

There's a selection of the winners' photos on the carousel up there for you to enjoy!

Using Quora to solve your photography conundrums

Photographers always want to learn more about their craft, so that they can hone their skills and better themselves and their career. Whether you are a professional photographer with your own business, or you are just a hobbyist who likes taking photographs in your spare time, you probably have questions or issues that you want answering. Quora is a relatively new question-and-answers style website, that is rapidly developing into the perfect place to find answers to many different questions - including ones about Photography.

What is Quora?

Quora.com is a website that connects users who are interested in the same field - such as photography. The site connects users with common interests and allows them to share their knowledge about their topic with others, and also, it allows them to get information and answers from other users. It is a great place to find information and advice from users who have real-life experience in their field, and it provides fact-filled pages that answer particular questions in a certain field.

How Quora Can Benefit Photographers

Quora has a whole section devoted to the subject of photography. The topic page is filled with links to useful answers to popular photography questions and you can even click a link on the page to follow the topic, so that you can keep on top of new answers. You can even follow a particular answer, question, or user. The site also allows you to post your own questions, so if you have a question that you haven't seen answered on the site, you can ask it yourself. You can even direct your question at a particular user.

The site also allows members to vote on how useful an answer is, meaning that you can visit the photography site and see the top answers, without having to go through all of the answers on the site. This is a great time-saver, and a quick look at this list could answer some burning photography questions that you may need answering. The site is also ideal if you are a professional photographer, as you can answer other user's questions and establish yourself as an expert.

Get High-Quality Answers to Your Questions

The site is dedicated to providing high-quality answers to user's questions. The voting system means that only the most useful answers are placed in the best answers category. As a photographer it is important to learn as much as you can about your craft.

Quora provides answers to many questions about photography. For example one of the top questions in the best answers category focuses on how to get a subject who is shy, to pose naturally. The answer provides tips on how to get the subject to feel relaxed and comfortable in the photography environment. You can read the full answer here.

The site also provides answers on specific types of photography such as travel photography. For example the questions about the best places to photograph in Maui, Hawaii and the best secluded places to photograph in the French Riviera, both provide an interesting insight into travel photography - and if you don't really have any questions yourself, you can always browse the best questions and answers in the Photography category.

If you are looking for some guidance, Quora can provide it from experts in the field. Signing up to Quora is quick and easy, and using the site is relatively simple.

Team Leica publish book for charity

A gorgeous spread from the book, showing pictures by Gez and Ivan.

So, what do you do if you've got a big heart, an empty wallet (after buying that fancy Leica), and a lot of creative people in the same room? You create a book, of course, celebrating some of the most awesome photography by your users - and raise some money for charity at the same time.

Well, that's what the Leica Users Forum did anyway, aiming to repeat the success from previous effort - their first book was published in 2010 and raised over £12,500 / €15,000 / US$19,500 for their chosen charity, The Association for International Cancer Research.

And now, of course, they're doing it all over again.

This year, they've selected their 100 best photographs submitted to the judging panel.

Interestingly, even though all the photos were taken on Leicas, more than 20 different camera models were used to take photos, and yet, only 13 of the shots in the book were taken on film - the rest were taken with the Leica M8 and M9 digital rangefinder cameras.

So far, the 2012 Book has raised nearly £4,000 already, so if you want to be part of history, ogle a lot of fabulous photos, and help fight off cancer in the process point your browsing device at the Blurb page for the book, and dust off your credit card.

The photos are gorgeous, and the cause is good. What are you waiting for?

Photo Mosaic - a free photography workshop for children

A participant at a previous Geffrye Museum photography event, by Hannah Salisbury (courtesy of the Geffrye Museum).

Photography workshops for kids are good. Free photography workshops for kids are even better. On Sunday 25 March, the Geffrye Museum in Shoreditch, London, will be offering a free afternoon of photography for young people aged between 11 and 19.

Participants will be working with a professional photographer to hone their skills, both with the camera and in the editing suite, and have access to the museum's objects - as well as themselves as portrait subjects - to create a series of 'tiles' that will be compiled to form a giant digital mosaic at the end of the day.

Sounds pretty good to me, especially as it won't cost a penny.

The workshop runs from 13:00 to 16:30. To register for a place, or to get more information, contact Vanessa Weibel at the Geffrye, by either email (vweibel@geffrye-museum.org.uk) or telephone (020 7749 6013).

The world's 25 most beautiful travel destinations

 Are you a photographer? And a traveller? Well, then I have a treat for you! I was doing some research for my upcoming book 'Focus on Travel Photography' (It's not available yet, but it's the follow-up to Focus on Photographing People), about awesome places to go for your travel photography fix.

These are some of the awesomest-est places. Bring your camera, return with photos. Simple!

1. Oxbow Bend, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming - Right near the winding Snake River, Oxbow Bend produces a great array of colours throughout the day. Photographers will love the colour palette that they get when they take photos here.

2. Denali National Park, Alaska - On the beautiful Mt. McKinley, Denali National Park is home to many animals that can be easily found and photographed. You can view these animals from the many hiking and nature trails throughout the mountain. Photographers can take photos of moose, wolves, and even the occasional grizzly bear.

3. Glacier National Park - Glaciers swooped through Montana centuries ago and produced the breathtaking landscape seen at Glacier National Park. Many lakes also speckle the land, and make for gorgeous photos of sunrises and sunsets.

4. Central Tower of Paine - Rugged landscapes paint the horizon at Central Tower of Paine. This area has numerous different hiking trails in which you can view lakes, glaciers, granite towers and mountains.

5. Baja Peninsula - Located in Mexico, Baja Peninsula has a desert landscape that draws people in. It is also located near the sea, which allows rare photos of the juxtaposition between the sea and the desert. http://www.virtualmex.com/baja.htm

6. Angkor Wat - Home to rare animals, interesting people and amazing views, Angkor Wat in Cambodia is truly a photographer's dream city. If you want to be able to photograph culture and beautiful landscapes, then Angkor Wat is the perfect place for you.

7. The Cave Temples - India's Cave Temples are breathtaking. They are comprised of 34 caves that were carved into the Charanandri hills, and are home to amazing, ancient architecture.

8. New Guinea - The small country of New Guinea is full of rich culture and tradition. Here, it is still possible to find people who live directly off of their land; these people haven't heard of internet or telephones and are completely cut off from media.

9. Sicily, Italy - The historical town of Sicily, Italy is home to many religious festivals that occur throughout the year. It is a beautiful place to photograph culture and ancient architecture.

10. Maasai Mara National Reserve - Found in Kenya, the Maasai Mara National Reserve is home to a large variety of animals and nature. Wildlife photographers will find this place enchanting.

11. The Arctic - If you are feeling adventurous and love the cold, then the Arctic is a wonderful place to photograph. It is home to many exotic animals including polar bears and walruses. These animals are both being run out of their habitats due to global warming, and might be extinct in the future, so photographers might be getting once in a lifetime photos if they travel to the Arctic.

12. Midway Atoll - Hawaii produces striking landscape photographs, but The Midway Atoll is home to some of the most beautiful nature backdrops in the state. Mountains and volcanoes line the horizon along with massive trees and fields of pristine land. The Midway Atoll is also home to very exotic wildlife, most of which shows very little fear of humans, so it is a great place to photograph these rare animals.

13. Canadian Rockies - The Rocky Mountain range goes through parts of the United States and Canada. The Canadian chain of the Rockies, especially, are a sight to see, because the landscape is full of towering mountains and lush valleys, with many glacial lakes.

14. Lake Mead Recreation Area - Just east of Las Vegas, Nevada, Lake Mead Recreation Area is a park that is scattered with desert mountains, volcanic formations and badlands. It is a wonderful place for landscape photographers to visit.

15. Lake Tahoe - California's Lake Tahoe is full of azure water and astonishing waterfalls. Its beaches are amazing as well.

16. Bandhavgarh National Park - If you would like to photograph tigers, then Bandhavgarh National Park in India is the place for you to go. It is one of the last places in the world where tigers still roam in the wild and can be seen in their complete natural state.

17. Namibia - Africa is home to some of the world's most exotic animals. Namibia, Africa is no different. It is a pristine place that has a gorgeous colour palette that makes landscape photographers fall in love. Wildlife photographers will swoon over the animals that roam the land.

18. Four Corners - The Four Corners in the American Southwest have a gorgeous horizon that is full of mountains and deep valleys. During sunsets, the lakes reflect the hundreds of different hues that can be seen over the mountain tops.

19. Lakes District - Austria's Lake District is a superb landscape destination. You can camp at many places in the Lake District. It has a gorgeous array of light that in one day can range from foggy, soft light to romantic, bursting sunsets.

20. Chartres, France - Located in the south of France, Chartres is deep in the countryside. It is a beautiful place that is full of vibrant people and rolling hills.

21. Cote D'Azur - France's Cote D'Azur is an amazing place to try underwater photography. The seas are full of schools of fish and lush greenery.

22. New Zealand - Home to rolling hills and colourful oceans, New Zealand is a gem to photograph. Shooting in New Zealand is very relaxed, and there are numerous places to go. You can choose to shoot the scenery of the country, or head underwater and shoot the exotic animals that live near the coast.

23. Red Sea - If you are looking for a unique place to shoot photos, then look no farther than the Red Sea. A prime destination especially for underwater photographers, it is home to coral reefs and a vibrant marine life.

24. Chicago - Chicago, Illinois is a grandiose city in northern Illinois. Not only can photographers get amazing street shots here, but Chicago is also home to both ancient and modern architecture that will always draw photographers in.

25. Paris, France - Drawing thousands of tourists each year, Paris, France is a bustling city that is bursting with life. It has ancient architecture that will make wonderful photos, plus it also has a large, vibrant culture that makes great street photographs.

Photographers travel all over the world to capture breathtaking photos, these twenty-five places have some of the best landscapes and wildlife this world has to offer. If you are looking to take your next photographic adventure, then research some of the places on this list, because one of these places might just give you the perfect photographic opportunity.

Photo credits (all creative commons on Flickr): Angkor Wat by Chi King; Oxbow Bend by Frank Kovalchek; Torres del Paine by Camila Ochoa; Midway Atoll by US Fish & Wildlife Service; Bandhavgarh by KoshyK; and Fish, by Nattu.

One simple step to improve your photos

When I'm asked what I do for a living, the responses that I get range from the infuriating: 'You must have a really great camera' to the inane: 'People write books about photography?' as well as the interesting. One of the interesting ones landed my way the other evening when I was chatting to someone whose wife enjoys taking photos.

'What one thing can my wife do to improve her photos?'

My answer was immediate, and pretty simple: 'Evaluate them.'

If you want to get better at taking photos, it's all very well being told that you need to practise, practise, practise, but you need to do a little bit more than that. You see, unless you critically assess your photos to work out what worked, what didn't, and why, all that practising will just result in a harddrive full of images that suffer from the same flaws and foibles. So you need to evaluate them: the good, the bad, and the what should I do differently.

Haje has written a very helpful guide to practical photo evaluation. His approach is both creative and technical and I would definitely recommend it for people whose photographic knowledge is above average and are serious about improving. But if you're just starting out, or if you just want to know how to make your holiday snaps that bit better, it might be a touch too complex. 

So here's a simpler version.

• You do this at home on a big screen. Don't try to evaluate photos properly on the screen on the back of your camera. That's a recipe for disaster.
• When you look at the photo, choose one thing about it that works. Is the composition bang-on? Have you captured the moment perfectly?
• Then ask yourself: Why is it working?
• Now identify one thing that isn't working. Is the exposure slightly off? Are the eyes not quite in focus?
• In which case, what do you need to do to improve it?
• Next time, make sure that you do it!

If you follow this process for every photo that you take, you'll quickly discover that you probably have certain photographic strengths and particular photographic weaknesses. By identifying them, you'll be able to build on what you do well, and make adjustments and improvements to remedy the areas where you struggle. With time, you should notice that you're taking better photos all round, and maybe even that what you're good at and what you find less easy, change.

Then, as you learn more, you can progress to far more thorough photo evaluations, and grow even more advanced!

That's gotta hurt

I can't reproduce the photo of the accident here; so have a photo of a racehorse in training.

When photographers head off to cover conflict and natural disaster, there's an understanding that what they do carries high risks. They know that there's a chance that they might get hurt themselves, or that, terribly, they might not come back at all. Sports photographers don't necessarily set out to shoot a day's football match, swim meet, or in Jean-Charles Briens' case, the Cheltenham Festival, anticipating injury. But sometimes it does happen.

The generally sleepy Gloucestershire town of Cheltenham is currently hosting its annual four day National Hunt Festival. (That's the one when horses jump over monstrous fences.) The cream of British and Irish racing have gathered to watch their superstars compete, and with any luck their heroes take the spoils, as well as drink a moderately-sized lake of Guinness. It's a big deal, and it gets lots of coverage, which is just why Jean-Charles Briens was there, and it's something that he's been doing for years.

He was standing amongst a group of photographers close to the final fence, behind the rail. Wishful Thinking, ridden by Richard Johnson, didn't jump it cleanly, took an almighty tumble, and crashed through the railings. Johnson was catapaulted into the crowd; Briens was hit by the flailing horse and his camera smashed up into his face. There was a lot of blood, screaming, and confusion.

Johnson suffered severe soft tissue damage and was stood down for the remainder of the card. He has to pass a medical to ride again tomorrow. Briens, though, was taken to hospital with severe facial injuries. We wish both of them well. As for Wishful Thinking, the horse, he was entirely fine.

Yes, these photographers are close to the action and racehorses are heavy (about half a ton) and move at speed (40mph when flat out, 25mph at a steady gallop), so there are risks. Of course there are. But this is the sort of freak accident that no one anticipates. It's all part of the game.

---

Headsup to the incomparable Clare Balding and to the Racing Post for further details. (You can also see a photo of what happened on the Racing Post. I can't reproduce here for copyright reasons. The Daily Telegraph also has this one, showing the horse coming down.)

Fun with sound and laser triggers

The last few days, I've spent quite a bit of time playing with my prototype of the Triggertrap (it's scheduled to ship next month! How rather exciting...), and have rediscovered the vast amount of fun it is to play with balloons... Specifically, balloons that go 'pop' just when you take a photo.

Here's a few of the results I came up with;

It's almost like being a kid again! :)

How photo-tastic is the all new iPad?

iPhoto on the new iPad

Whenever I see someone taking a photo with her or his iPad, it makes me cringe. There's something about it that looks so very wrong, especially when you consider that cameras have been growing progressively smaller, making the iPad as a camera seem counter-intuitive. However, the camera is there, which means that it is going to happen.

More than that, in fact, it's meant to happen. Apple has stuffed an f/2.4 aperture, five megapixel lens into its latest version, which might not compare with some of the hottest compacts out there, but it's more than enough for someone wanting to snap a casual shot, as is its 1080p HD video capability. No, there's no optical zoom, but tap the screen and you can adjust exposure whilst the auto-focus capability can cope with up to ten faces in one photo.

This is just what's needed in a portable device that's designed for communication: it's part of the territory of social media. Snap the photo, give it a bit of a tweak, and send it straight to Facebook or Twitter or wherever else you want to share it.

And with iPhoto that gives you the ability to adjust exposure, white balance, and colour saturation, not to mention use multi-touch gestures to change this, that, and the other, as well as add effects and geo-tag, it turns the iPad into a one-stop social media shop. That's probably especially true with the inclusion of Journal, which allows you to make an album of your images, complete with notes and maps.

But even if the thought of taking photos with an iPad gives you the shudders, don't overlook its 2048 × 1536 resolution Retina display with 3.1 million pixels that are so close together the eye can't distinguish them as individuals. That's going to make it fairly awesome when it comes to viewing images. Right now, the iPad might be a rather expensive photoframe, but what some professional photographers were using to show proofs to their clients has just got a whole lot better. And what started with the iPhone has moved to the iPad; where is it heading next?

So yes, I might think that taking a photo on an iPad makes you look a few shades of silly, but it makes some sort of sense. More pertinent to me, though, is that I'm excited to see where these developments are going to lead when it comes to editing, viewing, and sharing my own photos. The iPad still falls well short of my needs right now, but it doesn't mean to say that it won't in future iterations.

A photo competition for March!

Flax against the dawn. Lake Wanaka.

Okay, I've got a bit of a thing for silhouettes at the moment, so I thought it'd make an excellent competition theme this month. There, pretty simple then: silhouettes.

If you submit the winning entry, you'll win yourself a 12" Fracture courtesy of the wonderful guys at Fracture. (And if you've not checked out their work, then you should!)

The competition opens today (Thursday 8 March) and closes on Thursday 29 March. Entries need to go into the Small Aperture Flickr pool, but please remember that it's one submission per person.

I've reproduced The Rules, in case you need to refer to them, but otherwise, good luck! (And don't forget, if you follow @SmallAperture on Twitter, you get up-to-date competition and other photographic news!)

The Rules

• If you decide to enter, you agree to The Rules.
• You can’t be related to either me or Haje to enter.
• One entry per person – so choose your best!
• Entries need to be submitted to the right place, which is the Small Aperture Flickr group.
• There’s a closing date for entries, so make sure you’ve submitted before then.
• You have to own the copyright to your entry and be at liberty to submit it to a competition. Using other people’s photos is most uncool.
• It probably goes without saying, but entries do need to be photographs. It’d be a bit of strange photo competition otherwise.
• Don’t do anything icky – you know, be obscene or defame someone or sell your granny to get the photo.
• We (that being me and Haje) get to choose the winner and we’ll do our best to do so within a week of the competition closing.
• You get to keep all the rights to your images. We just want to be able to show off the winners (and maybe some honourable mentions) here on Pixiq.
• Entry is at your own risk. I can’t see us eating you or anything, but we can’t be responsible for anything that happens to you because you submit a photo to our competition.
• We are allowed to change The Rules, or even suspend or end the competition, if we want or need to. Obviously we’ll try not to, but just so that you know.

If you've any questions, please just ask!