A web-based photo enhancer called Mejorar Imagen is the best I've come across for quickly improving the quality of blurry, pixelated photos. Just select an enlargement multiple, drag your photo into the window, and wait for a minute or two. The results aren't always perfect, but they are often excellent. I used it on a purposely downscaled photo from the Library of Congress to show you the results. — MF
I’ve been a serious photographer for more than 50 years. The best camera I have ever owned is a new iPhone 15 Pro. It is now the only camera I carry. But I had to learn and unlearn some tricks to use a phone as a camera well. Scott Kelby, a veteran pro photographer, made a fabulously helpful 45-minute video explaining his favorite 20 tips on using an iPhone for a serious travel camera. Most of the tips in Kelby’s Using Your iPhone for Travel Photography tutorial were new to me, and right on. Would probably be useful for any current smartphone. — KK
I gave my wife a camera for Christmas. It has an auto-setting, but she wanted to learn how to operate it manually. We were initially puzzled by terms like ISO, shutter speed, and aperture. Then I stumbled upon a PDF guide from Humburger Fotospots that demystifies these concepts with simple icons and explanations. I printed it out and stored it in the camera case. — MF
The easiest way to capture a screenshot on an iPhone is to say “Hey Siri, screenshot this.” It’s hands-free and idiot proof. — KK
Photosweep is an iPhone app (sorry, no Android) that works like Tinder for your photos. It displays the photos in your library one at a time. Swipe left to delete, swipe right to keep. It has quite a few other useful features, too. It costs $20, or $10 a year. — MF
If you need to use an image for your art, product, project, or any other reason, check out the Smithsonian's vast collection of Open Access images available under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license. I searched "cat," and it returned over 7,000 images, and every one I looked at was terrific. — MF
Apple has a built-in "background remover" for images on Macs and iPhones. It’ll blank out backgrounds behind portraits, people and figures. Open a photo on a Mac in Preview, then > Tools > Remove Background. Bingo! You can also do it in the finder by right clicking on the image file, then >Quick Actions > Remove Background. The same trick works on photos on the iPhone. Just press your finger on the figure and you get the option to share a backgroundless version. Great for isolating products, making a headshot photo, or green-screening things to blend into a collage. Just 5 years ago this magic would be considered "AI." Maybe it is. (Let us know if there is built-in mode for windows/android.) — KK
We were gifted a digital picture frame, and it has been a revelation. It’s a whole new medium different than a fixed picture, different than a picture on your phone. A constant stream of images from our collective lives are flashed in a modest-size frame quietly sitting in our kitchen. The genius is that everyone in our family – including those not living nearby – can easily add new pictures to the stream. It is “calm technology” – without having to engage the monkey-mind to flick-flick, we absorb in a relaxed way, and are gently reminded of in the background, what is happening in our lives. We are now gifting the same to relatives in distant lands, so we can calmly share with them. There are a lot of brands of digital frames; since it was a gift I have not researched them, but am happy with the one we have which is an Aura. Unlike many other frames, there are no subscription fees. — KK
I use Palette to colorize my old black and white photos into fresh color ones. It’s a free webpage that uses AI. I tested it by feeding it black and white versions of color images I had and it is remarkably accurate. And even when it is not 100% precise, it will produce very pleasing images you can save. Instantly. For free. I’m going through my scrapbook now, updating grey ones to energetic colors, sometimes using Palette’s bright filter options. — KK
Astria lets you make AI-generated images of yourself for a few bucks. I uploaded a few photos of my face. Several hours later, Astria had finished crunching the data, and I was able to generate art based on my likeness by entering prompts such as “man as young elven king long white hair beautiful face highly detailed face, portrait, made by Stanley Artgerm lau, wlop, rossdraws, james jean.” The results are both hilarious and incredible. This is the avatar I use on social media. Astria’s Twitter shows examples of how people are using it. – MF
Double the size of a small photo with ClipDrop’s Image Upscaler. I used it with a blurry snapshot of my wife when she was a teenager, then ran it through the face restorer app that Kevin mentioned last week. The end result was remarkable! — MF
I use this Baseten web page app to restore old family photos. The engine only focuses on faces, making them shaper and skin smoother, but sometimes that is all that is needed. I upload my old photo, restore in 15 seconds and then download. Works pretty well, sometimes perfectly, in color and black and white. Free. — KK
I only recently learned that you can configure an iPhone to perform an action by double- or triple-tapping the back. You can use it to take a screenshot or go to the home screen, for instance. I use it to open the camera app. Here’s how to do it. — MF
I use a lot of stock photo images on the various websites I work on. I recently discovered Scopio, which is offering a lifetime subscription for $29. I like the selection of photos, and the fact that they don’t look as generic as a lot of stock photos. Here’s a sample for a search for “red and white books.” — MF
I try to veer away from using filters on photos, but there are times when the scene I am seeing is so much more vibrant than what comes out in a picture. I tried out the “TikTok” iPhone photo hack, which is a specific formula for making a photo taken in natural light look like it was taken during the “golden hour,” and I love the effect. Here is a before and after picture of my dog Pablo wading through water. The exact formula is: Exposure and brilliance to 100. Highlights to -32. Shadows to -26. Lower the contrast to -30. Brightness to -15. Black point to 10. Saturation to 10. Vibrance to 8. Warmth to 10. Push the tint up to 29. Up the sharpness to 14. Definition feature to 23. Finally, slide the exposure back down to 0. — CD
I believe in “earning” any best-in-class tools; start out cheap and move up through use. Over my 50 years in photography I’ve used and owned many tripods, so I was ready — and willing to pay for — a world-class state-of-the art tripod. Last year on Kickstarter I sprung for what I consider the best portable travel tripod ever. It’s a carbon-fiber Peak Design Tripod. It’s ingeniously compact (full size folds into the diameter of a water bottle), feather lightweight, opens and closes rapidly easily, and is remarkably ridgid, even at 6 feet. Its head mount is fast, fluid, and agile. It fits into a daypack, or carry-on luggage, and is optimized for a tripod you have to carry a lot, but of course works in a studio as well. The Peak Tripod is a masterpiece of design and fabrication. I love using it. The aluminum version is $350, while the ultimate carbon fiber model is $600. — KK
It’s incredibly fun to use the Luminar photo editing application to bring my photos to life. (Here are some of my before-and-after photos.) It has tons of adjustable preset filters and a lot of specialized tools such as portrait enhancement, where you can make the subject’s eyes larger and face thinner. You can also easily add in new skies and even a sun with rays. I typically use the “AI” set of adjustment tools to change the brightness and contrast because it does a great job without a lot of fussing on my part. The developer also has lots of excellent videos that show you how to use all the features in Luminar. Here’s a 30-second video overview. — MF
I bought some Last Week Tonight “inside joke” stamps to help support the USPS — and because I am a fan of the show — and while I was on PhotoStamps.com I couldn’t help myself and ordered some custom photo stamps of my dog and cat. I was so happy when I got them, you can check them out here. Unfortunately, USPS is ending the customized postage program and the last chance you’ll have to purchase PhotoStamps is Wednesday, June 10. — CD
I wanted a tiny starter drone for taking mostly still photos from on high. The DJI Spark (about $350) fits the bill. It’s so small and lightweight it fits easily in my daybag. About the size of my open hand, I operate it from an app on my phone. Its range (via the phone) is about 100 meters, which is all I need. Lasts 15 minutes per charge. Despite its smallness, it does pretty well in a stiff wind. — KK