In addition to the usual suspects, we’ve rounded up a couple lesser-known options. It’s time to get those images off your phone and out into the world for others to enjoy.

Xpozer Wall Displays from Bay Photo
We fell in love with Xpozer Photo Wall Displays years ago when we first discovered them (review here). Unlike conventional prints, Xpozer Prints are light in weight, extraordinarily easy to hang, and offer a unique swap-out feature.

Images are printed on Bay Photo’s Radiant Satin fabric using a 12-color ink set and attach to any wall using their exclusive Aluminum Tension Hanging System. Xpozer Prints float a couple inches away the wall which gives them a dramatic gallery look. A tension bar in the center of the frame securely rests on the one-piece wall hanger which attaches to the wall with a single sheet metal screw with or without the included traditional wall anchor.

Once you own the same frame, you can change the fabric print easily and economically  via Xchange Prints which are cleverly designed to be interchanged with other Xpozer Prints using the same patented aluminum hanging system.

From Bay Photo. More than 25 size options from 16×16 to 40×80 inches. Prices start at less than $50 for frame hardware and print. Replacement prints start at less than $35 (16×16). Easy online ordering, too. Watch this YouTube video and you’ll be convinced.

Hear visitors exclaim, “Wow! Did you shoot that?!”

Mobile Easy Books from Printique
Printique, backed by Adorama, offers Mobile Easy Photo Books that empower you to liberate your best cellphone snaps and create lasting heirloom memory objects. With a few easy and intuitive clicks, you can design the perfect “Layflat” Easy Book photo album from your phone, and have it shipped right to your door or to a family member.

Print quality is exceedingly high, according to multiple user reviews.

Memorialize vacations, graduations, family holidays, special pets, secret girlfriends and other important image collections without ever leaving your smartphone. Great gifts for any occasion, and a fantastic way for a gig worker to promote their core competencies.
Mobile Easy Photo Books are available from Printique in 8×8 Hardcover, Deluxe Layflat configurations with Luster Photo Paper. Prices start at $43.99.

Check out Printique’s 12 and 18 month calendars, too.

Calendar
Boring, no? NO! Although Wi-Fi connected, digital date keepers have dampened the popularity of traditional calendars on the walls and desks of American homes, photo calendars steadfastly retain their dominance as genuine works of art that can help you stay on schedule.

We like the photo calendars offered by Saal Digital. (In fact, we like everything offered by Saal Digital.) Their calendar options are seemingly endless, prices are very affordable and the ordering process streamlined and simple.

The Saal Digital Family Calendar option is a great gift any time of the year. Prices start at under $50 for the large 11.8 x 17.7 inch size, and first time buyers can save a significant amount (50% in some instances) using a Saal Digital Discovery Voucher. Take a look.Digital Photo Frame
There are a couple dozen digital photo frames for sale on Amazon, but when it came time to order one for myself and other family members, I did my homework and bought a model from Nixplay. It wasn’t the cheapest, no sir, but it had features I valued as important. That was more than eight years ago, and our Nixplay digital photo frames are still lighting up our kitchen and living rooms with shared images that were captured around the world.

Apparently, we’re not alone in our thinking. According to Amazon, Nixplay digital photo frames are America’s top brand, trusted by over 2.5 million customers. Other sources suggest more than 3+ million users. Nixplay digital photo frames have received more than 22,000 reviews on Amazon and currently have a 4.7-star rating on Amazon.

The biggest positive? Nixplay’s cloud storage is located in the US on secure, CCPA and GDPR compliant servers and uses AES 256-bit encryption, so you can be confident  that your photos are safe and secure. Additionally, the Nixplay app interfaces offer multi-language support, important to us because some of our family live in other countries.

Visit the Nixplay Store on Amazon.

Smart Watch
If you own an Apple Watch you can easily browse pics in the Photos app. Additionally, you can share a photo via Messages or Mail.

You can use any photo to create a watch face, too, including a Kaleidoscope watch face based on the photo, or a Portrait watch face.

Detailed instructions are available on this Apple Support page.

Google Pixel Watch users can do about the same thing. Google explains how here.

Similar functions are available to wearers of Samsung Galaxy Watches.

If you own a Timex, Swatch or any other brand of strictly-analog timepiece, we’re sorry to report that you have to use the Cut & Paste method, using scissors and real paste. Not recommended for children under 6 or over 12.

—Jon Sienkiewicz

(As an Amazon Associate, Shutterbug earns from qualifying purchases linked in this story.)

There’s nothing more aggravating than capturing what you thought was a great shot, only to discover upon close evaluation that the image isn’t critically sharp. There are a variety of reasons that this may occur, and we’ve discussed many of these in the past, but the video below explores a couple other causes worthy of consideration.

Soft images are typically the result of poor technique, incorrect camera settings, or the failure to use a tripod when shooting in low light when long shutter speeds are the norm. But what about the possibility that your lens is out of alignment or the culprit is a bad filter?

After all, many photographers always use a UV or Skylight filter to protect the front element of their lenses from moisture, scratches, dirt, and other forms of damage. But this practice can be counterproductive if you try to save money by purchasing cheap filters—especially if you if you invest big bucks on premium glass.

On rare occasions unsharp images may be the result of a malfunctioning camera, but we’ll leave that discussion for another time. Today we’ll help you diagnose whether to blame your lens or the filter on the front. Let’s hope it’s the latter because in that case the solution is both obvious and affordable.

Pablo Garcia is an experienced landscape photographer with a background in engineering that he draws upon to identify gear problems that may affect the quality of his images. He recently returned from Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in new Mexico, and despite his premium camera and lens, he was disappointed that many of his images were unsharp.

As an experienced bird photographer there was no question about the techniques and camera settings he used and he was confident that “I did everything perfectly.” Thus, he was determined to devise a testing procedure to determine exactly what went wrong. He has another big trip coming up soon, so he needed to quickly figure things out in case he had to send his camera and/or lens in for servicing ASAP.

Garcia’s methodology was both thoughtfully controlled and repeatable so he could have faith in the findings, and it’s one you can employ if you confront a similar problem. As you’ll see, he wanted to remove all sources of vibration, so he mounted his camera and lens on a sturdy tripod and  disabled image stabilization.

He also relied upon a wireless remote to activate focus and trip the shutter, using ISO 200 at 1/200, and an aperture setting of f/8. Garcia employed a Spyder LensCal target and conducted tests at two different camera-to-subject distances to cover all the bases.

So take a close look, examine his results, and learn what Garcia discovered. It’s a very interesting experiment, and you can find more videos like this one by visiting his instructional YouTube channel.

We also suggest watching a tutorial we posted recently from another pro who demonstrates how to master Lightroom’s Lens Blur tools to create eye-catching nature and wildlife photographs with maximum impact.

Many photographers shoot with vintage lenses on their modern mirrorless cameras (using an affordable adapter) for a number of reasons. Old glass tends to be far less expensive than modern counterparts, and build quality is often superior to today’s plastic wonders.

Another reason for going this route is that some shooters really love the bokeh and other imaging characteristics that many vintage lenses provide. But there’s a catch, because like with all old gear, sometimes these lenses malfunction—with one common issue being stuck aperture blades.

Paris-based photographer Mathieu Stern marches to the beat of a different drummer, often posting videos on interesting photo experiments and weird lenses from yesteryear. In this four-minute episode you’ll learn an easy and effective method for unsticking those aperture blades so that you don’t always have to shoot wide open.

Stern has two vintage Minolta 58mm f/1.4 lenses that are identical except for the fact that one of these fast lenses works perfectly, while the aperture is stuck open on the other. The first step is gaining access to the diaphragm which Stern quickly accomplishes by unscrewing the rear element of his defective lens.

He then uses a pair of tweezers to locate the diaphragm pin and gently push it in to close the blades. The problem is readily apparent as an excess of oil is blocking the retracted blades. Stern then carefully uses a drop or two of lighter fluid to dissolve the unwanted oil. His first test indicates that the blades are still stuck, so he repeats the process with a bit more lighter fluid

It’s important to blow in a bit of air until the fluid evaporates completely. Voila! The blades now move smoothly as they should. All that’s left is to replace the rear element you removed earlier, mount the lens on your camera, and get to work.

Stern admits that this is a very simple solution that may not always work—but it’s definitely worth a try. If this approach isn’t effective you’ll either need to send the lens in for repair or undertake the more complicated procedure of completely disassembling and cleaning the entire diaphragm—a task we don’t recommend unless you really know what you’re doing.

Stern has over 300,000 subscribers to his quirky YouTube channel, and we encourage you to take a look—especially if you’re intrigued by vintage camera gear and unusual photography techniques.

We also recommend watching the tutorial we posted recently, explaining why you shouldn’t trust your camera’s light meter when photographing low-light scenes in high-contrast situations.

Have you ever come across an expansive landscape that can’t be captured in one shot, even with an ultra-wide lens? This tutorial explains a super-easy shooting and editing technique for creating a breathtaking image that faithfully replicates the entire vista you witnessed with your eyes.

Instructor Neil Borg is a notable travel and landscape photographer, a very adept visual storyteller, and a post-processing expert. The method he describes today in less than seven minutes delivers impressive results when shooting landscapes, cityscapes, seascapes and more. By following his straightforward advice you’ll be able to transform everyday outdoor photos into attention-grabbing images with a unique look.

The simple process involves shooting multiple images that slightly overlap and stitching them together in Lightroom. Cameras with a Panorama mode take care of the first step for you, but you can easily accomplish the task yourself by mounting the camera atop a tripod and making a few overlapping shots‚ being careful to keep the horizon as level as possible.

The lesson begins with Borg’s the five-shot sequence already on the screen. As you’ll see, there’s a prominent tree on the left edge of his last photo that appears on the right side of the previous shot—and that’s the point at which these images overlap. The same holds true for consecutive shots earlier in the sequence.

Borg explains a few things to consider when composing your shots because Lightroom needs recognizable information in order to merge photos together when looking for similar elements in adjacent images—like the tree mentioned above.

The stitching process begins by importing your sequence of photos into Lightroom and selecting them all using the keyboard shortcut he provides. Next, click on one of the images, select Photo Merge from the dropdown menu and choose the Panorama option. You’ll then be presented with a Panorama preview screen that enable you to select f that determine the manner in which your images will be combined.

Borg recommend the best choice to make, depending upon the specific subject at hand. There’s also a Boundary Warp option that works by filling in more of the image within the frame. There’s another helpful tool for filling missing edges around the periphery of the shot.

The rest of the tips are so simple that we’ll let Borg provide step-by-step instructions for completing the transformation. Be forewarned that this technique can be very addictive. Once you’re done watching head over to Borg’s popular YouTube channel, with its two million subscribers, where you’ll find many more helpful tips and tricks.

We also suggest watching a tutorial we posted earlier explaining how to use Intersect Masks that one professional landscape photographer refers to as one of Lightroom’s most important often-ignored tools.