Mobile

How to use PhotoPills Augmented Reality

Bob Coates

As we come to the end of Milky Way Hunting Season, the Galactic Center is close to the horizon. In my area, the galaxy stands pretty well straight up. That doesn’t mean it’s not time to head out for night sky image creation. I took my PhotoPills app out in the beginning of September to plan for some images in October. AR or Augmented Reality What is Milky Way augmented Reality? PhotoPills AR superimposes the Milky Way and the Galactic Center over the scene in front of you. Your phone camera is activate and shows you the scene and can captures what your screen is showing including date and time set. The Galactic Center is represented by the orange circle. The beauty of this is you can visit a location during the day and see where the Milky Way will be at any time and any date past present or future. And, you can save a picture of the scene in your camera for future reference. See how I used it below. Planner Before heading out to see specific locations, I worked the Planner Pill. Planner Pill has various maps including a Standard, Satellite, Terrain and my personal favorite, the Google Hybrid map. PhotoPills has a representation of the Milky Way using dots. You place the pin representing you on location and scrub through the timeline. This gives you an idea of where the Milky Way will be at various times. On location Hiking to possible photographing locations after using the planner enables you to more thoroughly decide what your foreground will look like. Upon activating the Augmented Reality PhotoPills uses your phone’s camera. If you have multiple focal lengths available you can invoke them for different views representing wide, medium and tighter representations of how the MW will look in your scene helping with your planning. Saved photos can help you remember where you want to be, at what time, on the day you wish to capture the starry skies off in the future. Just because the “Hunting Season” for the Galactic Center is just about over for this year doesn’t mean it’s time to put up PhotoPills. There are star trails, meteor showers, sun and moon placements for which to plan. And, don’t forget, just because the Galactic center may be below the horizon the Milky Way is in the sky year round. Yours in Creative Photography, Bob

Mobile Mondays: The amazing app for clouds and weather, day or night

Ken Lee

I often get asked about what mobile apps I use for night photography. When I mention that one of my favorites is Clear Outside, most people have never heard of it. However, I app-solutely (um, sorry) love this app and find it extremely accurate. In fact, several of my non-night photography friends use it to gauge accurate weather. Oh, and it’s free. Yes, free. Let’s find out what it does. Is it, well, clear outside? Yes, you guessed it, Clear Outside determines cloud cover. What I love about this app is that it describes not only the total amount of clouds but also low, medium and high clouds. This is valuable because each has very different qualities for photographing at night. Or day. Want a beautiful fiery sunset? A partially cloudy forecast might grant your wish. Want epic streaking clouds moving past? Maybe fast-moving clouds is the answer. Want clear skies for Milky Way? This will tell you if tonight’s the night. As you can see above, the morning is rather clear but it gets rather cloudy, especially by noon. What about other locations? Press “Locations” and the “+” sign and type in a location. Yes, you may type in longitude and latitude as well. This is especially fantastic if you want an extremely precise location. Above are some of my commonly used locations. You may delete these at any time. What else does Clear Outside tell us? The above screenshot shows the conditions for Mammoth Lakes, CA. It’s quite clear. It gives the number on the 9-point numeric Bortle Scale (1 is almost no light pollution, 9 is a brightly lit inner urban area). The color indicates civil, nautical, and astronomical darkness. It even shows us when the International Space Station (I.S.S.) is flying past. But that’s not all. Above, this app also tells us about the moon phase, when the sun and moon rise, fog, the chance of rain, wind, temperature, dew point and humidity. These are all relevant to night photography or astronomy, of course, but are helpful day or night. If it’s particularly humid but cold, you might want to bring along items to prevent condensation on the lens. Clear Outside also has a website You may also access Clear Outside through a browser at clearoutside.com. Like its Android and iOS app counterparts, it defaults to Exeter, Devon UK. I have not found a way to make either default to another location. However, that’s easily rectified by the push of a button. I would love it if the apps were able to sync with the website, but there are no provisions to log in. On a desktop, what I’ve done is keyed in specific locations and saved them as bookmark links. Obviously, on the app, you can store specific locations. The price for iOS or Android apps? Free. The benefit? Priceless. Bravo, First Light Optics. Take a bow.

Photo of photo-sharing apps, including Lyrak and Instagram. The darker photo on either side courtesy of Shyam Mishra from Unsplash.

Lyrak: Can it replace your Insta habit?

Ken Lee

Lyrak is a new photo-sharing app. Unlike Instagram, Lyrak does not have incessant ads and videos. Also, no data collection or AI training of your photos. Can it replace your Insta habit? Lyrak is a photo-sharing app Rishi Siva, founder of Lyrak, contacted us recently. He described Lyrak like this: Siva’s description sounded good. I figured I would kick the tires on Lyrak. My experience with Lyrak I first noted that the app had white space. So much white space. Compared to Vero, Cara, Plates, or yes, even Instagram, this was a big surprise. I don’t really prefer lots of white on any apps, certainly not photo apps. I was surprised later when I couldn’t change this or any other configuration. The Flickr app has lots of white. I don’t particularly like that either, but I doubt anyone has ever used Flickr because they love the way it looks. You will connect! You will connect! When you join, Lyrak makes you connect with other people immediately. It doesn’t matter whether you know them or not. The list is short. I don’t remember how many photographers there were. Maybe 30? If you want to continue using the app, you must connect with five of them. I’m not a huge “you MUST connect with these people” fan. However, I also like to be a team player. After all, Lyrak is trying to get us to connect and form communities, and I do like that concept. I “liked” numerous people’s photos. I left comments. So far, no reaction. Oh, well. Perhaps we need more people for this to take root. How do the photos look on Lyrak? Good. They upload relatively quickly, and the resolution looks fine on my phone. You can squeeze and expand them, unlike Instagram, and they look good on an iPhone 14 Pro, which has a good quality screen. This is all assuming that you don’t mind a white background, of course. And yes, no ads. No short-form videos. Actually, no videos of any sort. Nice. Limitations and more… 500 characters I figured I would fill in my bio. I cut and pasted this, only to find that less than half of it fit. There was a 500-character limit. Ruh-roh. It turns out that there’s a 500-character limit everywhere. Bio, captions for the photo, and comments. Only 500 characters like Threads. Lyrak is not an app that wants you to go into detail about your photo. Or anything else. I have a short description of how I do light painting, and even that didn’t fit in 500 characters. For an app that wants you to form communities and tip other photographers, limiting the amount of words seems like an odd thing to do. Also, you can’t edit your comments or your photo captions after you post them. That’s right. You can’t correct your grammar, spelling, or add more to it. That’s it. The lone hashtag that could not go When you post your photo, there is a sub-heading for hashtag. In other words, you can’t cut and paste your hashtag into the main body of the caption to save time. I typed in #nightphotography. That was it. I couldn’t type another hashtag. Even worse, that one hashtag didn’t work. I tried other people’s hashtags. Those didn’t work either. Maybe there’s no one else using those hashtags? That’s not all that doesn’t work… Lyrak offers a provision to type in a single website into your profile. However, when you click on it, you get an error message. I tried several different websites on different days, all with the same result. They have a website…but it only does one thing I was excited to discover that they had a website. Perhaps I could use it as a website, similar to Instagram, Reddit, Facebook, and others. But alas, no. I logged in, only to discover that the only function at present is to add credit to my account. Can you upload photos? Change your profile? See or comment on other people’s photos? Add new contacts? Tip other people? The answer to all of that and more is no. What I like Any of you who have read my reviews and articles over the years know that I am overwhelmingly positive. I try to encourage people to learn light painting and night photography. I try to inspire photographers to be creative. My reviews are generally positive because, after all, I choose items that I think I would like and be good. Thankfully, the product typically succeeds. So I initially told the editors that I wouldn’t be the best person for writing about Lyrak. But they mentioned that not all articles can be glowing articles. So here I am. What I don’t like Lyrak feels like an app that has good ideas and intentions. However, there are a number of items that I dislike. I also don’t like that there’s no activity. As I mentioned, I connected with five people. I looked at lots of photos. None of them had comments, and very few of them except for Rishi’s had any “likes”. Now, two people’s photos looked like they had one comment, but when I clicked on the photo to try and see them, I could not. Is this another issue? I don’t know. Now, I can’t blame this on Lyrak. That’s up to the people in the community. But still, it feels odd, almost as if I’ve walked into a large art gallery, lights on bright, but no one around and nothing to hear but my echoing footsteps. While the creators of Lyrak seem to have great intentions, I can’t help but wonder whether this app should come with an “Under Construction” warning. I wish them good luck in their endeavors regardless. Lyrak is available in the Apple Store and Google Play. I’ve linked Google Play to the Lyrak website because the link currently goes to an Android Early Access form, which I’m sure won’t be there for long.

A first look at Luminar for iPad

Photofocus News

If you’re one of the people waiting for Luminar to be available for iPad, the day has finally come! Skylum has just released its first official Luminar app for Apple iPad, which also works with the Vision Pro. If you’re curious, read on for a quick introduction and a first look! Luminar for iPad, the company said, introduces photographers to a “novel mobile editing experience through an innovative and playful design.” It boasts of a highly interactive interface that responds realistically to the touch and comes with special sound effects to enhance the experience. Thus, at the core of this next-gen photo editing app is the promise that users will be able to envision more and explore their creative vision anytime, anywhere. All that said, you may now be wondering, how do all these translate into the actual editing experience? What is it actually and what does it do (or don’t)? Who or what is it for? Jim Nix gives a quick rundown of what you can expect from this app in his quick look video below: Luminar for iPad is now available on the iPad App Store as a subscription, with prices starting at $4.99 per month, $19.99 for six months, and $29.99 for a year. So, what are your thoughts on the newly-launched Luminar for iPad? Is it something you’ll be giving a try anytime soon? Drop a comment below and let’s start a discussion!

Mobile Mondays: How to scout a location

Photofocus Team

When you are planning for a photo or video project, do you wish you had an app that could help you with anything from location scouting to sun placement? There are a multitude of iOS and Android apps that do just that. In this ThinkTAP Learn video, instructor Richard Harrington gives an overview of smartphone and tablet apps you can use to plan for and during production. Want to learn more tips about how to prepare for an on-location video or photoshoot? Check out the Mobile Apps for Photo and Video Projects course on thinktaplearn.com.

Mobile Mondays: How to use Instagram Guides for photographers

Jemma Pollari

Are you all over Instagram Guides? Or, like me, have you never heard about them until just now? (I always feel about a year behind on Instagram.) Well, wonder no longer. Here’s how you can add this versatile post type to your social media game. Instagram Guides are curated lists of posts which allow you to add a title and note about each post in a website-like scrolling experience. The great thing about Guides is that you can use other people’s posts in your Guide, as well as your own posts. This makes them a super versatile tool to use to connect with your audience. How to create a Guide from your profile From your phone, go to your Instagram profile grid, click the + and then click Guide. You can choose whether it’s a Places Guide, a Products Guide or a Posts Guide. Choose the posts to include in your Guide. You can pick from your Saved posts and Your Posts. So, if you want to use someone else’s post in the Guide, make sure you save it first. You’ll then put all the detail into your Guide. Title, cover image, and then a title and note about each post in the Guide. Make sure you have at least two posts, and a title for each post. How to create a Guide from your Collections There is more than one way to create a Guide. Save posts to Collections as you find them, and then when you view that Collection, there is a handy button right there to Create guide. Perfect! How to save a draft of your Instagram Guide When creating your Guide, click Share and from the next page you can save it as a draft. You have to have at least two posts, and a title for each post, before you can do this. Sharing your Instagram Guide Once your Guide is ready, click Share to share it to the Guides tab of your profile. Creating your first Guide will add this tab to your profile, between Posts and Tagged. When you open your Guide, click the dot menu to Copy Link or share in another way. Drop this into a tweet, Facebook post, email blast or text message and your Guide will be out in the world. Look out for my next article in this series where I will go through a bunch of ideas for how you can use Instagram Guides to talk to your audience. While you’re waiting, why not try out a collab post on Instagram, ready to add to your newest Guide?

Mobile Mondays: Finding your way outdoors with ViewRanger

Ken Lee

Do you want to find your way outdoors using topographical maps, trail guides and offline GPS navigation in the palm of your hand? Of course you do. And so do I. My old GPS navigator, X-Motion GPS, is no longer supported. After trying several new apps, I found ViewRanger. ViewRanger is a GPS navigation app which runs on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Android smartphones and watches. I found their interface easy to use and appealing. Then, too, was the price. It works with offline maps for free. You can upgrade to Premium for $19.99 a year, which gives you access to a bewildering array of maps and other features. How to download offline maps To get started, hit the Search function. Find a place, and then if you wish, download the map for offline use. Your phone has a built-in GPS, so even if you do not have cellular data or a signal of any kind, you will still be able to navigate. As always, I recommend bringing a paper map. That said, in the entire time I’ve been using ViewRanger or X-Motion GPS, I never had to use the paper map. Using offline maps I downloaded a couple of maps of the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, where signals are not always available. I recorded a hike. It performed flawlessly, even recording me doubling back numerous times with great accuracy. I also discovered a place in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest that had some spectacular trees. I wanted to remember this place, so I marked it on the offline map. I was able to return to it later with ease while driving on a dirt road with no cell signal. Points of interest For me, the biggest allure is to be able to put in specific points of interest (POI) and navigate to them. I could find most places on the map easily via the Search function. However, for obscure places, if you already have the GPS coordinates, it may be easier to get the approximate location of a POI. If you have that, enter the precise GPS coordinates and re-save the waypoint. From there you can plot a route or navigate there. Doing this on your phone will sync this with their website. If you do this on the website, then you may press “Sync Content” on the app. Finding and sharing trails ViewRanger has over 4.6 million users and organizations. Some make their trails public, so there are quite a few available for you to check out in the Feed section. You may add trail routes you like to your own Routes section. And of course, you can share your own! Future development In May 2020, Outdooractive, “Europe’s largest outdoor portal for hiking, cycling, mountain biking and skiing,” acquired ViewRanger. Since ViewRanger works with various public national parks and search and rescue teams, the two have been consolidating their technology, locations and features. Outdooractive stated that they intend to keep ViewRanger going.

Radiant Photo Mobile launch party: Join to be the first with smart editing in your pocket

Jemma Pollari

Radiant Photo Mobile is one of the most anticipated releases of the year, bringing the company’s unique smart editing power to your pocket. Join the launch event happening today to get all the details for Android and iOS devices. We’ve been anticipating this launch for months now and after a short delay getting into the app store, Radiant Photo Mobile is coming this week! Join the launch event to get all the details. As a beta tester I’m loving the built-in RAW editing capabilities, blazing fast editing and batch processing, all with Radiant Photo’s unique smart editing algorithms that make every photo better (even ones I would usually call “done”). Download Radiant Photo Mobile for editing RAW photos Radiant Photo Mobile can edit almost all the RAW formats directly, without converting or importing. Copy your photos from your camera to your phone (like this) while on the go; the cutting edge tech Radiant Photo Mobile is built on can develop any photo almost instantly. The way that the app works prioritizes harmonious color and tone, by scene type. So when you batch edit, each photo in the batch is uniquely analyzed for its individual scene before processing. Radiant Photo Mobile has lightning fast, offline batch editing Speaking of which, the batch editing in Radiant Photo Mobile is another feature that I love. As I mentioned, each scene is edited based on its content. This makes batch editing smarter and faster because there’s less individual tweaking required. Mobile photographers and travel photographers are going to find lots to like in Radiant Photo Mobile because the software is designed to make the most of your device’s USB-C port. Also, there’s no need to be online to edit your photos. Radiant Photo Mobile works completely offline, with all your photos stored locally. There’s not even any need to sign in or create an account to use the app. This is for privacy and security, but it makes it even easier for photographers without access to the internet because you can make the most of your device’s power without relying on external connections. No more burning through your mobile phone data to work with your photos! At launch the PRO version (see note about pricing below) allows unlimited batch editing and the free version will let you edit up to five photos in a batch. For more on what’s coming in the free version versus the PRO version, check out this article. Getting to developed photos fast with Radiant Photo Mobile Like the desktop version, Radiant Photo Mobile gets your photos from straight-out-of-camera to developed first, then you can play. When you first open a photo, the app goes to work immediately. The Enhance tab shows which Smart Preset has been detected. The Develop tab lets you fine tune, then you can apply LOOKs separately to color grade your photo. It’s non-destructive editing that separates developing the photo from creative effects. This is unique to Radiant Photo and gives fine-grained control over the final product. And the AI powered refinements aren’t just for photo. You can edit videos individually or in batches using Radiant Photo, to improve detail, fix backlighting and more. Pricing and where to download After launch you’ll be able to download the app from Google Play or App Store. The functional free version gives you a taste of the powerful features. You can upgrade with a monthly or annual subscription, or jump straight in with lifetime access for a one-time payment of $49.99. Lifetime deals are few and far between with software nowadays. I love that Radiant Photo is offering this option as a saving for photographers. Join the Radiant Photo Mobile launch event to get all the details Jump into the launch event today to see it in action, have your questions answered and be the first to get hands on. Radiant Photo Mobile is going to be a useful tool for photographers on the go, whether you’re editing your own family photos, making content for your business or sharing travel photos quickly.

Mobile Mondays: Find stars for less than a cup of coffee

Ken Lee

Are you interested in finding stars, photographing the night sky, peering through a telescope, or laying on a blanket and gazing at the heavens? The Sky Guide app makes it effortless to find various stars, planets, constellations and the Milky Way. What is Sky Guide? It’s a star and constellation guide app for iPhones, iPads and even your Apple Watch. It automatically aligns itself when you hold your device up to the sky. While there are many of these apps, I find Sky Guide very easy to use and intuitive. What features does it have? Search You may search for various celestial objects, including constellations, stars, anything in the solar system, comets, satellites, and much more. Siri Shortcuts allows you to use Siri to help identify some of the brightest objects in the sky from the home screen. Location This is self-explanatory. However, I must say what a pleasure it is to be able to view the night sky from other locations. This is great for those who are curious or for planning trips to other parts of the world. Featured Sky Guide gives you various articles. Whether you wish to learn more about Mars Perseverance, recent discoveries, exoplanets or what’s going on this month, these articles can satiate your curiosity. Calendar This feature provides additional information about general information. When you press on each section, it provides additional information such as set and rise times, weather, satellite passes, regions that have dark skies near you, and more. Price I got it for free, but you can get your copy for $2.99 on the App Store. Sometimes Apple gives discounts or free promotional codes. But really, it’s less than the price of a coffee at Starbucks. Why is it good? As I mentioned before, it’s very easy to use and intuitive. It has a lot of features, but the presentation allows you to discover things rather than overwhelming you. The layout is clean and easy to use. This is particularly important if you are using it at night and want to find something quickly.

Radiant Photo Mobile is here: Smart photo editing in your pocket

Jemma Pollari

It’s official: Radiant Photo Mobile is here! The smart automatic editor is launching in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store on October 4, 2023. Let’s check out what you can get excited for in this state-of-the-art mobile app as you get ready to download Radiant Photo Mobile. Radiant Photo Mobile, like its big sibling Radiant Photo, uses groundbreaking tech to make every image better, instantly. It is super user-friendly, cutting out fiddly interfaces. It’s also unique in that you don’t need to create an account, or even start a free trial, to start using the app. It’s launching with a functional, fully usable, free version as well as the Pro version which can be purchased on subscription or (and I love this) with a lifetime, one-off purchase. Here’s some of the highlights. With privacy and security at the forefront, Radiant Photo Mobile does all its magic completely offline. Your photos, edited on your device. It prioritizes doing more with your mobile phone: Editing photos from your camera, drives, and more all while on the go. Video enhancement and photo enhancement live side by side in here. And of course, all the smart editing tools we love from Radiant Photo: Smart scene detection, instant transformation of your photos, portrait tools and LOOKs. All with batch editing for both images and video. What makes Radiant Photo Mobile different to other mobile editing apps? Radiant Photo Mobile uses cutting-edge technology to power its smart editing capabilities, and brings that magic to every photo with smart scene detection. This prioritizes harmonious colors, detail and tone uniquely for each scene type. This means that automatically applied adjustments are more accurate, immediately. Video optimization in Radiant Photo Mobile uses the same tech. Video batch-processing is built-in, too. It also makes batch processing faster and more efficient because each image in a batch is treated as an individual. The settings best suited to that photo are applied. Tweak or share settings across images to finish your edit. It’s fast and streamlined, and designed to make the most of your phone’s USB-C port. Radiant Photo Mobile can edit RAW images, so straight from camera or SSD hard drive are all options for photographers working on the road. Another unique feature is complete on-device operation. As I already noted, you don’t need to create an account or start a trial when you download Radiant Photo Mobile. The free version is very functional (see differences below). Importantly, though, Radiant Photo is committed to completely localized operation. What this means is that it works offline: No need for cloud access or risk of data breaches. What’s the difference between Radiant Photo Mobile free and PRO version? Radiant Photo Mobile is launching with a free version and a PRO version. Use Radiant Photo’s unique automatic enhancements, and adjust how much they are applied, in the free version. In the PRO version, on the other hand, you can tweak all the setting manually to completely fine tune your edit. Batch processing will also be available in both free and PRO. In the free version you can batch-edit up to five images at a time. The PRO version allows unlimited batch processing: As much as your phone can handle! This feature has been developed for USB-C card readers and SSD drives to support photographers working with straight-out-of-camera images (in full RAW quality) on the go. The other benefit for PRO users is a palette of unique LOOKs to add a creative edge to your images. LOOKs are unlike filters used in other editing apps. Radiant Photo applies LOOKs to intelligently optimized versions of your photos, to guarantee the best image quality. How much does Radiant Photo Mobile cost? Start using Radiant Photo Mobile for free on both Apple devices and Android devices. The free version shows off the power of what Radiant Photo Mobile can do with no time limitation or free trial period: It’s just free, forever. Radiant Photo Mobile PRO is available with the extra features listed above on subscription ($3.99 monthly or $29.99 annually), or for a lifetime one-time purchase of only $49.99. I love a lifetime deal! Download Radiant Photo Mobile: launching in an app store near you Radiant Photo is the first photo editing company in the world managed entirely by photographers, who understand how to create a beautiful image (without overcooking), and know what photographers want and need in an editing app. It’s built on the Perfectly Clear Engine, which is the leading intelligent image correction tech in the world. It then builds on this foundation with unique Smart Presets, LOOKs, portrait retouching and enhancement tools found nowhere else. Radiant Photo is designed for photographers of all kinds: It’s easy to use, fast, completely customizable to how you shoot. Radiant Photo Mobile brings that magic, power and technology to your pocket so you can edit better, faster, on the go.

Mobile Mondays: Identify nature with mobile apps

Lauri Novak

Do you identify what you are photographing when you are actually taking the image? How many times when you get back home, start uploading images and add keywords (you are adding keywords, aren’t you?), do you wish you knew what type of bird, plant, tree, etc. you had a photograph of? Here is a list of mobile apps that can help you identify just about anything. Plants and trees Pl@nt Net: This app is a citizen science project in which you can even participate and contribute if you choose. It will identify thousands of plant species. They have projects based on geography from all over the world. Leafsnap: The LeafSnap app was designed by a collaboration between researchers from two universities and the Smithsonian Institution. It will recognize trees and leaves from the photos you upload. Free on iOS/Android. PlantSnap can identify 90% of all known species of plants and trees according to their website. It also gives you information about the plant and you can create collections of your favorites. Free and premium ($19.99) versions on iOS/Android. Picture This is a plant identifier app. You take a photo of the plant you want to know about and the app identifies it. Free on iOS/Android. Virginia Tech Tree ID App users have access to a registry of thousands of types of trees. These can be narrowed down by location. Trees can also be identified by answering questions or checking out range maps and photos. This app only covers trees in North America. Free on iOS/Android. Apps to identify insects Picture Insect can instantly identify 4,000+ species of insects. Free on iOS/Android. Insect Identifier App by Photo, Camera is a collaborative app with information from scientists around the world. You can also view the insect model in 3D. It still appears to be under an early access version and the reviews on this are not very good. Free on Android. Animal tracks iTrack Wildlife Pro allows you to search a database of over 60 North American mammals based on specific information about their paw, foot or claw prints. It will actually help you identify animals based on their skulls if you happen to come across one of those in your wanderings. $14.99 on iOS/Android. Identify birds with this app Merlin Bird ID: This bird identification app asks you a few simple questions and gives you a selection of potential species based on your answers. It will only suggest species that are known to have recently been near your location. Plenty of apps to choose from This is just a quick list I found with a little bit of research. Do you use any of these or have other recommendations? Let us know in the comments on this post. We’re all about sharing information.

Mobile Mondays: Communicate on-site with the Zello Walkie Talkie app

Ken Lee

While us photographers are scouting locations, on the road or photographing, sometimes, we love to communicate. However, texting while driving is not safe and typically illegal. And continually calling or texting while photographing or setting up would be inconvenient. A great alternative that addresses these issues is Zello Push-to-Talk (PTT) mobile app. What does it do? Zello allows you to talk in real-time to individuals or groups anywhere in the world instantly. Best of all, it goes very easy on data. You can create your own groups; mine is configured for a photography group. How do you use it? Zello operates similarly to a walkie-talkie. Simply tap on a contact or channel, press the big giant PTT button and start talking. Release the button when you’re done. Can you use this legally while driving? One of the great features is the toggle on and off mode. This converts the button to a push-to-talk function instead. But for truly hand-free operation, you may use this app with one a compatible push-to-talk headset or accessories. Bonuses over using a walkie-talkie Zello is completely free, and requires no extra hardware (although you can use it with a headset if you wish). The range is unlimited, and you can also setup permanent channels for frequent team or individual communication. Basically, wherever you can get a signal or Wi-Fi, you can use Zello. And again, it uses surprisingly little data. Messages Zello allows you to replay messages and alerts on your device. You may use the History button to replay anything you wish. Zello also allows you to send alerts to individuals or groups. You may also include text messages. The people on the other end will receive a notification until they either respond or clear the alert. Display your message or work status Busy at the moment? Simply switch your status from “available” to “busy.” Or if you wish to focus on one individual or group, mark that and all other messages will be recorded. Conclusion So far, I’ve found it very easy to use. I’ve used this out in the field a couple of times. The sound quality has been extremely clear. I prefer to use the button in the toggle function so that I can operate it without having to hold the button. Zello is available on almost all iOS, Android and Windows PC devices.

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