The future of photography is bright! In the 20th century, we were celebrating the invention of colour film and flash photography. But as we enter the 21st century, we're entering a new era of photography.
This era is one in which action cameras and drones become increasingly popular. It's a time when smartphones grow to become viable alternatives to professional cameras. And let's not get started on digital apps and programs for post-production...!
Below are some of our favourite photography innovations to look out for. Imagine what they might spell for the future of photography!
Personal Drone Photographers
Of course, what would a post about camera innovations be without mentioning drones? Couple your action camera with a drone and you’ll be capturing beautiful aerial shots without the need to book that expensive flight.
There are plenty of commercial uses for drone photography; real estate agents were early adopters. But new drone technology is making the drone camera so desirable that we imagine all photographers will be lusting after one in just a few years!
Take the Lily. This drone will follow you around once you toss it into the air. It can trail you, zoom ahead of you, or just fly around you to capture the surrounding environment.
Imagine how your images will look when you’re snowboarding, hiking to mountain tops, or performing water sports!
Lenses that Boost Your Smartphone Camera Tech
There are those spontaneous moments in life you'll want to capture in time. And sometimes, the only phone you'll have on you is your smartphone. But in the future, we can expect the smartphone to progress beyond mere convenience to become a viable alternative to more up-market point-and-shoot cameras.
In the future, we can expect to see more and improved add-ons to your smartphone camera, boosting your creative photography options enormously. In fact, the tech is so promising, a feature film called Tangerine was filmed last year entirely on an iPhone.
As we speak, Apple is developing a dual camera solution that means a smartphone camera could have multiple built-in lenses to rival DSLRs. Meanwhile, Olloclip offers a 4-in-1 lens with wide-angle, fish-eye and macro options and an action lens with an ultra-wide telephoto lens.
But even this might be unnecessary in time, since there may even come a day when your smartphone camera doesn't need a lens at all.
Software that Recognises Faces and Locations
When we upgraded from the shoe box of photos to digital albums, we still found ourselves trawling through hundreds - if not thousands - of photos to find the one we were after.
New facial recognition and geo-tag software is making it increasingly easier to search through your photos. We're already starting to see such software in programs like Google Photos.
Now, your camera can automatically recognise locations or certain pre-programmed faces, allowing you to group pictures together easily. Once your files are uploaded, you can simply type in a name or a location and all relevant images will pop up!
GoPros and Action Cameras
Action cameras have been around some time. But the market has evolved over the past few years so the GoPro is now in good company.
Wearable, compact, rugged and waterproof, action cameras can go wherever you go. For a long time, these cameras couldn’t compete in quality with dedicated photo cameras. But that’s slowly changing.
For example, the new GoPro Hero 4 Black has 4K video and amazing image quality. And improvements in technology means that's only set to improve even further.
For all the latest photography innovations, be sure to check out our online store or head into your local Camera House shop to get more handy tips from our staff.
