It's been several years since I bought my first iPhone, and months since I dove into Android with my ThinkPad Tablet. I only find it fitting that I make some space here in this blog simply to review the many apps I've bought and tried over the years. I'll have these reviews split up amongst iOS and Android, but I will try to equally cover both sides.

Today I'm going to kick off this section with a look at five apps built to replace or supplement a tool many photographers use known as a light meter. Normally it would look like a device with a small white dome used before a shoot. Its function is to show the photographer the ideal settings for his camera to get the perfect shot.

Probably the biggest reason I ever wanted to get into photography was for travel. When I went to Greece in 2006, we only had simple point-and-shoot cameras, and while the photos were ok, I always wanted to get those "National Geographic" quality kinds of shots just so I could really have lasting memories.

I've been on several trips now with my DSLR, and learned a few lessons specific to when you're traveling with a decent camera and gear. I've made mistakes in my travels, but learned from them, and hopefully my past mistakes become help for your own vacation shooting.

Back in 2008, the Federal Government handed out $600 checks to each and every American with the simple idea of "go buy stuff and stimulate the economy". I made the easy decision to invest that $600 in an entry-level DSLR camera and learn Photography.

It's been three years after the fact, and when I look at photos from the beginning compared to recent shots, I'm proud that I've learned a lot and have become pretty decent with my shooting. I wanted to share what I've learned over a series of articles and hopefully inspire others to give Photography a shot as well as help them get over the learning curve much faster.

I've been a longtime fan of Photoshop guru Scott Kelby, and embarrassed to find out now that he released this CS5 edition to his Adobe Photoshop Book for Digital Photographers series last August. I had originally become acquainted with the series when it was Photoshop CS, then later updated for the CS4 version. My choice to update again was more or less to help out a colleague who uses Photoshop CS4. I wanted to give her my older edition and get the new one.

I'll say right off if you already own the CS4 edition, then you really don't need to pick this one up unless you want to see new trickery involving some of the new features only found on Adobe Photoshop CS5. For me it's still worth it because of the vast amount of knowledge Kelby gives. This book will help the Photoshop-savvy photographers make their digital images go from great to amazing.

It's no mistake that the technology of High Dynamic Range (HDR) imaging has enhanced and taken photography to a new level.  The popularity can't be mistaken not even with the functions in Photoshop since CS2 and the release of software titles like Photomatrix Pro and HDR PhotoStudio.  More and more portfolios now are showing a lot of HDR photo creations, and the general consumer has gotten into HDR through apps, functions on lower-end cameras, and other various software outlets.

So we're seeing the joy of vivid color, wild dramatic scenes, and greater detail, but are we ready to chuck normal photography for an HDR-imaged world?  While I think the artistic value of HDR is amazing, I don't think every single photo needs the treatment.  So when should we apply the treatment and when should we not?

Last year, I remember seeing a lot of what looked like vintage photos popping up all over social media sites.  While thoughts first jumped on the idea that people were just scanning old family photographs, it became clear that this was a new trend brought about through new iPhone apps like Hipstamatic, Camera Bag, PicPlz, and Instagram.

Out of the three, Instagram caught my attention not so much for the idea of making "vintage" looking photos, but also the social media aspect they added to the experience.