High-quality cameras on smartphones have completely changed how people take photographs these days. In fact, most of the photographs that are taken these days are from smartphone cameras. While digital cameras offer a remarkable advantage over nondigital cameras, one disadvantage of using the camera on smartphones is battery anxiety. 

Smartphone cameras are even worse in this regard as compared to DSLRs because your smartphone is continuously depleting battery life as it is being used for 100 other things like calling, texting, and watching YouTube videos. While a DSLR camera is usually shut off when you are done shooting pictures.

Imagine missing once in a lifetime picture because you ran out of juice on your phone. Or imagine traveling for hours to get to a good photo point, only for your smartphone to die on you. These are real possibilities when you photograph with a smartphone.

Luckily, this problem has a pretty cheap and convenient solution, Power Banks. Power Banks are these portable devices that hook up to your smartphone, allowing you to charge your phone on the go. These devices are usually as large as a wallet and weigh only a few hundred grams. But offer a reliable way to ensure that you never run out of battery.
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Some important things to look out for when buying a power bank are its storage capacity and its power rating. Let’s go over these. 

1.Battery capacity

Storage capacity is measured in milliamp hours or mAh for short. The most common storage capacity for power banks is 5,000 mAH, 10,000 mAh, and 20,000 mAh.
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We don’t need to get into the nitty-gritty behind these ratings. To keep it simple, most average smartphones these days have a battery of somewhere between 4,000 mAh to 5,000 mAh. So, a 5000 mAh power bank can charge your smartphone once from 0 to 100 %. Similarly, a 20,000 mAh power bank will charge your phone 4x times from 0 to 100%. 

Choose a power bank that meets your needs, keeping in mind that the higher capacity you go the more expensive the power bank will get. But even then, power banks are reasonably priced. You shouldn’t be paying anything above 100 USD for a decent power bank.

2.Power Draw

Power draw is another important power bank specification you should know about. The higher the power rating, the faster your phone can be charged. So, let’s say your phone supports 25-watt fast charging, in that case, you’ll need a power bank that supports 25-watt charging in order to fast charge. 

Anything below this and your phone will charge at regular speeds. For smartphones with a huge battery, this can mean a charge time of more than an hour from 0 to 100%.

3.Popular Power Bank Companies

While there are countless Power Bank companies out there, not all power banks are created equal. It is always a good idea to go for an established power bank brand. These following companies make great power banks

• Samsung
• Anker
• Xiaomi
• Mophie

These are just some of the well-known power bank companies out there. Do your research on the product before getting it and look for reviews online. You don’t want to get a power bank that is more headache than help.
Having a power bank in this day and age is a must. It helps you with battery anxiety and makes sure you are always topped off and ready to shoot anytime.

Use the Urban Jungle Photo Editor to unleash your creativity. Download it now for free on the Apple app store.
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Short-form content is pretty popular these days. TikTok made this style of content popular but since then almost all major social media applications have adopted this style of content. Instagram does it with Instagram Reels and YouTube does it with YT shorts.

The fundamentals of making this style of content are the same across all the platforms. Since the videos are very short and snappy, you only have a small time to win over your audience and get your message across. So let’s look at some tips on how to make the best Insta Reels.

1.Record high-quality footage
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Making good short-form content starts with capturing the best footage for it. If you don’t shoot good-quality footage for your reels, then it is just an uphill battle from there. 

You don’t have to use expensive professional cameras to record good high-quality footage. Smartphone cameras these days are pretty good. You just need to take lighting and angles to your advantage.
The easiest way to shoot a good video is to use natural light to your advantage.
Nothing ruins a good reel more than blurry and grainy video footage.
 
1.Hook in your audience
 
Instagram Reels are really short. By default, Insta reels are only 15 seconds long. This is the main appeal of short-form content. As it lets viewers consume a lot of content without taking up a considerable amount of their time.
 
So it is even more important to hook your audience in the start before they move on to the next video. 

​Use snappy and exciting transitions or lots of movements to retain viewer attention. Start with a great hook or dramatic effects so you keep your viewers asking for more and they stay with you.
 
1.Entertainment or Inform your viewers
 
Insta reels are categorized into two basic types of content, entertainment, and information. Decide what style of content you want to make.
 
As both styles of content can have different tones, styles, and overall vibes. 

This will also determine the type of audience you get. So choose wisely. It is better to choose a style that matches your interest and personality. Making content that you enjoy making is as important as the content itself.​

1.Take inspiration from others
There is no point in reinventing the wheel. Look at what other popular content creators are doing in your space and take inspiration from that. They have achieved success by experimenting with what works and what doesn’t.
This also helps with attracting and retaining an audience because they see a similar style and they want to stick with that style of content.

So what are you waiting for? Start experimenting with Insta Reels today and tag #UrbanJungleApp so we can see what you have done!

Use the Urban Jungle Photo Editor to unleash your creativity. Download it now for free on the Apple app store.

​Follow us on Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date on upcoming exciting new features. You can also get your pictures featured on our page if you use the #UrbanJungleApp.

If you have ever opened your camera applications pro mode or used a DSLR camera, you will have come across the term ISO. ISO is a very important concept to understand if you want your pictures to look good.
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ISO is basically your camera lens sensitivity to light. ISO itself stands for International Organization for Standardization. It is an international standard of how we measure camera lens sensitivity to the lens. 

ISO is represented in a series of numbers. The most common values you will see are 100,200,400,800,1600 and 3200. While these are the most common values, almost all modern camera offer values in between like ISO 125 or ISO 170, etc. In fact, there are high-end cameras that can go as far up as ISO 6400 and ISO 25600.
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By controlling the ISO of your camera lens, you can control how sensitive to light your camera lens is. The lower the ISO number, the darker the image. For example, an ISO 100 image will look pretty dark indoors. If we keep on increasing ISO, the image becomes more bright as it captures more light. 

ISO works in conjunction with other exposure variables like aperture and shutter speed. Increasing shutter speed time also lets you capture a brighter image, as your camera lens is exposed for a longer period to capture more light.

But having a long shutter speed doesn’t always work. Especially in the case where you have to photograph a fast-moving object. A long shutter speed will make the image blurry.

​So in this case you can use ISO to help brighten the image. First, you will decrease the shutter speed to capture the fast-moving object. And then counteract any loss of brightness from thus by increasing your ISO. 

But increasing ISO isn’t without its drawbacks. One major drawback of increasing your camera lens ISO is that the image becomes noisier. The more you increase your ISO values, the noisier it gets. While modern sensors are getting better and better at reducing this noise. It is still very much a concern when playing with ISO values.

​Touch up your photographs with the Urban Jungle Photo Editor. Available on the Apple App Store.

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If you own a modern smartphone, then most probably one of the lenses on your smartphone has image stabilization on it. While image stabilization can vary from one camera setup to another based on how it is implemented, the goal is the same; reduce the blur caused in pictures and videos.
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Without stabilization, all the pictures and videos we take with our smartphones would come out a blurry mess. This is because our hands are moving ever so slightly when we take a picture. That means that the smartphone is going all over the place when the camera lens is open to let the light in. The result is a blurry picture. 

​Optical Image Stabilization or OIS is a type of image stabilization that uses hardware to stabilize your smartphone camera lens when you take videos or photos. To achieve OIS in smartphone cameras engineers use MEMS or micro-electromechanical systems. These very small machines, specifically a gyroscope detect any movement and adjust your camera lens accordingly.
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OIS works by counteracting the motion of the smartphone. If the movement is towards the left, the OIS system moves the lens slightly to the right to balance it out. 

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​OIS is superior to other image stabilization techniques like Digital Image Stabilization or AI Image Stabilization. This is because OIS is a totally hardware-based system and doesn’t crop the image in order to stabilize it. OIS also doesn’t cause that jelly effect that you will see with cameras that use DIS. 

​So if you are someone that needs to take HDR pictures or takes a lot of pictures in low light conditions, then having a smartphone camera that uses OIS is a must. This is because if you take HDR pictures or pictures in low light conditions, the camera lens needs to be open for a longer period to let maximum light onto the lens.

High-end phones have pretty good OIS on their camera units. Some common phones that have OIS are the iPhone 13 Pro Max, iPhone 12 Pro Max, Samsung S21 Ultra, and Google Pixel 6 Pro.

While these aren’t the only phones with OIS, they are the most common ones you can find in the market. But there are other cheaper phones by Brands like Xiaomi and Oppo that also have OIS enabled camera setup. Just do your research before making a purchase.
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Use the Urban Jungle Photo Editor to unleash your creativity. Download it now for free on the Apple app store.
Follow us on Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date on upcoming exciting new features. You can also get your pictures featured on our page if you use the #UrbanJungleApp.

The African savanna is a pretty diverse ecosystem. This is attributed to the plentiful grass that can be found in the savanna. A lot of grass means that the grazing mammal population is plentiful. So not only do you have a large range of herbivores in savannas but also carnivores that prey upon them.
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Today we will be looking at some of the most popular animals that can be found in the African savanna.

1. Giraffe

Giraffes are the tallest mammals in the animal kingdom. Their longs alone stand about 6 feet tall, which is taller than most people. The plentiful grass and tall leafy trees in the savanna mean the giraffes get abundant food to eat. And since most of the area is uninhabited, they can roam around freely. 

​If you ever get a chance to go on a safari in the African savanna you might get to experience their glory in person.

2. Zebra
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Zebra stand out among the other animals of the African savanna due to their unique black and white stripes. A little-known fact about zebras is that they are in fact endangered and about 2000 of them are believed to be alive today. 

​The white and black stripes on Zebras are unique to each animal, similar to how we humans have unique fingerprints. The stripes while beautiful also have a utility. They help zebras camouflage from the predators like lions. Since lions are color blind, for them a head of black and white zebras would be awfully confusing.

3. Wildebeests
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Wildebeests are another animal that is closely associated with the African savannas. While they may look slow, wildebeests can run pretty fast at speeds of up to 40 KM/hr. Unfortunately, that is still not fast enough to evade their primary predator Lions and Hyenas. 

​These majestic animals are known to migrate, looking for greener pastures. On average, they may migrate as much as 1000 miles each year.

4. Lions
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While called King of the Jungle almost universally, Wild Lions actually only exist naturally in Africa. There is a small population of Asiatic lions found in India, but other than that most lions in the world are in Africa. 

​The Lions are at the top of the food chain in the savanna. They hunt grazers like wildebeests, zebras, and even giraffes for food. While Lions are usually the symbol of courage, it is actually the lionesses that see most of the action such as hunting.

5. Cheetahs
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One of the fastest land animals, cheetahs make their presence known in the savanna. Like lions, they are apex predators and are at the top of the food chain. Their speed is unmatched and thus it makes them a lethal predator. 

​Cheetahs may lack strength, but they make it up in speed. They attack hard and fast and isolate a grazer. Because they can’t directly take on a united herd of grazers, they need to be tactful in how they approach their prey.
 
These are some of the most iconic animals you can find in an African savanna. And the best part is, that you can find most of these in the Urban Jungle app.  

Download the Urban Jungle Photo Editor from the App store now and add these majestic animals to your pictures.
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Follow us on Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date on upcoming exciting new features. You can also get your pictures featured on our page if you use the #UrbanJungleApp.