If you have ever uploaded a photo to Facebook, you know that its image recognition tech automatically suggests tags of people. This feature was set to default, but Facebook announced yesterday that it will no longer offer tag suggestions when you upload a photo. In other words, its facial recognition will no longer be set to default. Facebook’s facial recognition feature isn’t only used to recognize you across the platform....

An LA man who pretended to be an Apple employee accessed 4,700 iCloud accounts and stole 620,000 photos. Along with his co-conspirators, he would search for nudes which he would then share with them. There were reportedly more than 300 victims, most of them being young women. Hao Kuo “David” Chi (40) of La Puente ended up in court over the scam that was first revealed back in 2018. He even marketed himself and offered his services of breaking into iCloud accounts to steal photos and videos, using a moniker “icloudripper4you....

The immediate sign that you’ve received the fake is the packaging – which is simply produced from a bad scan of the original of the artwork on the original box. You can see that the two example portraits differ dramatically in contrast and brightness compared to the originals. But when you open the box, the differences become immediately apparent. For a start, the dome itself that goes onto the end of the unit doesn’t even fit and just falls out, and while it is still using a translucent white material, it’s much more opaque than the genuine article, which eats up a lot of light....

Luminar AI was first introduced in September 2020, and shortly after, it got reflections in sky replacement. But now the program has launched its first update. It has made the already simple editing even simpler, and some of the major bugs have been fixed. So, let’s see what’s new in the Luminar AI 1.0.1. Interface and other changes The most obvious changes are in the Edit panel and the Import interface....

Way back in January, before Covid-19 was part of our lives, (remember that? It was before we knew that furlough was a real word, before we knew what WFH stood for, and before we put anti-bac on everything), I wrote a little blog about what it’s actually like to be a photographer. If you haven’t read it, you can find it here. Lockdown has given me a fair bit of time to think (but surprisingly little time to do – has anyone else found that?...

If you tell people to smile in your portraits, you have to stop it right now. That’s right — I’m giving you an order! Here’s one thing all new portrait photographers need to understand: most people can’t give a perfectly natural smile on command. In fact, the average person tends to stiffen up as soon as they have to smile. Commercial models — the type of people you see in insurance ads — are the exception to the rule....

Ever since it was acquired by SmugMug, Flickr has made some significant changes and major improvements. The latest among them is introducing a new Events page. It’s a place where you can learn about all sorts of photography-related events, all over the globe. Meet-ups, photo walks, classes, workshops, exhibitions, you name it – and all kinds of offline and online events are there for you to find, attend or even host....

Having a stylist on a photoshoot can be an elevation or, in some cases, a disaster for your project. The key to avoiding styling disasters is planning and having a good open dialogue with your stylist. As a stylist, our job is to bring concepts and ideas to life with wardrobe. But, unfortunately, concepts can get lost in translation when communication between the stylist and photographer or creative director is poor....

Working as a freelancer has its advantages, but also carries a lot of uncertainties. It’s not easy to plan your activities and balance all the projects you work on. CJR wanted to make it easier for the photographers to focus on publications worth working for. They talked to 30 freelance photojournalists, who revealed some of the best publications photographers can work for. They discussed the topics of pay, of course, but other important ones as well, like the relationships with editors and respect for photography....

Well, this is an interesting little update for the Fujifilm GFX 50S. A new firmware adds a 35mm “full frame” crop mode to its capabilities. It also adds focus bracketing up to 999 frames for those macro users forced into shallow depth of field. And lastly, it adds some more compatibility for the H Mount Adapter G, which lets you use Hasselblad H Mount lenses on the GFX 50S....

There isn’t a lot of information on this one yet, but Fujifilm is expected to possibly be making an announcement on January 27th for the new Fuji GFX 100S. Probably the most surprising thing about it, though, will be the price, which is anticipated to be a relatively measly $5,999 – putting it well into high end DSLR/mirrorless pricing territory. The camera, which has been long in the making, will feature a medium format 102-megapixel back-side illuminated sensor and phase detection autofocus....

Fuji have now officially announced the Fujifilm X-T2, the successor to their premium X-T1, which finally brings 4K video to their camera lineup with record times of up to 30 minutes per clip. Packing the 24.3MP X-Tranx III APS-C sized CMOS sensor also seen in the X-Pro2, the new camera also includes an upgraded hybrid AF system with 325 focus points, as well as an AF selection joystick on the back....

Other than the new entry-level camera, Fujifilm has also announced new lenses. One of them is the Fujifilm XC 35mm f/2, the first-ever prime in the XC line of lenses. It’s affordable, lightweight and tiny, and it can be a great companion to your APS-C Fuji camera. The Fujifilm XC 35mm f/2 is designed for X-mount crop Fuji cameras, and it provides a 53mm-equivalent focal length. It’s built from 9 elements in 6 groups, featuring two aspherical elements....

Fujifilm has recently released their FY2018/Q3 financial report, showing that the sales have increased over this period. Interestingly, it’s not their digital mirrorless cameras that boosted the earnings. It’s the Instax line of instant film cameras. The report Fujifilm published contains a breakdown of the earnings. It reads that the revenue went up 15.6% when compared to the same period of the previous fiscal year. As for the photo imaging business, the report reads that the overall sales “increased due to favorable sales, especially in instant photo systems....

It’s already been six months since NASA’s Perseverance rover landed on Mars and shared its first photo with the Earthlings. Boy does time fly! Since then, the rover has taken nearly 128,000 photos and counting. To honor the six-month anniversary of the landing and all those images, Google has published a cute and amusing video. It imagines what it would be like if Perseverance used Google Photos to look back on its memories from the past six months....

First up is the Pelican 1510 Case. Internal dimensions are 22″ x 9″ x 13.8″ and is the smallest of the three cases on sale. Regular price with foam is $152.15. With dividers it’s normally $194.98. Today’s price is just $119.99. Second is the Pelican 1650 case. This is designed to hold some pretty large gear, at 31.6″ x 12.4″ x 20.5″. Or, lots of small gear. Regular prices with foam is $233....

The US Supreme Court has ruled that online retailers will have to collect sales taxes from now on. For photographers and videographers, this means you no longer will be able to buy cheaper, tax-free gear from online retailers like B&H or Adorama. According to NBC News, the ruling will affect what you pay online, and retailers can now charge you sales taxes, and in many cases must charge you sales taxes....

The Godox SL series LED lights have proven to be extremely popular due to their low cost. Two of the models in that range, the SL150 and SL200 have seen a Mark II update today, according to an email that Godox has been sending out today. One of the features of the new SL150II and SL200II offers up a solution to the biggest complaint about LED lights of this form factor – fan noise!...

Balance is an odd thing in photography. It’s one of those things that’s difficult for people to quantify – especially observers who aren’t familiar with critiquing photography. They look at the image, something feels a little bit off but they can’t quite put their finger on it. It’s what people often mean when they say “Oh, that landscape could do with a person in that bit over there”, because an image looks perhaps a little lopsided and uncomfortable....

There’s been constant paranoia about the cameras in smartphones for as long as smartphones have had cameras. Can somebody hack into your phone, turn on your camera and watch? Or record? Well, it turns out that yes, they can. At least, they can if you’re one of the potentially “hundreds of millions” of Android users on a Google or Samsung smartphone. The issue was first discovered (at least, publicly) by the security research team at Checkmarx....