Netflix Faked VHS, Nolan Shot Real Film: Digital Perfection Is Losing Its Appeal

Netflix just spent real engineering time making its biggest show look worse, on purpose. It's not the only surprising analog bet this summer — Christopher Nolan shot a $250 million blockbuster entirely on physical film — and neither is nostalgia. It's a signal about what audiences want that every photographer and videographer should notice.

Active Contests
43 42

Submit your best photos tweaked with Ai

Welcome to the July installment of the Critique the Community!  This month's critique theme is going to be "Augmented with Artificial Intelligence," and we want to see your best photographs that have been enhanced using Artificial Intelligence.

Two OM System White Lenses, One Coast, and a 1,000mm Reach Test

An 800mm equivalent lens that fits in a hand and a 1,000mm equivalent monster share the same day out on the Welsh coast. That kind of reach used to mean carrying gear you could barely lift, and the shift toward smaller sensors covering it is one of the more interesting developments in wildlife photography right now.

The Prime vs. Zoom Debate Is Missing the Point

Most wedding shooters carry a 24-70mm and a 70-200mm so they never get caught without the right reach. That habit can quietly wreck the consistency of your work, and the fix has nothing to do with which lens you own.

Do Photographers Have the Right to Sell Every Image They've Taken?

A photographer was hired to shoot a musician for a magazine. Months later, she started selling prints from that session. The musician says she never agreed to any of that — and now a court is going to settle a question photographers normally settle with a piece of paper: who owns an editorial photograph once the shoot is over?

Dear Anonymous Critic, May I See Your Work?

There is a particular kind of confidence that only exists on the internet. You have probably encountered it if you've ever published a photograph, written an article, uploaded a YouTube video or, for that matter, dared to have an opinion in public. It belongs to the person who has never shown you a single piece of their own work, yet has absolutely no hesitation in explaining why yours falls short.

Why Cheap, Good, and Simple Black-and-White Prints Don't Exist

Ask any printer to be cheap, good at black and white, and simple to use, and you're chasing something that doesn't exist. Anyone who has tried to pull a truly neutral monochrome print off an inkjet knows the frustration of watching subtle color casts creep into what should be clean gray.

George Lucas Says AI Is 'the Future' of Filmmaking and There's Nothing You Can Do About It

One of cinema's most influential creators just planted his flag firmly on the pro-AI side. In a wide-ranging interview tied to the opening of his Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, George Lucas said artificial intelligence is "the future" of moviemaking and that fighting it is pointless: "There's nothing you can do about it. That's progress, it's the future."

The FAA May Turn a Lot More of the US Into a No-Drone Zone

The FAA has proposed a rule that would let power plants, dams, refineries, and other "critical infrastructure" sites ask to have the airspace above them closed to drones. By the agency's own estimate, roughly 125,000 facilities could qualify to ask. Almost no one has said anything about it — 578 public comments as of July 13 — and the window closes August 5.

The Anker Nano Power Strip Fixes the Ugliest Corner of Your Editing Desk

Every desk has one ugly corner: the gray knot of chargers and power bricks that no cable management ever truly tames. The Anker Nano Power Strip (10-in-1, 70W, Clamp) clamps to your desk edge and swallows that knot whole, and after a month running my entire charging setup off it, I'm not going back.

5 Ways to Shoot Landscapes in Summer

Landscape photography in the summer can be frustrating, especially when shooting woodlands and forests. The forest is thick with green foliage, and parts of the bright blue sky shine through the canopy, creating hotspots in your image. But surely landscape photographers don't stow their cameras away for six months every year, so there must be an alternative?

The Quiet Friendship Between Two Photographers Who Never Needed to Meet in Public

There's a fairly common way to begin a piece about two photographers: describing when they met. This isn't that kind of story. Between Luigi Ghirri and Claude Nori, there's no iconic image shared together, no textbook foundational episode, not even the certainty that they ever needed to truly define their relationship.

The Photoshop Tool You Never Use That Creates Stunning Effects

The pixel stretch effect looks like something out of a high-end ad campaign, yet it comes down to a handful of clicks in Photoshop. If you've ever wanted to add motion, energy, or a graphic edge to a portrait or product shot, this technique gets you there in minutes.

An Influencer Filmed a Stranger's Skirt for Clout. It Just Cost Him $20,000

A man with more than 100,000 Instagram followers who filmed himself lifting a stranger into the air outside a nightclub, exposing her underwear on camera, has been ordered to pay $20,000 for posting the footage without her consent. A B.C. tribunal decided the clips counted as intimate images even though the man said he was just chasing views.

Canon R5 C Long-Term Review: Did Canon’s ‘Cripple Hammer’ Ruin a Masterpiece?

A few years ago, when the shutter on my Canon 5D Mark II finally gave out after 12 years of use, I needed to upgrade my equipment. With so many mirrorless cameras available on the market, it was a difficult decision. However, one camera consistently stood out to me. No matter how many times I tried to convince myself that there might be a better option for my needs, something kept drawing me back to it.

10 Mistakes That Kill a Headshot

A headshot has one job: to make a person look like the best, most confident version of themselves, and to do it in the fraction of a second a viewer spends forming a first impression. That is a narrow target, and it is easy to miss. What helps is that these failures repeat. Most weak headshots are not ruined by the camera or the location but by the same handful of mistakes, almost all of them fixable once you know what to look for. Here are ten that quietly kill a headshot, each with the fix.

Fujifilm XF16-55mm f/2.8 R LM WR I vs. II: Is It Worth Upgrading?

Fujifilm's original XF16-55mm f/2.8 lens has long been considered one of the best in the X-mount lineup, and is a lens I've owned and loved to use for many years. I know from personal experience that it's truly one of the best, whether discussing sharpness, detail, autofocus, build quality, or usability.

Starting a Real Estate Photography Business in 2026

The single biggest mistake in real estate photography has nothing to do with your camera or your marketing budget. Getting good before getting busy separates a business that lasts from one that burns out fast.

Why I Put a Stealth Lens on the Loudest Camera I Own

Most likely, this won't matter to many people, but I'm writing it and proposing it anyway, also because I'm convinced that there's only one person who will be interested in this piece about an antiquated setup that, in my opinion, still works great today. At least it works for me.