I can’t count the times that I’ve heard the phrase “AI is inevitable,” but a recent reversal by Instagram’s parent company proves there’s still power in the voices decrying AI. Meta has pulled the controversial tool that enables the new Meta Muse Image generative AI to tag public profiles to use their likeness and style in fake images.

Last week, Meta unveiled its first in-house built image generator called Meta Muse. Among the different features, however, was a tool that enabled users to use an “@” tag on any public account to generate images that looked like that person as well as images that could copy the user’s style.

The tag feature wasn’t live for a week before Meta pulled the plug following backlash over the tool. Critics cited privacy concerns, as the AI could generate fakes that resembled real people using a basic “@” tag.

Much of the public outcry came from the fact that the tool was on by default, and users had to adjust their privacy settings to prevent others from creating images based on their Instagram profile.

As a photographer, I opened Meta Muse last week to see just how dangerous the AI really was – and found that using an “@” tag didn’t just copy someone’s face, but could also copy a specific photographer’s style, all based on their Instagram profile.

Meta’s quick reversal of the tagging feature inside Muse Image hints at the power of the public voice in the AI era. While many have said that AI is inevitable, the outcry following the controversial feature hints that the resistance to AI isn’t just limited to artists who make a living creating what a computer is now trying to imitate.

Meta isn’t pulling the entire Muse Image platform, but it has removed the tagging tool. While the tool’s willingness to take anyone’s likeness was a concern among a wide variety of Instagram users, its willingness to steal a particular style is disconcerting for artists.

While many AI platforms have no issues with generating an image based on an artist’s style, Instagram has long been a social network that artists have used to reach new audiences. Deleting social media accounts to protest the feature would have meant losing a valuable tool for reaching and cultivating new fans.

Meta’s reversal of the tagging feature is only one small win in the age of AI, but the reversal proves that people’s voices still have power – and sharing ethical concerns in the AI era isn’t shouting into an empty void.

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Meta has announced its first in-house created AI image generator. But, Muse Image comes with the ability for anyone to go into the AI, use an “@” tag with an Instagram username, and generate realistic images of that person for anyone with a public account and loose privacy settings. But, when I tried the AI generator, Muse Image was also able to copy a photographer's style by tagging a specific profile.

The Muse Image tagging feature was met with immediate backlash and privacy concerns, with one user calling the feature a “privacy landmine waiting to detonate.” But the tool may be particularly problematic for artists because the same tool can also be used to copy a photographer’s style using a simple @ tag if privacy settings aren’t in place.

Much of that Meta AI backlash comes, in particular, from the fact that it seems to be on by default for public profiles of users over age 18.

Both intrigued and worried, I opened Meta AI to see if the feature is really as terrifying as it sounded. To my relief, the limited privacy and reuse settings I already had in place prevented the AI from generating photos of myself – and even after downloading the necessary Instagram update, that “reuse” toggle was still turned off.

Public profiles can turn off Meta Muse’s ability to generate photos that look like them or use their grid to copy a certain style by going into the Instagram settings, navigating to the “share and reuse” section, then turning off the toggle that says “Allow people to reuse your content on Instagram and with AI features.”

When I opened Meta Muse and tagged myself, the AI refused to generate a photo of me, even though logging into my own account was required to use the AI.

I tried three user names (including my own) before I found a public profile with loose enough settings. The AI then generated a fake image of someone who looked a lot like the real person. The AI does this without notifying the user, and the resulting image does look quite a bit like the person whose username I had tagged.

But Muse Image can also use tags to copy a certain style. The AI copied my own style when I was logged in, but thankfully, when I logged into a different account, the AI said it couldn’t use my public photography account as inspiration. Instead, the AI advised me to describe in words the style that I wanted, telling me, “I can match that look without needing the specific account.”

While I was relieved to see that the privacy settings seem to work to prevent using my Instagram grid as an AI’s inspiration, it’s disappointing that the ability to copy a user's style even exists in the first place.

Muse Image is rolling out to Meta AI first, but has also popped up in AI Instagram Story tools and chats with Meta AI in WhatsApp in some regions. The company says that Muse will be coming to Facebook and Messenger, as well as additional Instagram tools, "in the coming weeks."

How to prevent Meta Muse from using your face and photos for AI

1. Open Instagram and log in.
2. Navigate to your profile and select the settings menu (the three horizontal line icon).
3. Scroll down underneath “How others can interact with you” and tap “Sharing and reuse.”
4. Toggle off the option that says “Allow people to reuse your content on Instagram and with AI features.”
5. Don’t see that option? Try updating your app. If the option still doesn’t show, turn off the option that says “Allow people to create with and reuse your original audio on Meta AI” instead.

How to disable Meta Muse AI on individual posts

Instagram also allows users to turn off AI re-use on individual posts, which is also a good tool to see if the overall privacy settings have taken effect.

1. Navigate to your profile and tap on one of your posts.
2. Tap the “...” menu.
3. You’ll see “allow reuse” if your general settings don’t allow reuse, or “turn off reuse” if your general reuse settings are on. Tap to adjust.

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VSCO has launched a new brand campaign in what it says reaffirms the company’s commitment to photographers amid claims that "photography is dying" as social media platforms push trends and AI-generated imagery proliferates.

Launched May 12, the campaign aims to inspire photographers to remain dedicated to the craft at a time when VSCO says photography has “never mattered more.” Along with staving off fears of an AI takeover, VSCO also hopes to shine a “rare spotlight” on the creative process and rigor that goes into crafting photos and videos.

The in-house campaign revolves around the work of two New York-based photographers, Jared Thomas Tapy and Ivana Cajina, both VSCO users who were chosen for their "distinct visual perspective,” with a combination of digital, 35mm, and medium format film cameras employed for the project.

Spearheading the campaign messaging is a letter from company CEO, Eric Wittman who says: “Your eyes, the way you see the world, can't be generated. It can't be prompted. It's irreplaceable,” with Cajina reflecting the sentiment in an interview: “I truly don't believe AI can replace us.”

These words, and the campaign as a whole, take flight as the industry sees huge shifts, with photographers, including myself, lamenting the use of AI to generate images, but increasingly using the technology to make lighter work of the more repetitive, less-creative tasks in post-production.

In fact, VSCO recently published the results of a survey it conducted that highlighted 83% of photographers now use AI in their workflows in some capacity. The VSCO mobile app includes several AI tools, but in a letter to photographers, Whittman reaffirmed the company's commitment to "workflows that get out of your way."

Now, just to be clear, something tells me VSCO did not launch this new initiative purely out of goodwill, as speckled throughout the campaign webpages is a healthy number of opportunities to sign up to one of the platform’s subscriptions.

However, from my perspective, the company seemingly strikes a balance between championing photographers and pushing commercial aims.

The new VSCO campaign rolls out in May across TV, social, and digital out-of-home placements in major U.S. cities, including Austin, TX, New York, NY, and San Francisco, CA.

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Instagram has announced that it’s currently testing a new feature enabling creators who “often create with AI” to self-identify with an “AI creator” label. The announcement was made yesterday, May 04, by the official Instagram creators account, mentioning that the label will appear on your profile as well as alongside any AI-generated content if toggled on in your account settings.

With this new optional feature, Instagram says that it’s making it easier to "understand how content is made, who's behind it, and what’s worth your attention." In principle, this is a move that I, and I’m sure millions of others, welcome as we see more and more AI-generated content that’s becoming increasingly indistinguishable from material generated by a human.

However, being optional, at least for now, is seemingly the obvious flaw in Instagram’s plan to “increase transparency” on the platform. Coming clean as an “AI creator” could lead to losing out on revenue or diminishing trust with followers, and it’s inevitable that a percentage of AI creators won’t self-identify, which is why I think Instagram needs to enforce relevant accounts to activate the feature.

I don't want to see people losing out on income, but if that income has been built on misleading, dishonest content that doesn't give viewers the option to decide whether they want to consume AI material, then I’m all for Instagram outing accounts, but this can’t be maximized through optional policies.

Admittedly, enforcing AI creators to self-label poses more questions, especially as Instagram has said that it’s testing the “AI creator” label on accounts that "regularly create content with AI." What constitutes “regularly,” but also, to what extent does AI have to have been used in creating the content for it to be considered AI-generated?

While I really want to see all social media—and all internet platforms for that matter—enforce rigorous AI content labeling, platforms would also need to ensure guidelines explicitly outlining what they consider to be AI-generated content.

This is particularly important for photographers who regularly use AI to make minor edits to images they took themselves, and who have already been bitten by automatically added AI-content labels, which was the case when Meta introduced the “AI info” tag in 2024.

Ironically, Meta’s own AI bots scan the company’s ecosystem of apps (Instagram, Facebook, and Threads), looking for “industry standard” clues of AI usage to automatically apply the label. However, tests conducted by PetaPixel showed that photos edited with Adobe's generative fill tool in Photoshop would trigger the label even if the edit was only to a "tiny speck." Subsequently, the feature evoked backlash from users, forcing Instagram to tighten its policy.

Yesterday’s announcement highlighted that if an “AI info” label has already been applied to an Instagram post by a self-identifying “AI creator,” then any automatically added “AI info” label would remain in place.

Some users have responded in the comments supporting Meta’s latest AI-labeling move, while others have vented their anger at AI content as a whole. One respondent commented: “Nuke AI in general actually, make a whole diff platform called AInstagram for them.”

I actually think that this comment makes a valid point. AI-content labeling managed by AI systems with inherent flaws will always face issues, so perhaps a separate platform for AI content, or even an option to switch between viewing only human-generated and AI-generated content, would be the optimal solution.

Anyway, according to the latest announcement, the new “AI creator" label doesn’t impact “how your account or content is distributed across Instagram," which will hopefully encourage those relying on AI-generated imagery to let their audience know without fear of repercussions.

So far, Instagram has said that only some AI creators will have access to the new labeling feature, but that it will be “expanding” this in the coming weeks.

Meta hasn't said anything about potentially enforcing it in the future, but I hope the social media monopoly will, along with strengthening the systems it has in place to detect AI usage. Although, I doubt it will happen anytime soon.

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Two years ago, Instagram rolled out algorithm changes that cut traffic to accounts that reposted Reels from other accounts, prioritizing original content from creators. Now, the social media platform is finally giving that same treatment to photos and carousels.

In a Reel, Instagram’s Adam Mosseri shared that, over the next month, Instagram will begin flagging accounts that post unoriginal photos, reducing reach to only followers and not recommending the content to new followers. The move echoes what Instagram already does for Reels – and has already had in place for two years.

The move shifts the algorithm away from aggregators who post other people’s content to help push more traffic to the original creator, which will now be applied to photos and carousels as well as Reels.

Mosseri explains that the change is on an account-wide basis, rather than post-by-post. Instagram algorithms will look at an account, and if the account is posting a majority of what Instagram calls “unoriginal content,” then the platform will no longer recommend that account to non-followers.

Users will have the ability to appeal if they believe their account was flagged in error, as well as the opportunity to remove the unoriginal content for reconsideration.

Of course, on any social media platform, memes make up a portion of those photos. But Instagram says that if a meme is “meaningfully enhanced,” then it won’t fall under that “unoriginal label.” Reuploading someone else’s photo with a different caption, border, watermark, or subtitles will be flagged as unoriginal content, Instagram says.

Users who wish to share another creator’s content may use the Repost button instead, Instagram says. Adding a collaborator to a post or a paid partnership label is another option Instagram recommends for sharing original content to multiple accounts without penalty.

Instagram notes that the algorithm guidelines for original content are separate from the company’s intellectual property policies. The social media platform also notes that the change won’t impact publishers with licensing agreements.

Creators can check to see if their account is affected by going to their profile, tapping the three-line “hamburger menu” and tapping Settings. The Account Status option is under “More Info and Support” in the Settings menu.

Instagram did not indicate why the feature that rolled out to Reels in 2024 has taken two years to come to photos. However, Instagram says that "75 percent of recommendations in the US are now coming from original posts.”

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When you take a photo with an instant film camera, you watch the photo slowly appear in your hands. Instagram is testing a new feature that feels like the exact opposite of that – instead of physical photos that slowly appear, Instants is all about digital photos that slowly disappear.

Instagram’s Instants, which is currently only available in some regions, allows users to take and share unedited photos that can only be viewed once and disappear after 24 hours. While the app sounds a bit like a Snapchat-Instagram hybrid, the goal of the app seems to be a low-pressure, unedited way to share photos.

Instagram feels increasingly curated – users are often sharing only the best moments, and even then those photos often feel highly edited. Instants doesn’t allow for photo edits at all, which may seem strange for a social platform that’s known for its camera filters, but Instagram says the test is about creating a “low pressure” way to share with friends.

Instants doesn’t even allow uploads from the Camera Roll – the only photos that can be shared are taken from the apps camera, and there’s no option to edit them. The photos can be shared to the Instants app or using Instagram itself, and the social media giant says that it is testing several variants on the feature.

As a feature still in testing, the app is currently only available in Italy and Spain, but for Instagram users worldwide, the test is an interesting glimpse into some of the ideas that Instagram is working on behind-the-scenes.

Instagram’s preference for square photos has always made me think of the network as the modern equivalent of handing a friend a Polaroid photo. The disappearing photos in Instants feel like the opposite of that, the photos are digital instead of physical, and the photos disappear instead of reappearing.

As a test, only time will tell if the app becomes widely available – or becomes integrated into Instagram itself. But an app just for unedited photos feels like an echo of the low-tech trend that has brought back early 2000s point-and-shoots.

Frankly, I’d download it in a heartbeat if the inability to edit photos also means that there’s no AI slop. But, with the inability to upload photos taken from another camera, it doesn’t seem like Instants will be a photo-focused alternative to the increasingly Reels-based Instagram for serious photographers sharing their work.

The app is available on the App Store and Google Play Store, but is currently limited to users in certain regions.

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The YouTube Hype button might sound like one more throwaway engagement gimmick, but content creators should not dismiss it that quickly.

In a platform economy where discovery is everything and audience loyalty is often more valuable than raw vanity metrics, Hype is YouTube’s attempt to turn passionate viewers into active promoters. That matters because it shifts support from being passive, like a thumbs-up, into something that can actually help a video travel.

So what is it? Officially, Hype is a feature for eligible long-form videos from YouTube Partner Program creators with between 500 and 500,000 subscribers. Viewers can use it on videos uploaded within the last seven days, and when they do, that video receives points. YouTube then adds bonus points based on the creator’s subscriber count, with smaller channels getting a bigger lift, which is clearly designed to stop larger mid-tier creators from steamrolling everyone else.

Why is it there? Because YouTube knows a lot of creators do not fail because their content is bad, they fail because discovery is brutal. The company has said Hype was built to help emerging channels connect with new audiences and to give fans a more active role in helping creators grow. In other words, this is YouTube acknowledging that likes, comments, and even shares are no longer enough if it wants smaller creators to feel like they have a fighting chance.

Using it is fairly simple, at least from the viewer's side. In the YouTube mobile app, a user opens an eligible video, finds the Hype option in the carousel under the video, taps Hype, and selects the number of points to send. In the free version of the feature, viewers can hype up to three times per week, either on the same video or across different videos, and that allowance refreshes every Monday at midnight local time.

What does that actually do to a creator’s content? Turns out, quite a bit, potentially!. A hyped video gets points immediately, can climb onto a country-specific leaderboard in the Explore section, may display a special hyped badge, and can benefit from fans publicly sharing that hype through posts on their own channel tabs. YouTube also says the leaderboard is updated frequently and is not personalized, which means a hyped video is being pushed into a broader discovery surface rather than just recycled back to the same loyal audience.

That is why creators should care. Hype is not just another shiny button for viewers to mash; it is a discovery tool wrapped in fandom. If you are an up-and-coming creator, especially one sitting below the mainstream algorithm sweet spot, this gives your most engaged viewers a structured way to help your latest upload break out during the most important first week of its life.

The catch is that it is not universal: it applies to eligible long-form videos, not Shorts, private or unlisted uploads, or live streams while they are still live. Creators are auto-enrolled when eligible, but they can opt out in YouTube Studio if they do not want the feature.

My take is simple: creators who ignore Hype are probably overlooking one of the clearest signals YouTube has introduced for community-powered discovery. No, it is not a magic fix for weak content, and no, it does not replace good thumbnails, sharp hooks, or consistency.

But if YouTube is giving your audience a direct way to help a fresh upload gain points, visibility, and momentum, then smart creators should absolutely educate their viewers on how to use it. In 2026, attention is currency, and Hype is YouTube’s latest attempt to let fans spend some of theirs on your behalf.

Wildlife photographer Sha Lu had a disappointing morning. He'd driven out to his local park in Mountain View, California, on June 15 2025, hoping to catch a white-tailed kite performing its remarkable mid-air food exchange; a male passing prey to a female or juvenile while both are in flight. He'd been shooting these birds for years. He knew what a great frame looked like.

What he got instead was a juvenile kite with its back to him, blocking the action. Dejected, he packed up. It was only later, during post-processing, that he started flicking through the "less interesting" frames from his Sony A1, and noticed something extraordinary staring back at him.

A vole. Gripped in the kite's talons. Looking directly into the lens with an expression of such perfect, resigned helplessness that it eventually led the internet to lose its collective mind.

The shot went viral almost immediately after Lu shared it last summer. The Guardian ran it. So did the New York Post and Germany's Bild. It ricocheted around Reddit, racking up 27,000 upvotes and hundreds of comments. Then it faded away, as viral things do. Except it didn't… not really. 

Last week the image resurfaced on X, and within hours people were generating Pixar-style AI movie posters around it. These posts racked up tens of thousands of engagements all over again. And I think there's a deeper lesson in that.

What made it viral

We live in an era of relentless image production. Millions of photographs are uploaded every hour. Which means that typically, even the best images have a shelf life measured in days before the algorithm buries them.

Yet Lu's vole photo upturns this dynamic. The image has now gone viral at least twice, nearly a year apart, and has mutated into an entirely new cultural artefact. It's become a meme, a movie poster template, a shared cultural shorthand for the feeling of being comprehensively out of options.

So what made it stick? Here are a few things worth noting if you're trying to make images that last.

It tells a complete story in a single frame. You don't need any context to understand exactly what's happening (and what is about to happen) to this particular vole. The narrative tension is total and immediate.

The eye contact is everything. Lu notes that it was only because the kite was flying a short distance that it didn't bother tucking the vole away fully. A fraction of a second earlier or later, and the vole is hidden. Instead, you get direct eye contact with an animal in the worst moment of its short life. Direct eye contact in wildlife photography is always powerful. Here it's devastating.

It's emotionally universal. The vole isn't actually making a facial expression; voles don't work that way. But we can't help projecting onto it. That gap between what we know intellectually and what we feel instinctively is where great comedy and great pathos both live. 

It rewards closer looking. The small dark specks on the kite's plumage (likely ticks, hitching a ride on every mammal the bird catches) are the kind of detail that sends people back to the image repeatedly, sparking new conversations.

Key takeaway

Most photographers think about virality as something that happens at the point of posting. Lu's experience suggests the more useful question is: does this image have legs? Not just for a news cycle, but for years to come?

Images with genuine staying power tend to be simple, emotionally direct and slightly mysterious; they invite projection rather than spelling everything out. They also tend to reward repeated viewing, because there's always something new to notice.

Lu wasn't chasing any of that when he drove to the park that morning. He was trying to get a mid-air food exchange. He came home disappointed. Yet the best frame from the session was one he almost ignored.

The lesson? Sometimes the photograph finds you. The job is to be there… and to check the frames you almost deleted. Just in case.

Shock horror, Jamie Lee Curits is once again claiming she invented Instagram… She’s been banging on about this for years and, if you search the web, you’ll find plenty of interviews where she’s made this controversial statement.

Curtis is so convinced that Instagram, or at least the concept of sharing photos online for the world to see, was her idea, that she’s been more than happy to say it on camera and in front of huge audiences, and only a few days ago, she brought up the Instagram debacle again at the South By SouthWest (SXSW) Keynotes sessions in Austin, Texas.

I hate to break it to Curits, but I think she’s barking mad. This isn’t a Paul Allen and Bill Gates situation where we all know that the real visionary genius behind Microsoft was the former, but the latter took all the plaudits.

But while I couldn't agree more with Curtis’ claims, I do think her creation helped promote smartphone photography at a time when people were questioning whether photos were even worth taking on a phone.

What Curtis created was a simple website for sharing iPhone photography back in 2008 called Iphoneys and she gave it the slogan: “Iphone photographers sharing their vision. The website is still online and, although it’s been dead for years, there is a decent backlog of uploads from a host of different people.

Anyway, it turns out that Instagram used a similar slogan back when it launched in 2010: “Capture and share the world's moments”. And that’s it, that’s the basis of Curtis’ “claim” to inventing Instagram.

Perhaps Instagram’s creators took a little inspiration from Curtis’ website – after all, Instagram was founded in San Francisco, just a few hours up the coast from Los Angeles, where Curtis lives – and Iphoneys was live for two years beforehand, but it’s hardly a connection.

Obviously, no one believes Jamie Lee Curits and it’s a bit like when your drunk Aunt at the family reunion starts coming out with corkers after a few too many glasses of chardonnay – you just nod along and let her have her moment.

But it would be wrong to say that Iphoneys didn’t at least help smartphone photography mature beyond infancy. In 2008 the best smartphone on the market was the iPhone 3G, only the second iPhone ever. This now retro device boasted, wait for it, a whopping 2MP rear camera with fixed focus and no flash. It didn’t even have a front-facing camera or native video recording!

While these were high-end specs back in their day, early iPhone cameras were never a match for DSLR and film cameras, and later mirrorless cameras, so props to Curtis for making the Iphoneys site and encouraging people to use their phones as creative tools.

Curtis claims to be a Leica user too and, while I certainly believe this, although there isn’t much of her work floating around online among the sea of portraits of her. What a shame, because I’d actually like to see photos she’s taken.

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Meta recently confirmed that it’s trialling clickable links in posts which would allow users to leave the platform to external webpages. This could have a positive impact on photographers and videographers who want to direct viewers towards their commercial services and products.

Until now, Instagram has strictly prohibited in-post linking, limiting adding external links to profiles, Reels and Stories, in a balancing act of restricting users from leaving the app but also keeping them happy. However, according to a report by tech publication Engadget, Meta has said that it’s testing links in captions, but only for paying Meta Verified subscribers.

The feature was initially spotted by blogger Andrea Valeria, who shared screenshots of an Instagram post in which she was able to include a link to her Substack. Valeria noted that an in-app message said she could share up to 10 links per month.

While Instagram is keeping the details as to when the feature will be officially rolled out and what the limitations will be under wraps, this will surely have creators excited.

The challenge of being a photographer or videographer on social media is that likes don’t translate to income, and viewers can disappear when having to direct them from a post to your “link in bio.” However, enabling Instagram users to leave the app to a related webpage directly from a post could help solve these issues.

With the current limitation of 10 external in-post links per month, it doesn't seem likely that the feature will make a huge difference to creators’ finances but, if used strategically, could bolster incomes.

As for now, it looks like only Instagram users paying for the coveted blue tick will get access to in-post links. But as a potentially revenue-driving feature, I think creators of all levels will want in, and this could see Instagram widening access.

For now, though, free users will have to continue making do with the maximum of five links alowed in profile bios.

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I’ve always regarded top-tier professional photographers with awe. The way they can adjust f-stops and ‘paint with light’ to conjure up – at their best – an image for the ages.

In my world, iconic photographs – David Bailey’s black-and-white of Mick Jagger in a fur hood or Duffy’s Alladin Sane-era Bowie spring to mind – get treated with as much reverence as paintings by the Old Masters. Even if the photographer has taken direct inspiration from the work of actual Old Masters, such as Girl With A Pearl Earring or The Birth of Venus.

We no longer need go to a gallery, or buy a book or magazine to view such imagery; a quick Google Search brings it up on-screen. However, that ready access – like turning on a tap to get water – has stealthily reduced the artistry it took to create them to a commodity. Or so the tech giants would like.

Whether we’re talking the musings of a Love Island contestant or sepia-tinged early photography by Julia Margaret Cameron, it’s all just now "content".

God, how I hate that word. I think the reason I dislike it is that it lumps everything together, regardless of merit or value. There’s no curation involved.

It’s therefore massively reductive and disrespectful to whoever has created the artwork, written the article, shot the film, recorded the blog or composed the music. It suggests that everything exciting about human expression is just data to be consumed – or force-fed to us by algorithms.

This isn’t snobbery or technophobia on my part; I’m more concerned about loss of humanity.

Yes, the 'content creator' economy might be, presently, helping to boost or prop up the photographic industry. The accessibility of technology may have also inspired someone to pick up a camera for the first time, build a website or launch a YouTube channel.

All of these are good things. So, the 'creator' half of that description is one that I like and have time for.

The 'content' half – the bit that’s not, by and large, serving the majority but instead the tech bros and social media giants – I’m far less enamored with or convinced by.

One thing I do like about social media – or, at least, did before it became addictively controlling and potentially toxic – is that, at its best, it can feel democratic. Like the playing field has been levelled.

However, far from art forms being more widely appreciated because of increased accessibility, we’re in danger of viewing the act of art creation in increasingly shallow terms. Terming everything "content" loses the wider context and any nuance in the ever-hungry pursuit of clicks.

When we talk about a photograph, we know immediately what we’re referring to. When we talk about "content", it could be anything. Or nothing.

And in my opinion, too often it’s nothing.

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The rise of social media platforms has coined the term “content creator” to create a distinction from traditional camera artists and creators working exclusively for social media – but an art museum in London has recently acquired an iconic YouTube video for an exhibit.

The London-based Victoria and Albert Museum, or V&A, recently announced the acquisition of “Me at the Zoo,” the first video ever to be posted to YouTube. The video is now on display as part of an exhibit, Design 1900-Now at the V&A South Kensington.

The 19-second video depicts the platform's founder, Jawed Karim, at the San Diego Zoo. The video, which has now exceeded 380 million views, marked the launch of what is now the most visited online video platform.

Turning something that exists only in digital format into part of a physical display wasn’t an easy feat. The museum spent part of the last 18 months working with YouTube’s User Experience team to build a display that mimics how the platform looked in December 2006 – the oldest code available from The Internet Archive.

The team at the museum worked to recreate what YouTube looked like in its infancy, down to the playback controls on the Adobe Flash Player. The team then incorporated the video file for ‘Me at the Zoo’ and even reconstructed ads that ran on YouTube between December 2006 and January 2007.

The team faced a number of challenges in the reconstruction, including the Adobe Flash Player no longer being supported by modern browsers. But after 18 months, the result is a dynamic display that changes on every visit. Yes, anyone can still watch the first-ever video online, but the exhibit brings back the look or early YouTube rather than surrounding the 20-year-old video with YouTube's modern look and tools.

While the display is part of an exhibit on the history of design, the inclusion of the first-ever YouTube video feels like a nod to the platform’s influence in design and video over the last two decades.

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I don’t think there was ever a time that social media truly worked for photographers. From the horrible portrait-only viewing to the rapid-fire uploading needed to keep up with the algorithm, it’s always been a slog.

But I do believe there was a time when social media worked for photography consumers; people who wanted to look at stills on a screen with the same critical, curious and creative eye they would a print.

I’m talking about, of course, the early days of social media. This was the time before Vine, Instagram Reels and TikTok were unleashed to the ungodly benefit of their creators and detriment of photography. Not to mention to the brains of youngsters, and many others for that matter.

These platforms thrust short-form video onto us faster than we could’ve imagined. And in an even shorter time they did away with the mantle of responsibility for upholding the artistic values of the still image.

Nowadays, we see more videos about photography rather than photography itself.

Instead of Instagram profiles filled with carefully curated stills, we get action-packed Reels of the photographer holding their camera at an interesting yet totally impractical angle, striking a powerful pose, all while looking at their subject with the piercing gaze of a Vogue model.

This is all great for mindless consumption, but not so great for those of us who want to take a slow moment to appreciate a good composition. “A slow moment on social media?” I hear you ask…

It’s even more grueling for photographers, or ‘creators’ as they’re now known, who have to actually produce these short-form videos. These poor souls are the ones having to twist and deform their beautiful stills into 15-second splurges, praying that the hook works its magic.

And what if it doesn’t? What if the hook fails miserably to grab the attention of the viewer, which experts claim “must happen within the first three seconds”?

Then the video is resigned to the icy cold black hole of viewless content, leaving the photographer who invested hours into it worse off – but the platform owners better off, as always, as they were still able to run ads.

For the photographer, it’s more work for less reward. And for the consumers, it’s something they never asked for but now have to put up with to enjoy their passion. “Look elsewhere”, you might claim. But let’s face it, social media is the ingredient for success as a photographer in this day and age.

But it’s never been about doing what’s best for photographers and their followers. All these technoligarch misers care about is squeezing every ounce of attention from viewers and converting this into astronomical sums of ad revenue.

They don’t care that photography and videography are separate crafts. And they certainly don’t appreciate the unique artistic properties of each.

Believe it or not, I’m not anti-video. In fact, I love how short-form video has opened the door to all sorts of creativity. It’s just that those of us who do care about photography want to be able to look at the same image for more than three seconds.

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Our guide to the best video cameras for your need and the best cameras for creating Instagram content. And of course, if you happen to love short-form content, you can check out DCW on TikTok!

Social media has become increasingly video-focused in recent years, as even the once photo-focused Instagram focuses on Reels – but video giant YouTube is planning on adding support for still images sometime in 2026, according to CEO Neal Mohan.

Tucked inside an extensive list of plans that YouTube has in store for 2026 are three simple words that indicate the video-focused platform is planning to roll out support for still photos this year.

“This year we'll bring even more variety to Shorts by integrating different formats – like image posts – directly into the feed, making it easier to stay connected with your favorite creators,” Mohan writes.

Mohan doesn’t offer any additional insight into what the image posts will look like or when in 2026 the feature will arrive. But the CEO indicates that image posts will be a part of Shorts, which are YouTube’s short-form vertical videos.

YouTube has always been traditionally video-focused, although creators do already have the ability to share images to the Community Tab, along with editing them into a video.

The addition of image posts is an interesting one, as platforms gravitate towards vertical video. Even Instagram, once known for its photo sharing, has shifted to vertical video, and head Adam Mosseri said earlier this year that “that feed is dead.”

ABOVE: Watch the CEO explain YouTube's 2026 priorities

Image posts aren’t the only thing that creators may have to look forward to on YouTube in 2026. The still image support is just three words in a long list of features that the CEO has planned for the platform this year.

That includes giving creators the ability to create shorts with an AI using their likeness, expanding monetization tools and building on parental controls. The list of planned features also includes the ability to buy products without leaving the YouTube app, new brand partnership tools, AI-generated games and specialized YouTube TV plans.

Mohan also says that 2026 will also include building tools to manage AI slop.

“Over the past 20 years, we’ve learned not to impose any preconceived notions on the creator ecosystem. Today, once-odd trends like ASMR and watching other people play video games are mainstream hits. But with this openness comes a responsibility to maintain the high quality viewing experience that people want.

“To reduce the spread of low quality AI content, we’re actively building on our established systems that have been very successful in combatting spam and clickbait, and reducing the spread of low quality, repetitive content.”

Mohan’s article was shared alongside a video interview, where he described creators as the “epicenter” of the platform.

“We are the world’s original and largest creator economy,” Mohan said. “We intend to remain that way. I’m incredibly proud of the fact that, over the last four years, we’ve paid out over a hundred billion dollars to creators, artists, media companies, and other partners.”

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Take a look at the best cameras for YouTube.

For a long time, Instagram was known for its grid of square photos, but Instagram head Adam Mosseri says “that feed is dead” – and it has been for years. In a post at the start of 2026, Mosseri shared insight into how aesthetics are changing – and how that is both going to affect creators and the social media platform moving forward.

In the post, Mosseri shares a mix of thoughts, even going as far as calling out camera companies for “betting on the wrong aesthetic.” That, along with statements like “in a world where AI can generate flawless imagery, the professional look becomes the tell,” has created a comment section of angry photographers. But if there’s an overarching theme to the Instagram CEO’s ramblings, it’s authenticity – and that could be good news for artists.

Instagram’s square grid is “dead,” Mosseri says

“Unless you are under 25,” Mosseri writes, “you probably think of Instagram as feed of square photos: polished makeup, skin smoothing, and beautiful landscapes. That feed is dead. People stopped sharing personal moments to feed years ago.”

Mosseri says that era of Instagram has faded in favor of DMs and what he describes as a raw aesthetic: “blurry photos and shaky videos of daily experiences. Shoe shots and unflattering candids.”

The slow fade of Instagram’s emphasis on square photo grids won’t come as a surprise to photographers on the platform, who have long complained about seeing much less reach on photos as the algorithm shifts to favor vertical video.

But, while Instagram’s emphasis on photos is dead, where Instagram is headed next in 2026 may not be a death sentence for photography on the platform.

Instagram’s square grid is “dead,” Mosseri says

What’s replacing the perfect Instagram grid of tailored, perfected images is a less-perfected “raw aesthetic,” Mosseri says. But in the same post, the Instagram head says both that “authenticity is becoming infinitely reproducible” and “authenticity is becoming a scarce resource.”

The Instagram head notes that even AI will get better at mimicking the imperfect aesthetic that’s quickly becoming popular on the platform. As that happens, Mosseri indicated that “we’ll need to shift our focus to who says something instead of what is being said.”

Favoring authenticity will undoubtedly favor photographers with real cameras over AI, though many commenters argue that what Mosseri is saying doesn’t jive with the way that the platform has added AI over 2025.

Instagram’s square grid is “dead,” Mosseri says

The rise of authenticity may be a good sign for photography, but what Mosseri says about cameras has struck a nerve for many photographers, at least based on the post’s comments section.

“The camera companies are betting on the wrong aesthetic,” Mosseri writes. “They’re competing to make everyone look like a pro photographer from 2015. But in a world where AI can generate flawless imagery, the professional look becomes the tell. Flattering imagery is cheap to produce and boring to consume. People want content that feels real. Savvy creators are leaning into unproduced, unflattering images. In a world where everything can be perfected, imperfection becomes a signal.”

Oomph. Did Mosseri just tell professional photographers that amateur content will have an advantage because it’s less perfect? To me, this feels like how writers are being told to stop using em dashes because it’s becoming an AI tell. Why should I stop using my favorite punctuation mark because apparently, AI likes it too? (Yes – I’m fully aware that having a favorite punctuation mark makes me a nerd.)

Photographers in the comments are, understandably, upset that the head of a platform once known for photo sharing is tossing around phrases “like a pro photographer from 2015” as if it's an insult. AI copied professional photographers, so now professional photographers need to stop looking, well, so professional. That seems to be what Mosseri is saying.

I’m not going to stop trying to make my photos look professional. But, where I agree with Mosseri is that authenticity is key. I don’t think photographers have to embrace the blurry photo aesthetic to be authentic. After all, following a trend just to follow a trend is the exact opposite of authenticity.

But I think leaning into emotions, not trends, is key to authenticity. Photographs that embrace emotion over perfection will stand out in a world where computers can create images, because computers cannot feel emotions. And yes, emotions are often messy and imperfect.

I also don’t think camera companies are “betting on the wrong aesthetic,” because if I want to create a crappy image because crappy images are trendy, well, then I can just go buy an old DSLR off eBay. I don’t need the latest, greatest camera if I want to create an imperfect image.

And then, of course, we have camera companies creating experiments like the X Half, which isn’t about the image quality at all but the experience of taking photos. The experience a camera offers in an industry where it’s harder to find a terrible camera than it is to find a fantastic camera may prove essential moving forward.

While I may disagree with some of what Mosseri is saying, there’s one key that I 100 percent agree with: “The bar is shifting from ‘can you create?’ to ‘can you make something that only you could create?’” No matter what the trends are doing, leaning into your own personal emotions and experiences will always be key to making a great photograph.

One thing that I hope the trend towards authentic images leads to is to normalize images that are less Photoshopped, more in-camera. Can we please normalize the fact that real skin has pores? After all, those cameras that are “betting on the wrong aesthetic” are getting increasingly better at rendering details, skin imperfections, and all. If too-smooth skin is a telltale sign of AI, let’s normalize not Photoshopping out every single pore.

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Browse alternative social media networks for photographers.

After extending the TikTok US ban deadline at least four times, the social media giant appears to be closing that chapter: a new US “joint venture” for TikTok is expected to close next month.

While TikTok’s parent company ByteDance has stayed quiet through much of the rumored sales required to keep the app running in the US, the news of a joint US venture has reportedly been confirmed by an internal memo from ByteDance CEO Shou Chew. The agreement, expected to close in January 2026, sees US-based investors take partial ownership, as well as being responsible for data protection.

The agreement comes nearly a year after TikTok went dark in the US for a few hours before President Donald Trump passed a deadline extension for the law that required the China-based social media platform to sell, a law based on data security concerns. The deadline has now been extended at least four times since then, and it looks like an arrangement to keep the app in the US is coming next month.

The TikTok ban echoes another ban over data concerns for China-based tech companies, as DJI faces a potential ban in the US on December 23. Last year, the US passed a law that required passing a security review within a year's time or face being automatically placed on an FCC list that would prevent any new products from being announced in the US.

That government-mandated security review has yet to happen, despite repeated pleas from DJI to begin the audit process. Now, the drone giant is urging lawmakers to extend the deadline and assign an agency to carry out the security audit.

The TikTok ban and the DJI ban are not part of the same legislation, but the two bans have similar echoes of concern over data security. The concern stems in part from a law in China that requires businesses to give the government access to user data, no matter where the user is based.

TikTok was granted several deadline extensions to keep the app running in the US. DJI appears to be hoping for the same thing, as the company is now urging US legislators to extend the deadline. The law requiring the security audit did not detail what would happen if the audit did not begin on time, nor did it assign a specific government agency to carry out the audit process.

If December 23 passes without a completed security audit or government extension, new DJI products will not gain the required FCC authorization to sell products in the US, which includes drones as well as action cameras, gimbals, and accessories. A recently passed law makes it possible for the FCC to also revoke the authorization for previously launched products.

As an American drone pilot, I’m hoping that DJI will see a similar deadline extension. DJI has such a large share of the drone market that finding a drone alternative is a challenge, and many of the other options are also from companies based in China.

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Read more FAQs about the US DJI ban, or browse the best non-DJI drones to buy.

I have to say, I didn’t see this one coming: Instagram, the social media app first popularized as a dedicated photo sharing space, is coming to smart TVs.

This week, Meta announced that it’s testing Instagram for TV, an update that brings Reels to larger screens via Amazon Fire TV devices. For now, Instagram TV is just a test, which means that not only are features limited, but it’s also only rolling out to the US and only to Fire TV devices, though Instagram says it expects to expand to more countries and devices.

Instagram for TV is designed for watching Reels together. At launch, the app supports up to five accounts, so users can watch a personalized feed on their TVs, and Instagram notes that users can also create an account just for the TV app.

In the home screen, Instagram TV will show groups of Reels by channels that match interests, along with videos that are popular among friends. “Over time, we plan to introduce new features, which may include using your phone as a remote, a more intuitive way to channel surf, shared feeds with friends, and making it easier to keep up with your favorite creators in one place,” Meta writes.

But, as a creator, the Instagram TV test raises a number of interesting questions. First, a common complaint among Instagram users is the social platform’s longstanding resolution limitations. If Instagram is experimenting with bringing its content to larger screens, it begs this question: Will higher resolution support follow if Instagram TV fares well in tests?

While Instagram can support larger files by toggling on “Upload at highest quality” in the settings, most reels playback at 1080x1920 pixels. That may be fine for a small smartphone screen, but it feels a bit diminutive for a TV screen.

Instagram Reels are also made for vertical smartphone screens, so bringing them to a traditional horizontal widescreen seems a bit odd. I wonder if the test could lead to support for a wider variety of formats?

But my final question is the more pressing as a photographer, not a videographer – is Instagram even considering bringing photos to TVs? Yes, I know that video is the more obvious choice for a TV, but I’m thinking along the lines of the viral Samsung art TV, The Frame. I would happily trade my Roku screensaver for a slideshow of images from my favorite photographers.

For now, Instagram for TV is just a test. Meta says it is planning to improve the smart TV app based on feedback, so it will be interesting to see where the move leads the social platform.

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I’m a stills photographer, not a videographer, but it seems the social media algorithm has the biggest appetite for video, not photo. I’ve been searching for a simple way to shoot behind-the-scenes without diverting too much time away from the actual photos – and I’ve finally found a solution that doesn’t take up my hot shoe slot or require smart glasses.

I’ve spotted a number of different solutions to capturing behind-the-scenes videos on my feed when photographers work solo, without an assistant, as I do. Smart glasses seem popular, but I wear prescription glasses, and outfitting the tech with prescription lenses seemed expensive.

Another popular solution is to slide an action camera into the hot shoe mount on the camera. I like the simplicity of this approach (and I already own a GoPro), but there’s one big problem – I use my hot shoe slot for flash.

I tried a backpack strap mount, but I don’t wear my camera backpack all day at a wedding, and my camera harness moves around too much to clip it there.

The solution came when I wasn’t looking for it. I picked up a wooden grip to add a bit of custom flair to my mirrorless camera and immediately realized that it added a cold shoe mount at the side.

Not only did that leave my hot shoe free, but the cold shoe sits in the opposite direction – meaning it actually holds my GoPro vertically, so I’m losing even less resolution when I crop for the Reels format.

I added a GoPro cold shoe mount adapter, the older GoPro that I already had (though any action camera will work), and I finally had a way to shoot behind-the-scenes videos without diverting too much of my focus away from actually taking pictures.

Here are some Reels I created with this setup:

I’ve been admittedly slow to jump on the video trend but, as a wedding photographer, I’m extremely conscious of the fact that there are only so many hours, minutes and seconds for my couples to enjoy their day.

There has to be a balance between having enough time to capture memories of the day, and actually having time to make those memories. Spending even 15 minutes to shoot a Reel feels like stealing time from the best-day-ever so, above everything else, I wanted a solution that took seconds, not minutes.

When I have a GoPro mounted right next to my camera, I only have to press one button to get a video started, then continue on with my photography.

The grip that I bought is designed specifically for my Fujifilm X-T4 and won’t work with other models. I highly recommend doing a search for a grip customized to your specific camera model to find something similar first. Camera cages are another option, as many of them also add extra cold shoe mounts.

But, if you can’t find a custom option, there are a few cages and grips with universal compatibility and a vertical cold shoe. ChromLives makes an affordable and simple aluminum L bracket with two extra cold shoes, for example.

The best hack to shooting behind-the-scenes videos for photographers will depend on how you shoot – perhaps smart glasses or popping an action camera into the hot shoe will work for you. But as someone who already wears prescription glasses and needs the hot shoe for flash, I found a grip with an extra cold shoe and an action camera a wonderfully simple solution.

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Browse the best action cameras or the best cameras for Instagram.

Several social media platforms have taken flak over the years for copying features from TikTok. But the verical video platform is testing a new feature that I really hope other networks copy: the ability to limit AI-generated video and images in your feed.

This week TikTok shared new efforts in helping viewers spot AI-generated content, and tucked among the list of changes is a new tool to help users limit computer-created content altogether.

The upcoming tool is part of TikTok’s existing Manage Topics tools and, like the existing tools, uses a slider to give users more control over what they see in their feeds. What’s changing is that users will soon see an AI-generated content slider inside this tool.

Adjusting this slider will enable users to tailor their feeds to include more (gag) or less (yay!) AI-generated content in their feeds. However, while the tool is a slider, the most that users can do with it is to “see less” AI-generated content; the tool doesn’t appear to eliminate AI-generated content completely.

The feature is also undergoing testing, so it may need some fine-tuning. Still, it’s a feature that I hope other networks copy.

Instagram and Facebook, for example, don’t have many tools to limit AI content beyond muting the Meta AI in chats. I’ve been annoyed by more than a few video fakes in my feed, often with the feel of that viral fake of bunnies jumping on the trampoline.

The slider to limit AI isn’t the only AI-focused announcement that TikTok has shared. The platform is also testing invisible watermarking applied to content created on TikTok platforms that designates if AI is used.

TikTok already participates in C2PA Content Credentials, but says that those AI labels can sometimes be removed. TikTok is working on adding another layer of invisible watermarking, making it harder to remove, and making its AI labels more accurate.

TikTok says the tests are rolling out “in the coming weeks.”

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Browse the best cameras for TikTok.

Image theft: it’s one of the biggest fears most photographers have when placing our images online. Nobody likes the thought of their work being used without their consent, and yet in the modern age, where almost every visual transaction occurs on the internet rather than in print, it’s a continuous battle. I’ve been stung by this on more than one occasion, and if it’s ever happened to you, you’ll understand the bitter feeling that comes with seeing your images somewhere unauthorised.

That being said, having spent almost a decade commissioning work on a photography magazine, I have noticed some protectionist behavior amongst photographers that isn’t always healthy.

Firstly, let’s talk about watermarks. Yes, there is a benefit to adding your business logo or even just your name to some of your images when they are being used as proofs. 

If you want to be a wedding photographer, for example, and you send a collection of images (or post them in a private gallery on your website, as is the preferred method these days), you want to maximize the sales made to this highly targeted client base.

While the bride might not be content with a screenshot of an image of the first dance, Uncle Gilbert, the black sheep of the family on the Groom’s side, will almost certainly make do. A few sneaky swipes across his phone screen later, Uncle G has directly robbed you of some income. We hate you, Gilbert!

And this is where a well-placed watermark can deter the vultures. You’re not going to generate evergreen revenue from a wedding, since it only matters to the families of those present. You will definitely feel copyright infringement in your bank balance with this type of assignment, so caution is advisable.

However, for just about every other type of image on your website, I think watermarking and severe file size reductions hurt sales more than they help them. 

I recently reworked my own website using Squarespace to make almost all of the images full-screen and without watermarks. This might seem like an open invitation for image piracy, but my feeling is that anyone willing to steal one or more of your photos was never going to pay you for them in the first place.

Yes, there is the principle of it, but I’d rather my images sing to viewers (and prospective buyers) than degrade the quality, visual impact, and viewer experience to prevent the occasional cheeky screenshot.

I’ve done many Google Image experiments to see where my shots have ended up, and in 90 percent of cases, it’s school projects. I could take an Italian teenager to Court for using one of my landscapes in a geography PowerPoint, but would that really help my photography business?

The same applies to sending watermarked, super-low-resolution images to print magazines. Most publications won’t even consider images with a watermark, and can’t print postage-stamp-sized files, yet I’ve had several insistent photographers refuse to supply larger Jpegs. This is just unhelpful; it will hurt your reputation and reduce your commissions. Editors aren’t out to get you, and large publishers stand to lose a lot more money than the value of your photo if they are found to have breached copyright law.

So maybe relax about being so overprotective of your photo database. In the age of AI, you can bet the majority of image ‘theft’ occurs through sources you willingly upload your images to, and that hide AI training clauses in their small print. Yes, be sensible, and don’t stand for large companies ripping you off, but let the world enjoy your photography.

It’s meant to be seen, and seen large and without interruption.

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Do you shoot a lot of weddings? You might be interested in our guide to the best cameras for wedding photography If you shoot a lot of landscapes to sell on your website, our best lenses for landscapes buying guide can help you out or if you don't have one yet, read about why every photographer should get a website.

It's been something of a wild week at Adobe Max, the software giant's annual event, where they've announced a bunch of new tools in Photoshop 2026 as well as what's next for its imaging and video software. But with all the flashy, headline grabbing new features, one smaller detail's gone unnoticed that some photographers might actually find more important.  

If you’ve ever watched one of your images spread online without so much as your name attached, you’ll know how frustrating it feels. With AI making it easier than ever for images to be copied, tweaked or conjured from nothing, proving you actually created your work is becoming increasingly important. 

So now Adobe and LinkedIn are trying to address that challenge, with a new feature that allows photographers to show verified authorship when sharing images on the platform. 

What's new?

LinkedIn is currently rolling out support for Content Credentials, a technology developed by Adobe and others that attaches secure, verifiable authorship and usage information directly to an image file. 

Think of it as the digital equivalent of signing your work… except this signature can’t be easily removed. When an image with Content Credentials is posted on LinkedIn, viewers will see a small icon. Clicking it reveals who made the image, when it was created and what tools were used along the way. It also indicates whether any part of the image was generated or edited using AI tools.

What makes this different from ordinary metadata is the method of securing the information. The data is cryptographically attached to the file, meaning it can’t simply be stripped out or changed. Even screenshots retain a kind of digital fingerprint that links the work back to the original creator. And to make authorship completely clear, your name can now be connected directly to your LinkedIn profile, making your business identity part of the visual trail.

You can't actually apply Content Credentials within LinkedIn, by the way: you'll need to do so through Adobe’s Content Authenticity tools before uploading images to LinkedIn. These tools are currently available via Adobe’s Content Authenticity app, which is completely free: you don't need a Creative Cloud membership to access it. If you do have one, though, note that Adobe is gradually integrating Content Credentials more deeply into Photoshop and Lightroom workflows.

Finally, be aware that LinkedIn is rolling out the feature gradually, so if you can't see it on your feed immediately, don't worry: it is on its way.

Why this matters

The issue of crediting photographers isn’t new, but the speed and scale at which images now travel online has made it much harder to maintain authorship. A photograph uploaded once can be reposted thousands of times, cropped, taken out of context or used commercially without permission. And the rise of AI-generated imagery has complicated matters even further, making it harder to distinguish between original work and something generated by an algorithm.

The aim of Content Credentials is to create a shared standard for tracking where digital content comes from and how it has been handled. LinkedIn adopting this standard marks a notable moment, because it places these provenance tools in front of a large community of professionals, clients and image-makers; not just technical specialists or software developers.

Obviously, it doesn’t completely eliminate the risk of people misusing your images; realistically, nothing could. But what it does is shifts the balance. Because instead of having to prove after the fact that a stolen image is yours, the evidence of ownership is already in the image file itself.

Finding it difficult to track down an image you uploaded to Facebook? Well, here's what might sound like good news. The social giant has introduced a new opt-in feature that will scan your phone’s camera roll, suggest edits and collages, and help you share “hidden gems” you may have missed. 

It’s being pitched as an effortless way to rediscover forgotten moments and make them “shareworthy”. The company says it’s rolling out now in the US and Canada, with plans to expand soon. Facebook adds that all suggestions are private, and nothing is shared unless you choose to post it. 

But, as always, there’s a caveat. And it’s one that photographers, videographers, and anyone else protective of their images should pay attention to.

AI training

Around the world, photographers, filmmakers and other creatives are in uproar at the moment, over AI companies training their models on their images. So what's Facebook's policy here? Well, it insists it doesn’t use your camera roll to train its AI... unless you edit the suggested content with Meta’s tools, or share it publicly. In other words, the minute you take advantage of what the feature is designed to do, you’ve effectively handed over permission for Meta to use that material to “improve" its AI model.

That’s a significant trade-off, especially for professionals whose camera rolls are likely to contain raw files, client work or unreleased projects. While Meta says these images are uploaded privately to its cloud, the idea of giving a social media giant ongoing access to your camera roll, even on an opt-in basis, isn't something many professionals will feel comfortable with.

After all, this isn’t just about privacy; it’s also about ownership. Once your image passes through Meta’s systems, how confident can you be that it won’t end up influencing future AI models, even indirectly? The company’s privacy statement is careful with its words, but far less reassuring in spirit.

Where's the upside?

So that's the downside; what's the upside here, exactly? What problem is Facebook trying to solve?

According to Meta, it's that people have stopped sharing personal photos because they don’t feel their snaps are “special” enough. The new feature, the company says, can take care of that; by enhancing images, building collages and crafting little highlight reels so you can reconnect with friends and family.

But I think that's all nonsense. People haven’t stopped sharing because their photos aren’t good enough. They’ve stopped because they don’t trust the platform anymore. Between data scandals, algorithmic manipulation, and a general sense that Facebook has become more ad network than community, many users have simply opted out. 

Facebook’s answer to all that is... more AI? To me, that sounds like someone breaking your camera, then offering to lend you a better one, as long as they get to keep the negatives. So I'm going to avoid opting in to this new feature, and I suggest you do, too.

Photographers today are increasingly expected to be content creators. The traditional view of a photographer was someone who made work, built a portfolio and let that work speak for itself.

But now, especially with social media, there’s a growing expectation to constantly produce content: Reels, behind-the-scenes videos, Instagram posts, TikToks. It’s no longer enough to just make great photographs; in one way or another, being visible online has become part of the job.

Unfortunately, in some aspects, social media followers are as important as your portfolio. I am often sent names of photographers with their follower count next to their name as an indication of their authority in photography.

This is a disconnect, as it might merely show how good a marketer you are while the more established and accomplished photographers are out making work and not Reels. But then the opportunities go to the ones with the followers. So the question arises: are they being hired on photographic quality or their reach?

There’s also a risk that the pressure to maintain engagement can influence the work itself. The need to post frequently, chase clicks or create instantly shareable content can hollow out your craft. The intentional, thoughtful process that builds skill, depth and originality can be replaced by a focus on quantity over quality, and work made for engagement rather than expression.

If the photographers with the largest followings are the ones getting the commissions, gallery attention and commercial jobs, what does that mean for the broader photographic landscape? Will we see a shift in what counts as quality or risk losing time-honed craft in favor of shareable content? These are questions worth asking as the industry navigates the modern digital age.

For photographers themselves, this shift is double-edged. On one hand, creating content and sharing your process can build a direct connection with an audience, open doors to commercial opportunities and give you a platform for your work that didn’t exist a decade ago. On the other hand, it can distract from the act of making images, from the accumulation of skill, vision, and nuance.

Social media can feel like a requirement rather than a choice, pressuring photographers to post for visibility instead of focusing on what they really want to create.

This tension, between making work and marketing it, isn’t easy to resolve. Some photographers embrace it, learning to treat social media as part of the creative process itself. Others push back, focusing on their portfolios and letting the work find its own audience.

Both approaches exist, but it’s clear that the landscape has changed. Visibility counts, now, and how we navigate that as photographers will shape not just individual careers, but the future of the medium.

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For those embracing content creation, check out our guides for the best hybrid cameras and the best vlogging cameras.

When social platforms such as Instagram started chasing video clicks shortly after TikTok et al crashed their way into the social media landscape, many photographers were left wondering where their pictures belonged. Street photographer Alan Schaller decided to stop waiting for someone else to fix it. He built Irys, a new photo app made by photographers, for photographers, and it’s just gone live…

I had the good fortune to catch up with Alan Schaller and hear his story. He doesn’t strike you as a man with time to spare. When we speak, he’s in Tokyo juggling three exhibitions, a brace of photo shoots, and the global launch of a swanky new social platform, Irys.

Schaller co-founded Street Photography International on Instagram in 2015 and watched it grow into a 1.7-million-strong community. But then along came Reels, a propensity to favour video content and algorithmic chaos. “Photographers helped build those platforms,” he told me. “Then one day they moved on.” 

Unlike me, who simply moaned about it all, Schaller took the bull by the horns and built his own app. Irys is his answer to the short-attention-span internet. It’s a clean, high-resolution space for still images. There are no follower counts, no ads, no data sales. Curation is done by real editors, not algorithms. “Numbers became a proxy for merit,” he says. “I want the work to stand on its own.”

Irys bans generative AI and limits screenshots and unauthorized sharing. Fine-art nudity is allowed with context, moderation is handled by humans, and storage supports full-size files so the pictures stay sharp. 

There’s a free tier, but the small subscription unlocks pro-level tools. “Hosting, privacy, and proper moderation cost money,” Schaller says. “We’re doing it properly.”

Groups are central to Irys’s mission. Photographers can form communities, post photowalks, or share private collections for workshops and clients. I’m also excited to hear that print fulfilment, publishing and exhibitions is on the imminent horizon. “You make the pictures,” Schaller says. “We’ll handle the rest.”

Unlike Instagram, Irys isn’t trying to be everything for everyone. It’s a niche built on purpose, not scale. Schaller calls it complementary rather than competitive. “Meta builds for everyone,” he says. “We’re building for photographers.”

In a world where the photograph has been reduced to a thumbnail between videos, Irys feels like a cool place to hang with like-minded photographers. A place to slow down, look harder and remember why we pick up a camera in the first place. 

The app has only been live for a couple of weeks, although I did enjoy some time in the pre-release phase and I’ve got to say I have really enjoyed connecting to fellow photographers on a more meaningful level. 

 Irys is available now on the App Store and Google Play.

I was scrolling aimlessly through Facebook yesterday when I spotted an announcement from Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, that filled me with a mixture of dread and confusion: a feed dedicated entirely to AI content.

Vibes is a new feed inside the Meta AI app that seems a lot like Instagram Reels – except the content is entirely AI-generated.

Vibes is filled with AI videos and Meta says that, like with Reels, the feed will learn your preferences over time to deliver videos more tailored to your interests. Users will be able to cross-post those Vibes videos to Instagram and Facebook as Stories and Reels.

Meta, my interest is real photographs and real videos – not AI. Is there a way to teach the algorithm that? What I really want is to be able to teach Instagram and Facebook that my preference is not for AI.

As part of Meta AI Studio, Vibes is being touted as a “feed of expressive AI-generated videos from artists and creators.” Creators will be able to create their own, or remix existing videos from that feed.

For now, it’s being powered by Midjourney and Black Forest Labs, although Meta’s Alexandr Wang says that the company is “developing our own models behind the scenes.”

In a way, creating a space exclusively for AI videos could prevent things like the widespread internet anger when everyone found out that viral video of bunnies jumping on a trampoline wasn’t actually real.

Creating a space just for AI means there’s no confusion over whether or not something is “real.” If you don’t enjoy watching AI or are against the theft of intellectual property for training or the energy crisis created by AI servers, just don’t download the Meta AI Studio app.

But that only makes sense if Meta is also going to give users a space to watch only real, camera-created and human-created videos. If AI is getting its own separate feed, then why can’t Meta have a feed that’s only for videos created with a camera or a skilled animation artist?

At the very least, I want a toggle in the settings in Facebook and Instagram to tell the algorithm that I don’t want to see AI content in my feed. Sure, some AI generations may slip through the cracks, but Meta already distinguishes content that has an AI label in the metadata. If the tech is there to label AI content, then giving users the option to filter out that type of content doesn’t seem like much of a stretch.

Giving AI videos their own space makes sense – but only if Meta is going to also give real videos and photos their own space, too.

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The photo platform once known for its square photos has now surpassed three billion monthly active users – and Instagram doesn’t credit that success with photos. Instagram head Adam Mosseri shared the milestone on Wednesday, September 24, attributing the success to DMs, Reels, and recommendations.

Because of that success, Mosseri says the social media platform will reorient the app towards those three key traffic drivers over the next few months. Meanwhile, the company will soon begin testing a way to give users more control over the Reels algorithm.

“When we hit those types of milestones, I think it’s important to take a big step back and think about how we got here and where we’re going,” Mosseri said in a video shared on Wednesday. “And if you look at the last few years, almost all of our growth has been driven by DMs, Reels, and recommendations (content from accounts that you have not yet decided to follow). Because of that, we are going to continue to focus on those products and reorient the app more around DMs, Reels, and recommendations over the next couple of months.”

While Instagram has been pushing for Reels for years now – even launching an iPad app that opens directly to Reels instead of the traditional photo feed – that renewed focus also includes Instagram recommendations, which is the content that the algorithm feeds up that doesn’t come from a followed account. “Following still matters, but not as much as it used to,” Mosseri said.

The comments on the announcement video are filled with mixed reactions. Many congratulate the platform on the milestone and applaud more control over the algorithm. Others call the app “diet YouTube” or criticize the video focus as a “TikTok copy.” Instagram recommendations saw some criticism in the comments as well, with some creators expressing frustration with content not reaching followers.

Mosseri didn’t share exactly what the “reorientation” towards DMs, Reels, and recommendations would look like, but the app is testing an update that opens first to the Reels page in India, much like the new iPad app.

Mosseri, however, did give a better glimpse into the test of a new tool to control what type of content the algorithm delivers. The tool will be located in the settings and allow users to remove things, add things, or place topics lower or higher on the list. Those changes will then be applied in Reels first, but also in Explore and Feed, Mosseri said.

Instagram’s focus on Reels isn’t new. The vertical video format, first launched in 2020, quickly became the type of content with the most engagement, becoming a focus for many of the app's updates.

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A deal to save TikTok is in the works, according to White House officials – but a potential agreement to license and rewrite the TikTok algorithm is leaving more questions than answers for both content creators and the app’s 170 million Americans who pass the time watching vertical videos.

After President Donald Trump discussed a TikTok deal on social media last week, a White House official has now indicated that a deal to keep the video platform available in the US is in the works and is expected to be signed “in the coming days.”

The potential deal would keep American user data in the US and place the majority of ownership with a variety of US investors, including Oracle, Andreesen Horowitz, and Silver Lake. Around 20 percent would still be owned by investors based in China. A board of directors is expected to have 6 US-based representatives and one from China.

The changes would also include licensing the original TikTok algorithm – and retraining it with US user data. That has both fans of the app and content creators earning a living on the platform with a long list of questions as to what, exactly, the US version of TikTok may look like moving forward, if the deal is, in fact, inked by both sides.

It’s unclear if the rewritten algorithm would require deleting the original TikTok and downloading a second US version. How much would a rewritten algorithm change what videos are delivered and how much reach a single video receives? Would a TikTok app overseen by a board of government-selected officials and re-written on US data have the ability to suppress some types of content on TikTok and propel others?

The deal also hasn’t made any mention of ByteDance’s other apps, including the popular video editor CapCut.

The deal hasn’t yet been signed by both sides, nor have the full terms of the deal been shared. Trump is expected to share an executive order with more detailed terms later this week, and the White House has indicated that the deadline could be extended for another 120 days to allow the deal to take place.

TikTok owner ByteDance has often been silent amid the recurring rumors and reports of a buyer that have surfaced since the initial ban in January and extension of the deadline for a sale. But, last week, the company released a statement, saying simply: “We thank President Xi Jinping and President Donald J. Trump for their efforts to preserve TikTok in the United States. ByteDance will work in accordance with applicable laws to ensure TikTok remains available to American users through TikTok US.”

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YouTube has been an internet mainstay for more than 20 years – and now the online video platform is giving creators a glimpse into what the future may bring for the longstanding video platform. During the Made on YouTube event on September 16, the platform unveiled a long list of new features, from tools using AI to create to using the technology to fight deepfakes.

The event highlights a number of features coming to YouTube across its traditional videos, Shorts, Live, and Studio, and even introduces a way to add visuals to podcasts to tempt audio creators over to the platform. Some of the key features introduced at Made on YouTube include:

• New tools for YouTube Studio, including an AI chatbot capable of delving into analytics, an AI-powered inspiration tab, and a collaboration tool
• The largest update to YouTube Live yet in the platform’s history, which brings a practice option before the real livestream, streaming across vertical and horizontal formats simultaneously, live reaction videos, AI-powered live highlights, livestream games called Playables, and a new side-by-side ad format
• Expanded AI tools for Shorts using Google Veo, including sound generation, animating still photos, stylizing videos, adding objects to a video, an AI-built first draft tool, and a new Speech to Song remixing tool

That’s a lot to unpack, but the event offers a glimpse at where YouTube is focused for the future. Unsurprisingly, that future includes the tech buzzword of the decade: AI.

The list of updates coming to YouTube includes both AI tools to create and tools to fight deepfakes. On the list of updates announced today alone, creators on YouTube can use AI to add objects to videos, edit shorts, and chat with a bot about analytics and ideas for new videos.

With AI, YouTube also aims to empower creators to enter new genres of work: AI tools make it possible to animate still photos into videos and turn podcasts into videos.

In a way, AI tools make more sense on YouTube because the platform supports anyone from channels led by a single person to multi-million dollar operations like Mr. Beast. That’s exactly the sentiment that YouTube Chief Product Officer Johanna Voolich put to words among today’s announcements. “Anyone with an idea – whether an individual, artist, studio or brand – can become a creator here,” Voolich wrote.

AI isn’t just used to create, but to analyze analytics and ideate potential follow-up ideas. YouTube Studio’s new chatbot has the ability to answer questions and make suggestions on viewer engagement. Studio’s new inspiration tab highlights suggested topics based on your feed, along with using audience behavior to suggest why an idea may work.

On the flipside, the introduction of more AI tools often comes with increasing concerns of a platform filled with “AI slop,” and AI-wary creators have even noticed “AI enhancements” happening behind the scenes in beta tests. I think AI tools need an easy way to opt out, for both creators and viewers.

AI will, in a way, become a weapon against itself here, too. YouTube also announced that it is expanding its likeness detection tool, now in an open beta available to Partner Program creators. The tool helps creators detect videos that use their likeness without permission, including tools to request removal.

While AI was the buzzword across multiple new features YouTube announced today, machine learning isn’t the only trend that emerges from the list of new features. The balance between horizontal and vertical videos continues, with livestreams finally granted the ability to stream in both formats at the same time.

The increasingly popular reaction videos, where one creator reacts to content from another, also get live capabilities, where one creator can respond to another currently livestreaming creator with their own take.

The Made on YouTube updates also bring more tools to YouTube Music and new tools for collaborating with brands.

“As we look ahead to the future we are committed to empowering creators, fostering community, and continuing to redefine how the world watches, listens, and connects,” Voolich wrote. “We can't wait to see what we create together in the next 20 years.”

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The largest photo-centric social network has finally launched an app for iPad – but Instagram’s new iPad app opens straight into videos, not photos.

On Wednesday, September 03, Instagram unveiled the previously rumored app for iPad, finally bringing the 14-year-old app to Apple tablets without using a web browser. But, Instagram’s iPad app isn’t just a re-packaged Instagram.

Instead, Instagram says that the new iPad app is redesigned around the iPad’s larger screen. One key change is that Instagram for iPad opens straight into Reels, sending users to videos rather than the feed mixed with photos and videos.

Instagram says the decision to send users straight to Reels was made to reflect how people use larger screen devices. At the top of the Reels on the iPad app, users will see a carousel for Stories.

While watching videos is likely a key reason to reach for an iPad rather than an iPhone, opening the app straight to Reels rather than the feed may be upsetting to photographers who have watched reach decline for photos as TikTok-like Reels grew in popularity.

While Instagram is putting Reels first on the app, the social platform is also launching a Following tab for the iPad app, which gives users more control over what pops up in the feed. That’s because the Following tab has three more tabs at the top: all to see everything from followed accounts, Friends to see recommended posts from accounts that you follow that also followed you back, and latest to see a chronological feed from followed users.

That chronological feed could prove popular, as bringing back the chronological feed was a common request before the network added a similar Following tab to the mobile app in 2022. Whether or not the chronological feed – or an app that opens straight to Reels – will alter photographers' engagement on the platform remains to be seen.

The app’s overall look, down to the comments, has also been adjusted for the iPad’s larger screen. “When designing Instagram for iPad, we wanted to take advantage of the bigger screen to give people more features with fewer taps, while keeping it simple,” the company wrote in a blog post. “We’ve made it easier to catch up on your messages and notifications with layouts that display both tabs. When you watch reels, you can expand the comments while the reel stays at full size, making it easy to catch up on the best reactions without missing a moment. It’s the Instagram you love, now with more space to play.”

The Instagram iPad app is rolling out globally beginning today at the App Store; it requires a device running iPadOS 15.1 or later. Instagram says an Android tablet app will be “coming soon.”

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Back in 2019, I wrote a fun little list feature titled "20 Famous Photographers You Should Follow on Twitter." It was packed with genuine heavy-hitters. Rankin with his razor-sharp fashion commentary. Pete Souza dropping Presidential behind-the-scenes gold. Ami Vitale sharing her wildlife conservation adventures.

The piece practically wrote itself because these modern legends of photography were actually there, actively posting, engaging with fans, being gloriously, accessibly human.

Today, that article would be much tougher to write. Most of the famous faces have either not posted in months, or deleted their accounts altogether.

It's not just Twitter/X, either. Famous photographers are much less active on Instagram, and indeed social media in general. So what's going on?

Sucking at the corpse of creativity

From where I'm standing, it seems pretty simple: social media has become a creativity vampire. These platforms have evolved from tools for sharing work into full-time content mills that demand constant feeding.

The algorithm doesn't care if you spent three weeks perfecting a single image; it wants three posts a day. Preferably with trending audio and a hook that stops the scroll within 0.3 seconds.

This isn't sustainable for artists who became famous for their art. When someone like Annie Leibovitz spends months crafting a single portrait, the idea of chopping it up into Instagram Stories with animated text overlays must make her feel nauseous.

Landscape photographer Dave Morrow has been the canary in the coal mine here. Once commanding 1.5 million social media followers, he nuked his entire digital presence in 2018. At the time, it seemed like career suicide. Now? It looks like prophecy.

Dopamine addiction is real

After all, look what we've become. Social platforms have weaponised the biological reality of our brains, creating addiction patterns that rival actual cocaine. Every 'like' triggers a dopamine hit, training our brains to crave more, more, more. For photographers who've spent decades developing their aesthetic intuition, this is poison.

Morrow articulated this perfectly when he described the "background static" of constantly having social media conversations running in his head.

Imagine trying to capture a transcendent landscape moment while mentally composing the caption and wondering if the image will perform better as a carousel post. The moment that happens, your creativity has become contaminated by marketing.

No validation required

No photographer needs this cognitive burden, least of all famous ones. They've already proven their worth through gallery exhibitions, commercial clients, and peer recognition. Social media validation feels like asking Michelin-starred chefs to compete on Recipe TikTok.

Not to mention that social platforms have created the perfect ecosystem for image theft. Your photo gets reposted without credit, goes viral on someone else's account, and good luck proving ownership or getting compensation.

If you upload a photograph to Instagram, you've also given Meta permission to use it in advertising, AI training, or whatever future monetization scheme they dream up. Established photographers have too much to lose and too little to gain from this "bargain".

In short, famous photographers aren't backing off from social media because they can afford to. They're abandoning it because they can't afford not to. And maybe it's time the rest of us learned the same lesson.

After the US government passed legislation requiring the sale of the TikTok app to remain available for American users, rumors have swirled about a potential buyer. But the latest report suggests that parent company ByteDance could be creating a US version of the popular social media video app.

According to a report citing unnamed sources, The Information claims that ByteDance is working on developing a separate TikTok app for the US. The report indicates a September 5 launch for US app stores, with the existing app unavailable in the US after March 2026.

The report comes shortly after US President Donald Trump said that TikTok “pretty much” has a deal on the sale, with talks planned for this week.

TikTok has not commented on the issue, with the report on the separate app and talks of a sale remaining in rumor territory for now.

The ban on TikTok created challenges for US-based content creators earlier this year when the app went dark in the US after a sale of the popular app wasn’t announced ahead of the deadline. The deadline was then extended after Trump took the oath of office, and was later extended again to September 17.

Along with the impact on content creators, studies hint that TikTok plays a role in driving customers for many businesses, including professional photographers. A report from Oxford Economics and TikTok suggests that 7 million US businesses are on TikTok. Of the businesses surveyed, 39 percent said TikTok was “critical” to their business, while 69 percent reported increased sales in the previous year attributable to TikTok marketing.

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A Facebook pop-up is asking whether or not the user wants to: “Allow cloud processing to get creative ideas made for you from your camera roll?” According to TechCrunch, the notification appears when you create a new story on the Facebook app. However, having fired up the app myself, I’m not currently receiving the notification.

The pop-up continues to state: “To create ideas for you, we’ll select media from your camera roll and upload it to our cloud on an ongoing basis (...) Only you can see suggestions. Your media won’t be used for ads targeting.” But as TechCrunch points out, you’re also agreeing to Meta’s AI Terms, which appear to contradict the above, somewhat. Specifically, the Image Processing section states: “This processing allows us to offer innovative new features (...) and generate new content based on the image.”

As the embedded X post from Glenn Gabe (below) perfectly illustrates, the news hasn't been particularly well-received.

What stands out to me, within Meta's T&Cs, is the passage following the Personal Information section: “Do not share information that you don’t want the AIs to use and retain such as account identifiers, passwords, financial information, or other sensitive information.” This perfectly illustrates why I don’t think it’s acceptable for Facebook to essentially scrape your camera roll. It’s asking you to relinquish a great deal of control over your personal image library, and in my mind, that’s a huge privacy concern.

I’m sure most users have sensitive information hidden within their camera roll – perhaps more than they’d like to admit or even think to consider. How are you going to remember that invoice you screengrabbed or password you snapped for posterity (however ill-advised) three years ago? What I can’t work out is whether accepting these terms overrides those who have already chosen to limit Facebook’s access to their camera roll within their phone's settings.

Something else I can’t help but wonder is whether this will ever appear on Meta’s other social media leviathan, Instagram. After all, it’s a lot less casual than Facebook, and as such, has the potential to cause a huge stir among a creative community that’s already reeling from the unregulated impact of artificial intelligence.

I, for one, will not be granting Facebook’s AI access to my camera roll, but will you? Let me know in the comments below…

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I've got plenty more thoughts on AI, such as photography will live and die by how transparent we photographers choose to be about the images we create and why I think restoring this iconic photo with AI is heresy. Also, did you know that AI can identify a photo’s location?

Earlier this month, the popular mobile video editing app CapCut updated its terms of service – and the internet isn’t happy about it. But as TikToker’s complaints over the updates rack up millions of views, I think the change highlights a more universal truth: We need terms of service that the average person can understand.

The updated terms of service include a clause that states that users give CapCut “an unconditional, irrevocable, non-exclusive, royalty-free, fully transferable (including sub-licensable), perpetual, worldwide license to use, modify, adapt, reproduce, make derivative works of, display, publish, transmit, distribute and/or store your User Content.” The following paragraph then details a “worldwide license to use your username, image and likeness.”

The “Unconditional, irrevocable” license granted to CapCut for user-generated content has understandably angered many users. But among the TikTokers complaining about the new terms, there are a number of others pointing out that the previous terms had a similar irrevocable license, along with the fact that TikTok and Instagram have similar language in their terms of service.

Liscah Isaboke, Esq. explains in an article that the legalese means that users still own their content, but the part of where the internet’s fury comes from includes the “irrevocable,” which means once granted, users can’t take the rights to their works, and that the terms apply to any content uploaded to CapCut’s server, which may include drafts saved to the cloud.

Users have to grant social media platforms a license to store and distribute content; otherwise social media would be a boring blank page. But do social media apps and editing software need an irrevocable license to sell that content? As one TikToker points out, that clause likey covers things like sharing a TikToker’s page in an ad for TikTok, or sharing use case studies of successful users.

The TikTokers conflicting videos highlight a concerning trend: many users don’t fully understand the terms of service, and I suspect a large percentage agree to the terms without reading them in full. Beyond the controversial irrevocable license to sell, the controversy highlights another issue, which is that the terms of service are rarely easy to understand.

Case in point: Some users have taken to ChatGPT to get help with deciphering the terms and what they mean. The AI seems to agree that the terms heavily favor CapCut and highlights similar concerns over giving them “everything, forever.”

The CapCut terms of use do go on to add a bit more explanation: “This means that you are granting us the right to use your User Content without the obligation to pay royalties to you or any third party…”

I will leave the deciphering of the new terms – and whether or not to continue using Cap Cut – to the lawyers and legal experts. But I think the pushback from the updated terms also highlights a need for clear, concise terms that the average person can understand.

Another recent example of this is Adobe, which updated its terms of service over confusion over whether or not those terms gave the company permission to train AI with users’ content. (Adobe says it uses Adobe Stock for AI training, but doesn’t use content outside Stock for training.) The updated terms of service come with a layman's term summary of each section (albeit it’s the legal agreement and not the summaries that are legally binding).

This creates a clever picture of what, exactly, the terms spell out in a way that most users can understand – and I think more platforms should take a similar approach.

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There was a time when Instagram felt like a gift. A space where photographers - amateurs, pros, and daydreamers alike - could share their work without overthinking. You'd post a photo because you loved it, not because you hoped it might go viral. You'd scroll through your feed and actually see photography.

Real work. Real voices. Not flat, over-sharpened sunsets chasing engagement. Back then, it felt more like a gallery and less like a casino. But somewhere along the line, we handed it all over to the algorithm.

Now? The algorithm is the client. The algorithm is the audience. We shoot for clicks, crop for engagement, and frame everything with a thumbnail preview in mind. The art is secondary. The storytelling, forgotten.

What matters now is whether a photo stops the scroll. That’s not photography. That’s bait! Somehow, we’ve convinced ourselves it’s worth it - for what? A dopamine drip and a handful of likes that evaporate by morning?

Personally, I can’t stomach it anymore. I spend maybe ten minutes a day on Instagram. I log in, schedule a post if I need to, or tap through a few stories out of curiosity or boredom. Then I’m done. I don’t linger. I don’t check numbers. I certainly don’t plan my shoots around what the algorithm wants to see. If you do that long enough, your portfolio starts looking like everybody else’s. beige, designed to be consumed in half a second and never thought of again.

The worst part is, we let it happen. We handed over our creative compass in exchange for short-term approval. We let a machine define what good photography looks like, instead of trusting our own eyes and instincts. We stopped shooting for ourselves - or for the clients who pay our bills - and started shooting for strangers who won’t remember our names by next week. That’s not growth. That’s self-erasure.

I understand some people need the platform to get work. But there's a difference between using Instagram and being used by it. Chasing the algorithm won't make you a better photographer. It’ll just make you faster at producing forgettable content.

For what it's worth, the best work I’ve seen in recent years comes from photographers who couldn’t care less about hashtags or timing their posts for maximum exposure. They're out shooting, not refreshing their notifications.

We need to remember why we picked up the camera in the first place. Photography isn’t about popularity. It’s not about feeding a system that never gives back. It’s about making images that matter - to you, to the people in them, or to the clients who trust you to tell their story. If Instagram doesn’t like it? Good. That probably means you’re on to something worth looking at.

• Make Instagram Instagram again – stop trying to be TikTok!
• I think Instagram is the worst thing to ever happen to photography
• 20 famous photographers you should follow on Instagram

I often see Instagram posts that don’t quite make sense – until I click and see the creator’s expertly arranged profile grid. But now, Instagram will soon let users rearrange the grid, no matter what order they share in. On top of that, Instagram will soon add the ability to quietly share a post on the grid without blasting it to feeds, making it easier to fill in grid gaps.

The announcement comes from a post by Instagram head Adam Mosseri on June 12.

“We know creative expression can feel intimidating, especially when posting something to feed,” Mosseri wrote. “To address this directly, we’re exploring a way to let you quietly post to your profile without broadcasting it to everyone’s feeds. We’ll also make it possible to re-order the posts on your grid. We hope this added flexibility over how and where your content shows up helps you create and share without added pressure.”

Many creators in the past have decided to use Instagram’s iconic grid profile to create a pattern, or create one whole image from three or six small ones. But doing so means sharing three posts at a time to keep the grid aligned and sometimes sharing an image that, on its own, without the rest of the grid, doesn’t make much sense.

Giving creators the ability to rearrange the grid outside of chronological order should help. And while the option to share a post without sharing it to feeds may feel off for a social media platform where the goal is reach, that option should allow creators to maintain that perfect grid even with images that don’t make much sense viewed from the feed.

Mosseri didn’t say when the updates would be coming, just that Instagram was “working on” such features. Mosseri also announced that trial reels will soon be available to all users, a tool that allows creators to share with non-followers before sharing with their audience. The Edits app will also be gaining an AI-based restyle editing tool for adjusting the look and feel of a video.

Additional updates include the option to share Spotify music in Instagram Notes. Instagram is also rolling out a program designed to support emerging creators, called Drafts. “We’re working to make Instagram a place where creators feel free to take more creative chances, break through whatever barrier holds them back and realize their ambitions,” Mosseri wrote.

The changes come as Instagram approaches its 15th birthday this fall.

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Instagram used to be a photographer's playground. Sadly, those days are long gone. The platform that once celebrated photography now treats our carefully composed images like an inconvenient interruption between Reels of people dancing and trending audio clips. 

The algorithm has decided that still photography is dead weight, burying our work under an avalanche of short-form video content and AI-generated motivational quotes. As a result, engagement has plummeted, reach is abysmal, and the few people who do see our posts are too busy scrolling to actually look.

So what's the alternative? Well, there are many. And that's kind of a problem. Over the last few years I've watched more Instagram alternatives rise and fall than I care to count. But unfortunately, it's been little more than an endless cycle of hope and disappointment. 

The great migration myth

Here's what actually happens when you join these alternatives. You sign up, excited about connecting with "real people" rather than bots and influencers. You upload your best work and start following the handful of others who've made the jump. For the first week, you're buzzing; finally, a platform that gets it.

Then reality hits. Your stunning landscape gets three likes. Your street photography masterpiece gets one comment from someone who clearly didn't look at it. You refresh hopefully, but there's nothing new because the same 12 photographers post weekly. The level of engagement makes your dying Instagram account look like Times Square on New Year's Eve.

This is the chicken-and-egg problem of social media, and why Flickr—despite being designed for photographers—never regained its glory. You can have the most photographer-friendly features in the world, but if nobody's there to see your work, what's the point?

Even worse is when these platforms do attract users—but they're all fellow photographers. Suddenly you're trapped in a pretentious echo chamber, where everyone's an expert and nobody's actually looking at photos. They're too busy analyzing compression algorithms and debating chronological feeds.

When your entire audience consists of other photographers, conversation devolves into tired debates about camera brands and editing techniques. It's like being stuck at the worst photography meetup of all time, except it's happening 24/7 in your pocket.

The sustainability crisis

Running a social media platform is expensive: servers, bandwidth, moderation, development. Instagram can afford to show your photos to five people because they make billions from advertising. These scrappy alternatives, though, are burning through their venture capital faster than strobe lights empty batteries. So while they launch promising to be ad-free forever, they then quietly introduce "premium features" or start begging for donations.

Glass is the exception: from the start, they've made a point of charging users to join. Which makes sense, but in reality it creates a barrier casual users won't cross. Vero, meanwhile, tried subscriptions and you can hear tumbleweeds in their timeline as a result.

Other Insta alternatives make the fatal mistake of trying to become Instagram. They start with clean, photo-focused interfaces, then slowly add Stories, video features, shopping integrations—all the bloat that made us hate Instagram. Suddenly your "photographer-focused" platform is just another generic social media app with a smaller user base.

BlueSky is heading down this path with Flashes, their Instagram clone. It looks like early Instagram, which would be great if it were 2010. But in the words of Taylor Swift: "I've seen this film before / And I didn't like the ending."

The harsh reality

Maybe Instagram alternatives aren't failing because they're doing something wrong. Maybe the fundamental concept is flawed. Instagram's golden age happened because it was the right platform at the right time—when smartphone cameras were getting good, but social media was still novel.

We can't recreate those conditions by building a better mousetrap. The magic wasn't in the features—it was in the cultural moment. Instagram succeeded by becoming the default place to share visual content, not because it was the best platform for photographers. Network effects matter more than features.

So here's my advice to photographers. Stop chasing the Next Big Thing on social media. Create your own website. Build an email list. Develop real relationships with clients and fellow photographers. Use Instagram as a necessary evil if you must, but don't pin hopes on the latest alternative promising to save photography from the algorithm.

The sad fact is that there probably won't be another Instagram for photographers. The internet has moved on, attention spans have shortened, and social media economics favor video content over artistic expression. Instead of waiting for someone else to build our perfect platform, maybe it's time to accept the golden age is over and figure out how to thrive in the world as it actually exists today. 

5 new social media platforms you've never heard of that could help your photographic career

Earlier this month, X users pointed out that Grok would respond to tagged requests like “remove her clothes,” posting AI-altered images of the same person wearing undergarments or a bikini right in the comment threads.

After an investigative report by 404 Media, however, Grok has now started responding to such requests with “I can’t help with that.”

Screenshots show users asking the built-in AI to edit a photo shared on X with instructions like “Remove her clothes. I want to see her boobs.” The AI chatbot then appeared to respond to the request, generating an edit depicting the woman in a bra, and shared the edited image within the same thread.

By sharing the edited image within the thread, the Grok ethics loophole didn’t just allow nefarious users to see the images, but appeared to show them publicly to anyone digging through the responses to a post.

X’s AI tool is known for its more lax restrictions, initially designed to give the bot a sense of humor. And the “undress” prompts are not the first time the chatbot has come under fire.

Previously, for example, the AI was criticized for responding to requests to create depictions of politicians wearing bikinis. While many AI platforms refuse to generate images of recognizable people or copyrighted characters, Grok has fewer restrictions in place.

Following the report of the bot responding to requests to undress, however, it appears that Grok has at least one more guardrail in place. On images posted after May 07, the AI now responds to similar requests with “I can’t help with that.”

While X appears to have added “undress” prompts to Grok’s list of restrictions, the loophole highlights one of the dangers with generative AI: users will probably find ways around restrictions to use AI in unethical ways.

Earlier versions of Grok, for example, reportedly generated images of former US Vice President Kamala Harris wearing a bikini, an ethics loophole that Grok had reportedly fixed.

But if the AI already added a loophole not to show presidential candidates and celebrities in bikinis, why didn’t those same restrictions apply to editing an image of any recognizable person?

Outside of the AI responding to inappropriate requests to create nonconsensual sexual imagery, the incidents also highlight a potential pitfall for Grok’s recent ability to respond in threads to questions tagged with @grok.

The social platform started rolling out the ability to ask Grok questions in comments in March. The AI doesn’t always respond (and won’t with certain privacy settings). But, when it does, the AI posts publicly viewable posts in the threads.

Nefarious users will probably always find a way around AI restrictions, but giving an AI autonomy to respond to posts publicly opens up the possibility that those unethical images will reach beyond just the user who typed in the prompt.

The feature is perhaps a funny tool when asking an AI if the moon is really made out of cheese, but in the case of the “undress” fiasco, it also allowed the ethically lax AI to publicly post an edited image it shouldn’t have generated in the first place.

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Instagram has finally answered some of the biggest complaints about recording video for the platform – but creators will need a new app to access the new features. Edits is a video editing app created by Instagram that brings several features that aren’t available when editing video directly inside Instagram, including recording videos that are up to ten minutes long, the option to shoot in 4K, and the ability to download videos without a watermark.

Like CapCut is to TikTok, Edits is Instagram’s new stand-alone video editing app. Edits, which Instagram head Adam Mosseri teased earlier this year, is a separate app designed to offer more video editing tools than what already exists inside of Instagram. While Meta says that videos created in edits can be shared on any platform, creators will need an Instagram account to log in and start using the app.

Separating the editing tools into a new app creates a long list of new capabilities for Instagrammers, starting with expanded camera capabilities. Instagram’s built-in camera can only record for up to three minutes, but Edit’s camera can record for up to ten. Not only that, but screenshots of the new app show that users have the option to record in 4K at 60 fps.

While Instagram Reels are typically 1080p, that 4K resolution may help when using Edits to create videos for multiple platforms. Edits will also download user-created Reels without the Instagram watermark. (Downloading Reels from Instagram without a watermark typically requires a third-party downloader tool.)

The Edits app also has a tool that turns a still photograph into a video. The tool, called AI image animation, uses generative AI to generate a video from a still photo. Several favorite editing tools that are part of Instagram, including green screen and countdown, are also part of the Edits app.

Outside of the built-in camera, the Edits app uses a timeline to allow creators to arrange clips, music, and overlays together. Meta says that the timeline editor allows creators to adjust clips with frame-accurate precision. Creators can also use the cutout tool to remove backgrounds from videos, along with adding effects and stylizing text.

The Edits app will also have a tab for saving ideas, including both existing Reels and sticky notes with ideas. An inspiration tab will showcase Instagram Reels with trending audio. Edits will also import statistics from Instagram to help creators understand how their fans engage with the content.

Instagram’s Edits app rolled out to both Android and iOS devices this week, but the company says that’s just the start. Meta indicated that it plans to “improve the app every week.” The list of in-progress updates slated for the new app includes keyframes, AI modification tools, and more fonts, animations, music, and effects. Instagram says that collaboration tools are also coming to the Edits app, allowing creators to share drafts with others for feedback before finalizing the video.

After Instagram announced Edits, the app quickly took the top spot in the photo and video category in the Apple App Store, while Google Play lists more than one million downloads for the new editing software. The app is available as a free download from the App Store and Google Play.

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Remember when Instagram seemed like a good place to showcase your work, connect with photographers, and get yourself on the radar of clients? Well, unfortunately those days are now long gone.

Between those Reels we're supposed to be making (really, who has the time?) and the algorithm playing hide-and-seek with our posts, it's just not the same any more. So, where should photographers head now?

In truth, there's no longer one simple answer to that question. In terms of showcasing your work, these days you're probably best off with your own website; the best website builders make that easy for non-techie. Or, if you don't want the hassle and cost of that, Behance and Adobe Portfolio can provide online galleries where clients and fellow photographers can easily find your work.

In terms of networking with fellow photographers, meanwhile, the decline of Instagram is a good opportunity to reengage with the real world. Meetups, workshops, and camera clubs have always been where the magic happens, and you’ll typically learn more in an hour of real conversation then a week of scrolling.

As for making online connections, remember 500px and Flickr? They're still live and kicking, and they're still about the photos, not the dance videos.

Don't underestimate the continuing relevance of online forums, too. Reddit's actually got some decent photography subs, and there are tons of niche forums for specific genres. That means you can have real discussions about gear, techniques, and get honest feedback on your work.

But if none of these options float your boat, and you're looking for something that's similar to Instagram, but with all the good bits and none of the (increasingly) bad bits, other options are emerging.

In this article, we reveal 5 social media networks that are like Instagram, but offer much more to photographers specifically.

1. Vero

• Available for: iOS, Android, desktop
• Download here

Founded by French-Lebanese billionaire Ayman Hariri, Vero defines itself as the antithesis of algorithm-driven social media. The platform's name, derived from the Italian word for "truth," reflects its commitment to authentic connection, without the manipulation of engagement algorithms.

Another thing that makes Vero different is its approach to people you connect with. Rather than lumping all of them together as "friends" or "followers," you can put them into four distinct groups: close friends, friends, acquaintances and followers. This nuanced approach mirrors real-world relationships better, and allows you to share different content with different circles—which could be very handy for photographers worried about people misusing their images.

Vero also displays photos in full resolution rather than compressing them to save bandwidth. Plus its chronological feed means that content isn't artificially boosted or buried based on engagement metrics or payment.

This level playing field allows quality content to shine based on merit rather than algorithmic favor. That means, in theory at least, you can reach audiences organically—something increasingly impossible on platforms like Instagram or Facebook.

Vero is free for all users as of 2025, though the company says it may introduce modest subscription fees in the future.

2. Pixelfed

• Available for: iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, web browser
• Download here

Sick of all the visual noise and clutter on Instagram? Pixelfed is focused exclusively on image sharing. And that makes for a distraction-free environment where visual work can be appreciated without competing against algorithmically-favored video.

One thing that makes Pixelfed particularly interesting is its decentralized nature. Rather than being owned by a single corporate entity, Pixelfed operates on the ActivityPub protocol—the same technology that powers Mastodon—allowing different servers (aka "instances") to communicate with each other while maintaining independent governance.

In practical terms, this means photographers can join instances specific to their industries or interests, creating built-in networking opportunities with like-minded people.

Pixelfed's commitment to privacy also stands in stark contrast to mainstream alternatives. The platform collects minimal user data and features no third-party tracking or analytics. For photographers working in fields where confidentiality is valued, this could be a big plus.

The interface will feel immediately familiar to Instagram users… just minus the ads, algorithm-driven feed, and engagement-bait like Stories and Reels. Posts appear chronologically, and the clean interface prioritizes the images themselves rather than surrounding them with distractions.

Pixelfed's user base remains smaller than mainstream alternatives; even the most popular instances host tens of thousands rather than millions of users. But this intimacy can arguably benefit networking efforts, creating spaces where meaningful professional connections aren't immediately lost in the noise of massive populations.

 3. Glass

• Available for: iOS, Android, Windows, web browser
• Download here

Ever thought of paying for a social network? Me neither... but maybe Glass is actually worth it.

Launched in 2021 after Instagram's controversial announcement that it was "no longer a photo-sharing app", Glass is a subscription-based platform ($4.99 monthly or $29.99 annually) that's completely free of ads, engagement algorithms and data tracking.

This subscription model fundamentally changes the platform's incentives. While free apps need to maximize engagement to sell advertising, Glass's revenue comes directly from satisfied users. And that means it's highly motivated to optimize for a quality experience, rather than attention extraction.

For anyone tired of fighting against algorithms or feeling pressure to create engagement-baiting content, this alone could make it well worth the cash.

Meanwhile, Glass's minimalist design emphasizes photography without distraction. Images are displayed in high resolution against simple backgrounds, and the interface replaces numerical metrics like follower counts and likes, with a single "appreciation" option.

Furthermore, the "Series" option allows you to create evolving collections of images that can be updated over time. For photographers whose work involves ongoing projects or thematic exploration, this creates an ideal showcase environment. Series can be shared outside the platform as well, so they can function as living portfolios, which clients and colleagues can view without needing Glass accounts themselves.

Most importantly, Glass strictly prohibits brands from joining the platform, so it can maintain its focus on individual photographers rather than corporate entities or influencer marketing. This exclusive focus on photography means that even though Glass's numbers may be small (as you'd expect from a paid platform), it has the potential to offer valuable networking opportunities that are actually relevant to photographers.

4. Grainery

• Available for: iOS, Android, Mac, Windows
• Download here

In a world increasingly dominated by computational photography and AI-generated images, Grainery has carved out a niche catering exclusively to analog film photographers. Launched in 2022 by developer Kyle Johnston, the platform combines an interface that will be familiar to Instagram users with technical features specifically designed for film enthusiasts.

Grainery's most distinctive feature is its detailed technical metadata. When uploading images, users must specify the exact film stock, camera body, and lens used, along with additional details like exposure values and development techniques. This creates a searchable database where you can find images based on specific equipment or techniques. That's valuable context that would be impossible to find on mainstream platforms.

The platform maintains strict community standards, prohibiting digital images with film simulations. And while Grainery has faced development challenges typical of indie platforms—including limited mobile app functionality and occasional technical glitches—its dedicated community has continued growing steadily since launch.

5. Foto

• Available for: iOS, Android
• Download here

After an extensive 18-month beta testing period, Foto officially launched on Android and iOS in February 2025, positioning itself as the digital equivalent of what Instagram was originally intended to be: a clean, chronological platform focused exclusively on photography. In its short time since public launch, it's already attracted significant attention from photographers frustrated by mainstream platforms' pivot toward video.

What sets Foto apart is its balanced approach to monetization and accessibility. The platform operates on a freemium model, offering basic functionality to all, while reserving advanced features for subscribers. This creates a sustainable business model without resorting to advertising or algorithm manipulation, while still allowing new users to test the platform before committing financially.

Images are displayed uncropped and in high res, allowing you to present your work as intended. The chronological feed creates equal visibility for all users regardless of follower count, giving emerging photographers the same opportunity for discovery as established names.

While you can see your own follower counts, these numbers are hidden from public view, as are like counts on images. This shifts focus from popularity contests to the quality of work itself, creating an environment where professional growth isn't measured solely by quantitative engagement.

The platform's tiered subscription model offers increasing levels of functionality. The Ambassador program ($5 monthly or $50 annually) provides early access to new features and a profile badge, while the upcoming Pro+ tier ($10 monthly) will introduce unlimited portfolio creation.

While still in its early stages of growth, Foto has published a detailed development roadmap outlining planned features—including desktop access for summer 2025.

Embedding a social media post allows websites to share content without hosting the content themselves – but is such a tool a violation of copyright? A photographer wants the US Supreme Court to consider that question. In a petition for certiorari (a request to review) filed on March 28, photographer Elliot McGucken is asking the court to consider if displaying a work without hosting the work using embedding tools violates copyright after lower courts dismissed the case.

The case, McGucken v. Valent, Inc., argues the legality of embedding a copyrighted work without the artist's permission after The Travel embedded McGucken’s Instagram posts. The district courts and Ninth Circuit court dismissed the complaints, and now the photographer has asked the Supreme Court to consider the argument.

The case asks the Supreme Court to consider the constitutionality of the “server test,” a guideline established in a 2007 Ninth Circuit Court decision. The server test essentially suggests that downloading and hosting an image on a website is a violation of copyright, but embedding the image from the artist’s website or social media, which doesn’t require downloading to the website’s servers, does not violate copyright.

The petition certiorari argues that the server test violates the artist's rights “to display the copyrighted work publicly” and asks the courts to consider whether a website’s unauthorized display of an image violates copyright “regardless of the technological process used to show the work.”

Embedding tools allow websites to share a photo, video, or written content by including a snippet of the social media post using code without downloading the content itself. Using the embed tool, viewers can react to the post with the various social media tools included in the embed and click through to view the original post.

Many social media platforms give artists the option to turn the embed tool off, preventing websites from sharing the content in this way. Instagram, for example, added the option to disable embeds in 2021, in part from the prompting of multiple photography organizations. The tool allows users to turn off embedding inside the Settings menu and “How others can interact with you.” Turning off the tool prevents other websites from embedding the post.

The filing of the petition for certiorari requests a review from the Supreme Court; a response on whether or not the high court will consider McGucken v. Valnet is due by May 1.

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If you want to get better at something, learn from the masters. And getting insights from the world's greatest photographers has never been easier, thanks to a treasure trove of free documentary shorts on YouTube.

These short films offer unprecedented access into the minds, techniques and journeys of photographers who have redefined visual narrative across genres—from wildlife and war photography to portraiture and conceptual art.

Each documentary is a masterclass, revealing the philosophy, passion, and creative process behind extraordinary photographic work. And best of all, they're free to watch on YouTube! We've listed them in order of running time, starting with the shortest.

1. Robert Capa's D-Day Photographs

• Length: 4 minutes

Robert Capa was the only photographer to land during the first wave on Omaha Beach on D-Day, and is today an iconic name in the history of photojournalism. The short film made by TIME magazine provides crucial context about the technological limitations and incredible risks he and other photographers took. A great reminder of photography's potential to communicate, challenge and transform our understanding of events.

2. Film Photography in a Digitized World

• Length: 4.5 minutes

Still shooting on film, or just intrigued by the idea? In this documentary short, American photographer Brendan Fleischer offers a deeply personal exploration of film photography's enduring magic in an increasingly digital world. Rather than a nostalgic lament, the film is a passionate testament to the tactile and transformative nature of analogue photography, and offers keen insights into why film continues to captivate so many in the 21st century.

3. Erik Kessels: Reimagining Amateur Photography

• Length: 5 minutes

Dutch artist Erik Kessels is known for transforming massive quantities of amateur photographs into conceptual art, as a provocative challenge to how we create, consume and value images in the today's society. This short TIME documentary invites photographers to reflect on the lifecycle of images in an era of constant digital production.

4. Lee Miller: A Photographer's Extraordinary Journey

• Length: 5 minutes

One of the best movies about real photographers in recent years is Lee, starring Kate Winslet as English photojournalist Lee Miller. This short doc for the History Channel meticulously traces Miller's evolution from surrealist photography in Paris with Man Ray, to her pivotal role as a war correspondent during World War Two. Lovingly narrated by Kate Winslet, it's five minutes well spent for any photographer.

5. For Everything Photographic

• Length: 6.5 minutes

It's not just photographers we can learn lessons about photography from. Will Fisher's short documentary focuses on Alex Falk, who runs the Mr Cad photographic shop in London. This charming exploration of a veteran of the trade is both a celebration of analogue photography and a passionate argument for taking pictures as a creative, human-centered artform.

6. How to Photograph Polar Bears in One of the Most Extreme Places on Earth 

• Length: 7 minutes

This short-but-sweet documentary from National Geographic focuses on the work of Australian nature photographer Joshua Holko as he navigates the extreme Arctic environment of Svalbard. We get to witness his methodical tracking of polar bears, waiting days in temperatures dropping to -40°C to capture a single meaningful image. Watching this patient pursuit brings home how wildlife photography is as much about understanding and respecting the subject's environment as it is about photographic technique.

7. Photographing Rare and Elusive Birds in Brazil 

• Length: 8.5 minutes

In this short BBC Earth documentary, released on YouTube just a few weeks ago, Brazilian wildlife photographer Nicole Dornelles Carneiro highlights how bird photography is not just a technical challenge, but an art of patience and understanding. From tracking elusive species to composing shots and making real-time camera adjustments, she demonstrates how successful wildlife photography is a complex dance of preparation, knowledge and intuition.

8. Entering New Worlds Through Photography

• Length: 15 minutes

VICE's short film about Magnum photographer Christopher Anderson traces a remarkable journey from a small-town Texan to an internationally renowned visual storyteller, and offers a profound meditation on photography as a transformative human experience. The documentary's emotional core is Anderson's harrowing experience aboard a Haitian refugee boat—a moment that crystallized his understanding of photography's fundamental purpose.

9. Zeiss: 175 Years of Optical Innovation

• Length: 25 minutes

Deutsche World is one of the best and most reliable international news channels today, and this short documentary doesn't disappoint. Its exploration of German lens maker Zeiss is far more than a corporate history. From Carl Zeiss's initial handcrafted microscopes in 1846 to the company's groundbreaking contributions to camera lens technology, it's a fascinating look into how technological innovation drives the art and business of photography.

10. The Last Roll of Kodachrome

• Length: 30 minutes

In 2009, after 74 years of manufacturing the world's best-selling color film, Kodak stopped producing Kodachrome. American photographer Steve McCurry had the opportunity to get the last cartridge; he then travelled around the world to shoot the last images with this roll. National Geographic's documentary traces this epic trip and captures a pivotal moment in photographic history.

Also read our guide of the 29 best films about real photographers

After TikTok went dark for users in the US in January, an executive order signed by newly sworn-in President Donald Trump gave the platform a reprieve from the law requiring ByteDance to sell to an owner outside China in order to remain accessible to US users. That executive order expires on April 5, but Trump has told Reuters that he expects a deal on the app’s sale to come before that deadline.

During an interview aboard Air Force One, Trump indicated that the app had several interested buyers. A law passed in 2024 required the short-form video app to sell to an owner outside of China by January 19 or face a ban for the 170 million users in the US. An executive order signed on January 20 gave the company until April 5 to meet those requirements.

“We have a lot of potential buyers, there’s tremendous interest in TikTok. The decision is going to be my decision, as you know, through Congress, and they’ve given me the power to make the decision,” he said. “We’re dealing with China who also want it because they may have something to do with it. And we’ll see how that goes. But it’s something I think you are going to have. I’d like to see TikTok remain alive.”

TikTok has not commented on whether or not the company is considering a sale. During a Supreme Court case, ByteDance lawyers indicated that a sale wouldn’t be possible, noting that some of the app’s programming is intellectual property owned by the Chinese government.

The law, Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, passed in 2024 with bipartisan support. Congress expressed national security concerns that ByteDance could be required to turn over user data to the government. Trump originally imposed sanctions against TikTok during his first term, but later reversed course. After joining the platform in 2024, Trump now has more than 15 million followers on the app.

According to USA Today, another executive order to delay the ban is possible.

An executive order by US President Donald Trump not to enforce a law that banned the use of TikTok brought the app back after a legislative shutdown in January. But those 75 days in the executive order are nearly up, and three senators are now warning that ignoring the law could cost tech companies as much as $850 billion dollars. That warning comes as a Pew Research study finds that only around a third of Americans support the measure, a steep drop from the 50-50 split the ban had two years ago.

On Monday, three Democratic senators published a letter urging the President to work to resolve the ban. In the letter, Edward J. Markey, Chris Van Hollen, and Cory A. Booker wrote that, while they oppose the TikTok ban, the order to not enforce the law “was not only unlawful but also raised serious questions about TikTok’s future.”

Instructing the legislation not to be enforced rather than working to change the legislation, the senators worry, would risk the app’s future in the US because tech companies that do not follow the law could face penalties of up to $850 billion, they claim. That includes companies like Apple and Google for listing the app in app stores as well as Oracle for hosting cloud computing for the app. Executive orders not to enforce the ban would still mean that those companies would be “risking ruinous legal liability” to continue allowing the app, the Senators argue, and whether or not TikTok remains available after April 5 would depend on the companies’ risk tolerance.

“Without any further action from Congress, the 170 million Americans that rely on TikTok will continue to face uncertainty about TikTok’s future,” the Senators wrote, asking Trump to answer several questions by March 28 in order to allow time for legislators to work together ahead of the April 5 deadline. “Creators will continue to fear that the platform could disappear at any moment. This situation is unfair and unworkable. We urge you to stand up for TikTok’s users and use your immense influence over congressional Republicans to demand a long-term solution to the TikTok ban.”

This week, the Pew Research Center published a study indicating that American support for the ban has dwindled. According to a survey of adults in the US, only around 34% support the ban, a drop from 50% two years ago. During that same time frame, the number of US adults that consider the app a national security threat has dropped from 59% to 49%.

The bipartisan Protecting Americans Against Foreign Adversaries Act gave ByteDance until January 19 to sell to a US-based owner or face a ban. When the deadline passed without such a sale, TikTok went dark in the US until Trump’s executive order. That order expires on April 5 if no further action is taken. While rumors have circulated of companies interested in buying the app, during a Supreme Court case on the ban, ByteDance indicated that a sale would not be possible.

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I was scrolling through my Instagram profile the other day, looking at the various images I’ve shot on different cameras – the Fujifilm X100F, GFX 50S II, Nikon D750 and even my iPhone – and honestly? They all looked almost identical.

It’s easy to get caught up in the hype of new mirrorless cameras; bigger sensors, higher megapixels, insane dynamic range. But here’s the reality: if your images are only living on Instagram, X or Facebook, does having the latest and greatest gear really matter?

Social media strips images of fine details, compressing everything into the same mush of pixels. The subtle tonal gradations and resolution advantages of medium format get completely lost. The only way you’d see a difference is if you were printing, or maybe zooming in at 100%, but with compression, even that might not help.

Especially with the way I personally shoot, black-and-white with motion blur and grain, using the Acros film simulation with minor personal adjustments. The difference between an X100F and a GFX 50S II image on a phone screen is almost nonexistent. Can you tell from the images in this article?

With the GFX 100RF now announced by Fujifilm, it’s easy to get swept up in the marketing hype – I know I'm guilty of it. But I would highly recommend taking a step back and asking yourself: what are you actually doing with your images? If you’re not printing large-scale, will the extra resolution and dynamic range really change anything?

I recently wrote an article about how I used my Nikon D750 again for the first time in a couple of years, and as expected it performed brilliantly. The images are as good today as they were when the camera was first released.

That’s not to say gear doesn’t matter, of course. For certain types of photography, like wildlife or sports, you need the right tools. But if your main output is social media, the camera in your hand is probably already good enough.

Ultimately, the key takeaway is that the most important thing is finding gear that works for you. If you primarily publish on social media, then how a camera enables you to work and create is far more important than the latest specs.

It's not about having the highest megapixels or the newest features, it's about choosing tools that match your style, workflow and the way you want to capture moments.

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Instagram has been gradually adding filters and tools to help creators prevent bot and spam comments, but now the social media platform is toying with the idea of intentionally encouraging AI to write comments.

Instagram could soon allow AI to analyze images and generate comments on the content, according to a recently spotted test of the feature. The tool uses Meta AI to examine the image and suggest brief comments, so the commenter doesn’t have to write something from scratch.

The test, first spotted by social media trends tester Jonah Manzano but confirmed in a comment to TechCrunch, suggests three comments based on the contents of the image. Users click on a “help me write” icon after tapping on the comment icon to access the feature.

According to a screenshot of the feature, when the commenting tool is used, Meta AI “can analyze photos, including facial features, to help you write.” In a video of the tool, the AI looks at a selfie taken in a living room and suggests comments like “cute living room setup” and “love the cozy atmosphere.”

The idea of AI analyzing images could miff some photographers, but it’s not a completely new notion; Meta has already tested a similar feature on Facebook. My Facebook feed is filled with AI suggesting questions to ask underneath a photo, including what often feels like strange personal questions that an AI shouldn’t have the answer to anyway.

The Instagram comment section has long drawn criticism for bot-written comments and spam. You can, for example, use a third-party tool to buy randomly generated comments to trick the algorithm into delivering a post to more feeds.

In 2023, the platform added new tools for creators that would help filter out bot comments and fake followers. The tested feature feels a bit like the opposite of those tools. After all, isn’t AI a bot?

The test shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, however, as Meta has been focusing on AI to deliver many of the latest features. Last year, Instagram began rolling out AI Studio to select creators, enabling them to create an AI version of themselves to respond to fans’ DMs.

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A 21-year-old from Maryland was arrested last week after arson investigators found the 911 caller had built a social media presence on filming first responders. The arrest comes after an investigation into a February 22 fire of a vacant building in Newburg, Maryland, US.

According to the Baltimore ABC news station, firefighters were able to put out the fire within minutes. However, after investigators ruled the fire as arson, the investigation led to the individual who originally phoned 911 about the structure fire.

During the investigation, Maryland fire marshals found that the 911 caller, a 21-year-old male from Prince Frederick, had been filming first responders for social media. In a social media post of the fire, the caller claimed he had been traveling to deliver a DoorDash order when he spotted the fire, but investigators believe that claim is untrue.

According to the local news station, the content creator allegedly admitted to setting the fire, then explained how he profited off his social media videos. Investigators also found the same individual has made multiple 911 calls across three counties and are currently investigating those cases.

The content creator has been charged with second degree arson, along with malicious burning as well as creating a false fire alarm. The individual is reportedly being held without bond.

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An unexpected location in China has become a surprise hotspot in China after an image of the area went viral.

Guo Qingshan, from Shanghai, shared the unusual picture on the social media network Xiaohongshu (also known as Red Note) of a landscape from his native Yichang, in Hubei Province, which has sparked widespread interest.

Captioning the photo “puppy mountain”, he only noticed the resemblance when reviewing his photos, suddenly seeing the shape of a dog’s head resting on the ground, the tip of its snout along the water's edge.

The post received 120,000 likes in 10 days. He said: “It was so magical and cute,” adding, “I felt excited and happy when I discovered it.” The hashtag #xiaogoushan, Chinese for “puppy mountain”, also drew millions of views on the media platform Weibo.

The image prompted people on social media to post pictures of their own dogs to see which one resembled the rockface more, and many people traveled to the location to see the mountain, and take their own shots.

“Puppy Mountain here I am!” said a user on RedNote along with photos of the mountain. “Just stroke the puppy’s head and then everything will be OK.” Another wrote: “We all need the eyes to see the beauty in this world.”

According to the BBC, after Guo’s photo went viral, many people shared photos of the view they had previously taken from the deck, with many saying they had never realised it looked like a dog. Some discussed how the dog’s appearance had changed over the years.

It added, "Shi Tong, a Yichang resident, said he knew he had seen the mountain before, and posted a photo he took of the location in 2021. “After I saw the Puppy Mountain photo online, I tried to look up where it is. And then I realised that I have been to this place before. I thought it looked like a dog at that time, too.”

Take a look at our guides to the best cameras for landscape photography, the best lenses for landscape photography, and the best budget telephoto lenses.

If I ever had my doubts about just how interwoven social media is with politics, they dissipated as I watched tech giants donate to presidential campaigns and then share the inaugural stage. But despite being an American drastically cutting back my social media usage in 2025, Flickr’s newest feature has grabbed my attention. The image sharing platform Flickr now has a Discover feed, and it's an internet rabbit hole I will gladly fall down.

The Discover feed on Flickr is a new tool that’s designed to help users find groups (and with that group, inspiration). Users can access it by clicking on the “What’s New” tab, then selecting Featured from the sidebar. The page is filled with curated photos from different Flickr groups. Browsing the new Discover page, I can find everything from visual poetry to stick people in peril.

Simple? Absolutely. But the new feature has me wondering, as users sick of the social giants flock to brand new platforms like Bluesky in droves, that perhaps a “retro” social platform could be another solution to how downright depressing the biggest social networks are becoming. Flickr is a longstanding image platform that seemed to fall out of favor for a while, but now photographers seem to be recognizing that a photo-focused platform that isn’t at the mercy of algorithms already exists.

The problem with “new” social media platforms is you can only be social with the few people who are already on the platform. (That’s why I haven’t yet deleted Facebook but instead used the iPhone screen time tool to seriously cut back my time spent there – because it is still the place where most of my friends are online).

Either way, I think browsing art is just what my mental health needs right now – I may just have to revive my old Flickr account. Flickr just turned 21 this year, which makes the photo platform actually older than Facebook.

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Instagram is feeling a little less instant – but the social media giant’s latest scheduling feature could still be a welcome change for some users on the photo-centric platform. Instagram now enables users to schedule DMs, or direct messages. The feature, announced on February 19, comes with a handful of other updates for Instagram’s messaging tool.

Instagram added scheduling capability for creator and business accounts at the end of 2022, a move that was a welcome change for many photographers. Now, users can also schedule their DMs to send at a specific time. Meta shared a few examples of why the tool may be useful, like sending a friend a happy birthday message at 12:01 or automatically sending somebody a reminder.

To use the new scheduling feature in DMs, users will need to type out the message – but then tap and hold on the send button, rather than the usual single tap. The app will then bring up the options to choose the date and time to send out the message. Meta notes that the time is in the sender’s timezone, not the recipient's.

While the Insta in the name has always honored Instagram’s instant sharing ethos, many photographers welcomed the addition of the ability to schedule posts on Instagram. Scheduling posts enables creatives to plan out their posts in one sitting – which can potentially free up more time for actual photography.

The ability to schedule DMs comes alongside a handful of new additions to Instagram’s messaging tool. Photographers using group messaging can now create a QR code to easily invite others into the chat. To generate a QR code, tap the name of the group chat, then tap the invite link and select the QR code option.

The Instagram DM updates also include the ability to send a song to friends, translate other languages within the chat, and the ability to pin a post to the top of the chat window. The updates began rolling out on February 19.

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It’s not just Millennials and Gen Z that are obsessed with filters – the craze goes way back, the National Gallery in London, England, has revealed.

Calling it a “craze”, Joanna from the National Gallery revealed in an Instagram video that in the 1800s there was something called a ‘Claude Glass’, inspired by the landscape painter Claude Lorrain, “who was famed for his use of tone and soft warm light in his Arcadian landscapes.”

According to Joanna, wealthy tourists would flock to areas of natural beauty to do a “curious thing” – stand with their backs to the view and hold up with Claude glass and observe the reflection in the black piece of glass.

“The reflection in the black glass would simplify the tonal range and frame it within the reflection. This meant that any mishmash of rocks, foliage, would be instantly transformed into the picturesque,” explains Joanna.

“It was like carrying Claude's vision in your pocket. The Claude Glass craze soon faded and it's really hard to buy Claude Glasses today. However, we all have a phone and you can use the black glass of your phone screen to try the effect yourself.”

The ’glass’ consists of a slightly convex blackened mirror rather than a silvered mirror, because it produced a stronger reflection and lowered the key colors. According to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, a larger version of this device was occasionally attached to windows of horsedrawn carriages to reflect passing scenery.

Despite the popularity of the mirrors, the people who used them were also subject to ridicule, not unlike many social media trends now. The novelist Hugh Sykes Davies commented at the time that “It is very typical of their attitude to nature that such a position should be desirable."

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