In the ever-evolving world of photography, the decision by PhotoVogue to showcase AI-generated imagery alongside traditional photography in its upcoming festival is stirring debate. Curated around the theme of “Image in the Age of AI. What Makes Us Human,” the program has photographers (or should I say “image-makers”) divided. I’m old enough to remember the fierce “film vs. digital” debate, and while I think AI is more of a threat to some photographers’ livelihoods than digital cameras ever were, I can’t help but be reminded of that time. 

The festival, set to take place from November 16-19, 2023 in Milan, is a testament to the rapidly changing landscape of visual arts. Alessia Glaviano, Head of Global PhotoVogue and Director of PhotoVogue Festival asks us to consider the following: “How can one have a definitive stance on something as vast and novel as AI-generated content? This very uncertainty is why we’ve chosen to focus our festival on this theme. I believe that diving deep into every facet of this conversation is essential, and I hope our festival serves as a platform for enriching dialogue that advances our understanding.”  

I recommend checking out this post on Glaviano’s Instagram if you want to join the conversation, but here is a quick summary of the concerns traditional photographers have with the festival (and with AI’s impact on photography in general).

Authenticity and Originality

One of the primary concerns surrounding the inclusion of AI-generated content is the question of authenticity. Traditional photography is rooted in capturing moments, emotions, and stories through the lens. AI-generated imagery, on the other hand, is created through algorithms and data training.

Ethical Implications

The ethical concerns around AI-generated content are vast. From concerns about copyright to deepfakes, there’s a lot to consider. How do we ensure that AI-generated content is used responsibly and ethically, especially when showcased alongside traditional photography?

The Challenge of Curation

At this early stage, it seems that the festival has successfully distinguished AI-generated images from traditional photography in its exhibitions. However, the task of curating such a wide range of content comes with its own set of challenges. Most importantly, in my opinion, how do you ensure that the line between AI and traditional photography remains clear to the audience?

Audience Reception

While some may appreciate the innovative approach of merging AI and traditional photography in the same festival, others might find it disconcerting (and perhaps that’s part of the point). However, the challenge lies in ensuring that the festival remains a space for open dialogue and understanding rather than becoming a battleground for traditional purists vs. enthusiastic early adopters.

The Future of Photography

The inclusion of AI-generated imagery in such a prestigious festival raises overall questions about the future of photography. Presenting AI image-makers obviously takes up space that traditional photographers would have otherwise filled. Will AI eventually replace traditional photographers? Or will it simply become another tool in the photographer’s arsenal? Or will photographers and image-makers coexist harmoniously in the same world? Together, but separate.

We’ll find out soon enough.

As for the festival, Glaviano’s curation is always inspiring and thought-provoking, and we expect nothing less from PhotoVogue 2023.

Visit PhotoVogue’s website for the full lineup of exhibitions and more information.

Discover More

If you’re wondering how to take a picture of the moon with an iPhone or Android smartphone then it’s probably because you’re preparing for the rise of the “Harvest Supermoon” this week.

The truth is that taking a good picture of the moon with a phone is challenging not only because devices lack a zoom lens of any note, but also because the moon can quickly become too bright.

However, it is possible—and there are several ways to do it. Here’s everything you need to know about exactly how to photograph the full moon using a smartphone, according to an expert:

1. Fully Charge Your Phone

It goes without saying that you need to have some battery in your smartphone. However, that really does apply in the extreme to a long photography task such as capturing as moonrise. With the display on full brightness and a lot of the electronics working, photographing for a long period can quickly drain the battery. Consider bringing along a portable battery.

2. Download A Clever Camera App

Download a third-party app like Camera+ 2, VSCO or Yamera—or any app that lets you manually set the exposure settings. That’s because even when captured on the horizon as it rises, the full moon often outshines the scene around it—and native camera apps rarely cope. “Your phone will generally overexpose it in an effort to achieve what it thinks is a balanced shot,” said Tom Kerss astronomer and author of Moongazing: Beginners Guide to Exploring the Moon, in an email. “Naturally when you expose for the brightest regions of the moon’s fully lit surface, you’ll find that the rest of the image looks rather dark.” It’s best to stick with ISO 100.

3. Use Your Phone’s Highest Quality Image Mode

The moon shows a huge amount of dynamic range, or shades of brightness, which is why it’s so difficult to photograph. So shoot in the most data-intensive mode you can—something often offered by those third-party apps. “Capture raw images to ensure you don’t lose highlight or shadow detail,” said Kerss. “You can then process these photos extensively to get the most interesting and aesthetically pleasing balance.”

4. Be Facing East At Moonrise

This month the best time to image the full moon from North America will be at moonrise on Thursday, September 28, so find out the time of local moonrise where you are and be in place 10 minutes before. The reason moonrise is so important is that you can capture the full moon during civil twilight. “As the full moon brightens against the fading sky due east there’s an opportunity to capture it with relatively low contrast,” said Kerss. “At this time, your phone will be more likely to achieve a balanced exposure, where the landscape and lunar features are all visible—neither overexposed or underexposed.” Your smartphone should also be able to pick up the warm colours of the Earth’s atmosphere at a shallow angle, as demonstrated by the image at the top of this article, which was shot by Kerss using an iPhone 12 Pro Max.

5. Use Your Phone’s Longest Lens

Smartphones are super-slim so will never rival a telephoto lens—the most important item in a moon photographer’s arsenal. However, some smartphones do something to make things even worse. “In low-light scenes some phones default to a shorter lens to collect more light and then digitally crop the image to give the illusion of a zoom,” said Kerrs. All this means is lost detail and an unnecessarily soft image. So make sure you’re using the best optical zoom your smartphone has. “The moon will always appear small, but the high density sensors in recent models can nevertheless reveal a surprising amount of detail in its the dark lunar maria,” said Kerss, referring to its seas of ancient lava.

6. Use A Tripod

For the easiest and best upgrade to your photos of the moon get a tripod and a universal smartphone holder, which you can often purchase together. Even with the added stability it’s also worth using the timer delay feature, which will mean the photo is taken a few seconds after you press the virtual shutter button on the screen. A Bluetooth remote is also worth considering.

7. Use A Telescope

This might seem a bit far-fetched for most, but if you do happen to have a dusty old telescope—whatever size it is—you can use it as an awesome telephoto lens. “Capturing the moon through the eyepiece of your telescope is a challenging but rewarding way to take a spectacular mobile shot,” said Kerss, who advises using an eyepiece with a low magnification. This technique, called afocal photography, is simple—you just hold your smartphone lens over the eyepiece of a telescope and take a shot. “At higher magnifications it’s trickier to keep your phone’s camera lens in the perfect spot,” said Kerss. Smartphone adaptors are also available that effectively clamp your device in place.

Wishing you wide eyes and clear skies.

Corralitos artist Sylvia Valentine is gearing up to show her original nature photography in the annual Open Studios Art Tour.

Her photography stems from her travels with her husband around the United States, Bali, New Zealand, Thailand, Canada and Mexico. 

“Many of my favorite photos are from our own beautiful California coast, Santa Cruz, Carmel, Monterey, Big Sur and our own backyard in Corralitos,” she said.

For Open Studios, Valentine will show around 100 of her nature photographs, plus her new line of “HeartFelt & Found” floral art made from felt flowers, paper and wood flowers, found objects and vintage items.

Her nature and travel photographs are on canvas, metal and traditional matted glass frames. Valentine will also include “shelf standing photos.”

“I love the mystery of creating a hidden gem in something ordinary, and capturing the beauty of a moment, from a drive around town to an international adventure,” she said. “Some of my new photos were from a spring trip to Yosemite after the winter rains where flooding in the valley created rare reflections.” 

Other photos show this year’s spring superbloom with fields of wildflowers near Pinnacles National Park and Mori Point near San Francisco. 

Valentine says she has worked with Panasonic and Nikon cameras, but currently prefers one made by Canon. 

“Some of my best selling shots—and client favorites—were taken with my iPhone 11 Pro, which I always have with me,” she said. “I find it’s more about the eye, angle, light and feeling level, than the camera and settings.” 

Valentine added that her name, Sylvia, means “Maiden of the Woods.” 

“I feel at home in nature,” she said. “I love capturing the spirit of a place, experimenting with different angles and light to explore unique perspectives.”

She discovered photography on a trip to New Zealand in 2008 with her husband, Paul Henrichsen, a helicopter pilot at Specialized Aviation in Watsonville. After sharing her photos with friends and family, she was encouraged to share her work in local galleries, First Friday shows, retail stores and in a series of greeting cards. That exposure led to showing in Open Studios for eight years. 

Valentine was recently named a winner of the 2023 California Arts Council Fellowship Award. Out of 500 applicants, 40 emerging artists were chosen. 

“I am so honored with this prestigious award and the $5,000 scholarship to further my artistic endeavors,” she said. 

She was voted Best Photographer three years in a row in the Good Times Best Of category and her photo entries in the Santa Cruz County Fair have earned her numerous first place ribbons. 

Additionally, Valentine self-published a hardcover coffee table book, “Sanctuary: A Portal to Presence.” The book features her photography, poems and quotes by her favorite authors and others “to match the essence in each of my images.” 

The Open Studios Art Tour unfolds over three weekends between Oct. 7-22 throughout Santa Cruz County.

Valentine’s show dates are Oct. 7-8 and Oct. 21-22 from 11am-5pm at 33 Karen Drive in Watsonville.

Her work can be viewed at SylviaValentine.com and instagram.com/sylviavalentinephotography.

For information on Open Studios, visit santacruzopenstudios.com.

NEW ORLEANS (press release) – Next month, the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) opens the first major retrospective of photographer Debbie Fleming Caffery, with black-and-white prints ranging from the 1970’s to the present. Debbie Fleming Caffery: In Light of Everything is the first exhibition to include examples representative of her entire body of work, including photographs taken throughout Louisiana and Mississippi, Mexico, and France over six decades. The exhibition includes Caffery’s renowned documentary images of people working in Louisiana’s sugar cane fields, as well as her most recent project creating exquisitely humanized portraits of birds around the world, some of which live in rescue and rehabilitation centers. Caffery is recognized as one of the foremost contemporary photographers from the American South, with a career that both grows from and stretches beyond her work in her native Louisiana. In Light of Everything will be on view at NOMA from October 6 through March 3, 2024.

In Caffery’s own words, the exhibition is “about that moment, in taking a photograph, when everything works…eyes, guts, heart, life experiences, [and] years of paying attention.” In Light of Everything will be installed in multiple galleries throughout the museum, including in the Great Hall where visitors will encounter large, haunting photographs of birds that are best described as avian portraiture. In the A. Charlotte Mann and Joshua Mann Pailet Gallery and Templeman Galleries visitors will see important works from Caffery’s career making photographs in various locales that draw on themes of faith, the dignity of labor, and the environment, among other subjects. The works from these series are presented together in this exhibition for the first time. 

“The work of Debbie Fleming Caffery is deeply rooted in her native Louisiana, and at the same time captures human experiences and perceptions that literally and metaphorically transcend geographic boundaries,” said Susan Taylor, The Montine McDaniel Freeman Director of the New Orleans Museum of Art. “Central to NOMA’s mission is organizing and presenting exhibitions that reflect a unique sense of place while sharing ideas and insights that are universally relevant.”

“Debbie Fleming Caffery’s practice engages with a number of traditions in the history of photography—from the legacy of Dorothea Lange and her work for the WPA and FSA, to both landscape and surrealist photography,” said Brian Piper, Freeman Family Curator of Photographs, Prints, and Drawings at the New Orleans Museum of Art. “Throughout her career, Caffery has built on that documentary sensibility by building relationships with the people she photographs, resulting in cohesive series with real emotional weight.” 

Caffery’s extensive work in the South resonates far beyond its place of origin, with pictures that function as meditations on different aspects of her subject’s lives framed in a way that is at once familiar and eye-opening. Caffery’s work emphasizes the deep emotional relationship between people and place, while raising questions about social and economic structures. In Light of Everything demonstrates how Caffery’s work introduces us to light in the darkness: shared human experiences captured in emotive images that hover between tranquility and unrest.

Debbie Fleming Caffery was born in Louisiana in 1948. Her work ranges from her early photographs of the cyclic seasons of the sugarcane fields, to the devastating effects of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, to life in Mexico with juxtaposed images of religious rituals and daily life in a cantina that also served as an active brothel. Caffery’s work is included in many collections, including the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and other institutions. She has been awarded many grants and fellowships—most notably a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Fellowship from the Open Society Foundations, George Soros Foundation—and in 2015, she received a commission from the High Museum of Art in Atlanta for their Picturing the South photography initiative. Her work has been the subject of five monographs to date: Carry Me Home(Smithsonian, 1990), The Shadows (Twin Palms Press, 2002), Polly (Twin Palms Press, 2004), The Spirit & The Flesh (Radius Books, 2009), and Alphabet (Fall Line Press, 2015).

• Gabby Morgan Swaine, 27, from Illinois, is the founder of GM Photography 
• She went viral after showing how to secure jewelry with a bridal makeup staple 
• Gabby’s video has been viewed more than 1.7 million times 

By Erica Nardozzi For Dailymail.Com

Published: 17:12 EDT, 26 September 2023 | Updated: 17:17 EDT, 26 September 2023

A wedding photographer has revealed her brilliant hack for ensuring a bride’s necklace stays in place all day and looks perfect in every photo. 

Gabby Morgan Swaine, 27, from Springfield, Illinois, is the founder of GM Photography, the wedding business she runs with the help of her sister, Tori, and her husband, Matt. 

The content creator, who uses the handle @gabbymorganphotos, went viral on TikTok after demonstrating how a bridal makeup staple can also be used to keep your jewelry in the right spot.

Gabby shared a video of one of her brides using eyelash glue to secure her necklace pendant to her chest while getting ready. 

‘Wedding day hack: eyelash glue on the back of your necklace to keep it in place all day long,’ she wrote in the on-screen text. 

The trick is beneficial to both brides and photographers, according to Gabby, who worked her first wedding when she was just 15 years old.  

‘Dear brides, eyelash glue is your new best friend,’ she explained in the caption. 

‘This hack was MADE for wedding photographers [because] it ensures the bride’s jewelry stays in place all day, making it one less thing to worry about in photos.’

Gabby’s video has been viewed more than 1.7 million times since it was posted on September 7. 

‘Where was this when I needed it! That’s all I notice in our wedding pictures,’ one former bride commented. 

‘I did this & my husband was genuinely curious how my necklace never moved that day,’ someone else shared. 

‘This is freaking genius!’ someone else gushed. 

Some people recommended gluing the clasp to her neck instead, while others claimed they tried the hack for themselves and it didn’t work. 

‘If it’s outside wedding and hot… it won’t work lol,’ one user noted. ‘We tried it and it failed.’

Someone else claimed the bride was looking down when she secured the necklace, and ‘it’ll pull off’ when she looks back up. 

There were also a few viewers who found the concern to be ridiculous. 

‘Yes, [because] that’s what I’m worried about on my wedding day,’ one person sarcastically responded. 

‘Seems a bit extreme,’ another agreed.

Renowned photographer and environmentalist Ansel Adams’s secluded home in the tony Sea Cliff neighborhood of San Francisco, on the edge of the Presidio, has hit the market for $5.45 million.

Built in 1902 as an Arts and Crafts chalet on what were then remote dunes, the residence grew to its current form in 1929, when a “grand salon” annex was built under the direction of Adams and his wife. The merged home, said Sotheby’s International Realty in the listing, “became the residential seat of America’s most lauded landscape photographer.” That lasted until 1957, when he moved the family farther down the coast to Monterey.

Exterior view of Ansel Adams’s former home in San Francisco. Photo: David Duncan Livingston for Sotheby’s International Realty.

The space boasts vaulted 20-foot ceilings, architectural beams, and a wood-burning fireplace. Upstairs are three bedrooms bathed in natural light, with spectacular views of the Golden Gate Bridge and the Marin Headlands.

Artist’s loft at the top of the home. Photo: David Duncan Livingston for Sotheby’s International Realty.

Other perks include an attic-turned-artist’s loft, a front pathway made from repurposed San Francisco City sidewalk curbs, and a terraced garden design by renowned landscape architect Topher Delaney.

Front entrance with stepping stones made from city curbs. Photo: David Duncan Livingston for Sotheby’s International Realty.

Adams came to photography as a teenager in 1915, when his parents gave him a Kodak camera. His first photographs were architectural views of San Francisco and natural environments such as Yosemite Valley. He championed straight photography, allowing the vistas and objects in his images to speak for themselves.

Adams is remembered as a lifelong environmental conservationist and mountaineer whose photographs captured the grandeur of the American landscape. His black-and-white images of majestic outdoor scenes have had an enduring effect on American conservationism and the creation of national parks.

Ansel Adams stands on a bluff above the Pacific Ocean. Photo: Roger Ressmeyer CORBIS VCG via Getty Images.

In 2020, his best-known work, The Grand Tetons and the Snake River, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming (1942)—intended to hang in the U.S. Department of the Interior building until World War II canceled those plans—sold at Sotheby’s New York for $988,000 (including fees). The price soared above the high estimate of $600,000, establishing the lasting impact of a great 20th-century American photographer.

More Trending Stories:  

Pace Tapped Painter Pam Evelyn as Its Youngest Talent. She Tells Us What’s Behind Her New Show of Tumultuously Beautiful Abstractions 

The U.K.’s Royal Collection Has Discovered a Long-Lost Artemisa Gentileschi Painting That Was Left to Collect Dust in Storage for a Century 

A Set of Rare Daguerrotypes Linked to a Notorious British Naval Episode Raked in More Than $500,000 at Sotheby’s 

What I’m Looking at: Michael Rakowitz Makes a Meta-Monument, the Debate Over ‘Art Without Men,’ and Other Things at the Edge of Art 

John Baldessari’s Heirs Are Caught Up in a Tangle of Litigation Over the Care and Ownership of the Late Conceptual Artist’s Works 

Marine Scientists Are Baffled By a Mysterious Golden Orb Found in the Unexplored Depths of the Gulf of Alaska 

Follow Artnet News on Facebook:
Want to stay ahead of the art world? Subscribe to our newsletter to get the breaking news, eye-opening interviews, and incisive critical takes that drive the conversation forward.

Creating a successful image is almost always a two-step process: shooting and editing. As you grow comfortable with your camera, you should also work on developing your post-processing skills. This excellent video tutorial features an experienced photographer sharing some of the fundamentals of editing photos and offering some helpful advice sure to put you on the right track.

Coming to you from Roman Fox, this awesome video tutorial will teach you some of the fundamentals of editing photos. From a philosophical standpoint, I think one of the most important points Fox makes is understanding that good edits start with good shots. There is often the idea that you can “save it in post,” and while it is certainly true that modern post-processing software can perform small miracles, you can’t will a good photo into existence with a computer. This is often where beginners waste the most time, in trying to correct bad lighting, sharpen a blurry shot, or fix a sloppy composition. The closer you get it in camera, the easier it will be to edit. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Fox. 

If you would like to continue your photography learning journey, be sure to check out our range of tutorials in the Fstoppers store.

For those looking to level up their photography skills, leading photography education book publisher Rocky Nook is hosting its first ever online conference, called The Art and Craft of Photography.

Full disclosure: This sponsored article is brought to you by Rocky Nook.

The conference features two days of sessions presented by the authors of Rocky Nook’s best-selling photography books including Lindsay Adler, Roberto Valenzuela, Joe McNally, Scott Kelby, and more. These photographers, all top-notch teachers, will each present two different educational sessions that explore ways to develop your artistic voice and hone your photographic craft. Become a better photographer with lessons from world-class photographers—and maintain access to the session recordings for 12 months.

The conference is scheduled for November 8–9 from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. (Pacific Time) and offers an early bird ticket discount of $199 (along with a $50 gift card to Rocky Nook’s bookstore) if you register early.

The Art and Craft of Photography features ten speakers from diverse backgrounds for a total of 20 sessions. If you’re ready to move past the fundamentals and shoot creative and editorial content with your camera, the conference offers two tracks: an “art” series focusing on how to tell your authentic story through your photographic style; and a “craft” series teaching high-level concepts and techniques so you can achieve your vision. This unique approach allows the speakers to pair the “deeper” topics in photography—such as curiosity, imagination, and vision—with the skills, dedication, and inspiration it takes to create great photographs.

The Teachers: Learn from the Professionals

The speakers will help you to awaken your creative spirit, develop your own photographic style, and deepen your understanding of the art and craft of photography.

Learn more about the speaker sessions here.

Why Should You Attend?

Learn the secrets of the great professional photographers and instructors while exploring a wide range of photography topics, including landscape, portrait, lighting, and commercial.

Discover your voice and develop your personal style—and improve your understanding of photography. Awaken your creative mojo and get inspired to go out and shoot!

Full disclosure: This sponsored article was brought to you by Rocky Nook.