When Mehrdad Oskouei, a well known Iranian filmmaker, was planning to produce his last film Starless Dreams he asked one of his former students, Sadegh Souri, a photographer and a cinematographer to join his crew as a camera operator. Starless Dreams is a compelling social documentary about the lives of teenage girls in a juvenile correctional facility on the outskirts of Tehran, Iran. Some of the girls come from a broken layer of society with families struggling with drugs, crimes, and even murder....

David Holz, the founder of Midjourney, recently admitted something we’ve already assumed: the company’s AI was trained on hundreds of millions of images without consent from their authors. This revelation has sparked outrage among both artists and privacy advocates. It has raised concerns about the ethical implications of such actions, as well as copyright issues that might emerge. Back in September, Holz gave in an interview to Forbes, revealing that his company didn’t seek consent from artists when using their work for AI training....

Lensbaby has announced a new and improved Composer Pro II and the Soft Focus II 50 Optic. Combined, these will give you a ton of creative options with recognizable bokeh, but still keep the center of your photos sharp. If you’re a fan of 50mm lenses and the unique Lensbaby bokeh, read on. The Composer Pro II features a tilt function that ranges from 0-15° in any direction, for the tilt-shift effect practically on the budget....

There’s a big belief surrounding portrait and fashion photography that you always need to have an elaborate lighting setup. While having a bunch of flashes and modifiers can certainly help, it isn’t always necessary. You can still produce great results in an indoor setting with natural light just streaming in through the window. As this behind the scenes video from photographer Irene Rudnyk proves. Shot in her own home, Irene clears the furniture out of the way, sets up a backdrop, and sets the stage for her model, Shiann with the assistance of make up artist, Monica....

For almost a year now I’ve been struggling to find passion in my photography, it’s my 7th year doing photography and this was the only time I really lost my passion for it, some of it was due to me never being able to capture something new because of school and work always taking up time, and some of it was me looking at others who do the same style of photography and being discouraged....