Websites

With every year that goes past, photography becomes more and more accessible to the average person. Compared to even a decade ago, even the most basic cameras – including those on your smartphone – produce excellent images. Moreover, you can find plenty of free resources and classes that give you all the information you need to succeed.

Removing unwanted objects and text out of an image to clean up your photo used to require special software and skills, but these days AI has led to features like Content-Aware Fill in Photoshop that lets anyone do it in just a few clicks. If you do not have a Photoshop subscription, there is a free Web and mobile app called Cleanup.pictures you can use.

DroneSec's StolenDrone website is designed to help pilots get their drones back if they lose track of them or, perhaps more importantly, if they've been stolen.

ShootWith.Me, the platform that is akin to AirBNB but for finding second shooters and photo assistants, has launched with support across the United States and also in Canada.

Zenfolio has announced that its Portfolio, PortfolioPlus, and ProSuite plans now include the option to host video. Video or slideshow files can be uploaded directly to the platform.

Galeryst.com enables Adobe Lightroom users to create 3D virtual online art galleries to share their art. There are paid tiers, but photographers can make an 80-photo digital gallery for free.

Photographer Joseph DiGiovanna is in the midst of a project to timelapse the New York City skyline continuously for 30 years. Six and a half years in, he has launched a website that allows visitors to pinpoint and explore any day since he started.

Lensrentals has expanded its photo and video equipment service offering and launched two new purchase programs to allow customers to purchase pre-owned equipment outright or after trying it out first, alongside the rental services that the company is known for.

Twitter made its platform more photo-friendly last spring when it did away with cropping of images in feeds, but strangely this feature did not come to the web. That changes today, as full-size images are now supported across all platforms.

Zenfolio has announced that it has acquired Format, one of the leading website-building platforms and marketplace hosts primarily used by professional photographers and artists.

Photopea has launched version 5.2 that adds support for color profiles, a CMYK mode, a new noise reduction filter, the ability to add text and strokes, and more.

Google now allows minors, those under the age of 18, to request that images of themselves be removed from Search results. Originally announced in August, the feature is now widely available.

Behance has announced that it has made its Patreon-like subscription model and available to the public. Additionally, it has added an option for users to indicate that they are looking for a commission or a job opportunity directly on their Behance profile.

The Canadian Internet Authority (CIRA), which manages all .CA domains on behalf of all Canadians, has followed up the success of its first set of extremely Canadian stock photos with a winter and cybersecurity themed "Series 2" set launched today.

Flipboard’s first Photographer in Residence is Ryan Mense, a wildlife photographer and PetaPixel contributor. Ryan’s been instrumental in helping Flipboard develop the ultimate destination for photography enthusiasts looking to hone their craft and keep up with essential news from PetaPixel and other voices in the industry.

To help buyers navigate the messy backpack landscape, a group of Reddit users has built a service called BAQPA that collects backpack recommendations from across the internet, filters and aggregates them, and then presents summarized results in a short and easy-to-read form with an overall rating.

Folio.ink is a browser-based platform that allows users to easily upload and share galleries of images without the need to purchase a membership or even create a login.

Google One has seemingly noticed that the gap between the previous 2 terabytes (TB) and 10 TB options in its plan was a bit too dramatic and has quietly added a 5TB plan that slides neatly between them.

Shutterstock has announced the acquisition of PicMonkey, an online photo editing and design platform, for $110 million.

Zenfolio has just launched its new ProSuite plan, an all-in-one business solution designed specifically to help professional photographers manage and grow their business using intelligent automation.

A few of you may remember, but most might have missed it entirely: Around 2018, the mobile social networking app Vero experienced short-lived hype. Within a day the user numbers exploded from about 150,000 to over 3 million.

Filmstock was founded on the principle of making it easier for enthusiasts to find and purchase rare film cameras and film stocks from shops around the United States. It allows users to customize searches, track specific items, and be alerted as soon as they are stocked.

A new platform called ShootWith.Me wants to break down the barriers that make it difficult for photographers, assistants, and studios to connect with each other through a centralized, easy-to-navigate platform that is similar to the format popularized by Airbnb.

To be successful as a photographer you have to be able to run a business. It’s no longer good enough to take excellent photos, you now have to manage daily tasks to help land more clients, while ensuring existing clients repeat their business or bring you referrals.

Microsoft's cloud storage solution OneDrive has been expanded to offer basic photo editing features like crop, rotation, and exposure.

Photobook Collective is a new website for photo book enthusiasts, where they can browse, buy, and sell in a community that is specifically designed to tailor to the niche needs of collectors.

In April 2021, photographers Carmen Chan, Emiliano Granado, and Jared Soares launched F**k Gatekeeping, a “professional photographic knowledge base” composed of a website and Instagram account to share their business experience with other photographers.

Facebook Rights Manager, which helps creators protect unauthorized image use, has been gradually rolling out since it was announced last year. As part of that process, the system can now provide detailed insights to photographers into how photos are used, including unauthorized use.

What are famous photographers doing right on their websites? Or better yet, what are they doing awfully wrong despite being successful? In this detailed research report, I thoroughly reviewed over 100 individual websites (from the most well-known photographers out there) to try to uncover all of that.

The United Kingdom's largest events planning platform Feast It has expanded its services to now include the ability to hire event and wedding photographers.

Photography portfolio builder Zenfolio has launched "BookMe", an all-encompassing client management suite to automate payments and bookings which joins the company's new Portfolio offering that makes building a modern website easier.

The website building platform Format has launched its own Prints Marketplace, enabling artists to sell their work worldwide with automatic fulfillment.

The Finnish capital city of Helsinki is the country's central hub of politics, education, finance, and culture. If you'd like a window into the history of the city, check out Helsinkiphotos.fi -- it's an online database of over 65,000 free photos that anyone can view and use.

Same Energy is a new Web tool that's perfect for photographers looking for visual inspiration. It's an AI-powered visual search engine that provides a fast and simple experience for exploring visually similar photos.

If you want to learn the science and technical details of how cameras and lenses work, there's a fantastic new resource on the Web for you. Developer Bartosz Ciechanowski has published an interactive 5,700-word article that explains things in great depth.

While companies like Snappr, Boom, and Pretty Instant seem built to devalue photography by commoditizing it, ViewShaper claims its goal is to do the exact opposite with a system built specifically for pros along with a photographer-focused pricing structure.

Are you on Picfair yet? You should be. It has become the fastest growing photography platform in the world, growing from 100,000 to 400,000 photographers in the past year alone. Many are making the switch to Picfair for its industry-low 20% commission, which was even reduced to 0% during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic -- an industry first.

Photographers know better than most: how you edit a photograph can totally chance the perception of that photo for the viewer. But a new online photo history quiz wants to make this explicit, showing how converting a photo to black-and-white can trick us into thinking a photo is much older than it really is.

If you’re a local business owner, you know that your number-one priority, day-in and day-out, is marketing your services and finding new customers. And in this digital age, the available options for marketing are surprisingly limited.

In preparation for this year's virtual AdobeMAX conference, Adobe has unveiled two new initiatives that are meant to "inspire and empower diverse voices as we democratize creativity": an Artist Development Fund, and a massive free collection of 70,000 photos, illustrations, vectors and other Adobe Stock assets.

Snappr wants to be the go-to service for business to get fast, easy access to photographers at rates as low as $89 per session. The company operates like a mix of Uber and ThumbTack, with on-demand access to creatives in 200 metropolitan areas, and could be coming to a city near you.

Instagram is celebrating its 10th anniversary this week with a couple of new features and a fun surprise. The photo sharing app has expanded its anti-bullying features, created a 'Stories Map' and calendar, and has added a hidden option that lets users roll back to one of its classic logos.

The Library of Congress has created something really cool. It's called the Newspaper Navigator, and it's an AI-powered image search that lets you browse through over 1.5 million newspaper photos from over 16 million pages worth of digitized newspapers published between 1900 and 1963.

Facebook has announced an update to its 'Rights Manager' tool that will enable photographers to claim ownership over their most popular images, identify when those images have been used without permission, and issue takedown requests.

Google today launched new features in Google Images "to help people use images on the web responsibly." The features should benefit photographers, as they help people both identify photos that can be licensed as well as find out how to properly license them.

1940s NYC is a new online interactive map created by NYC-based software engineer Julian Boilen. It's like Google Street View, except every photo taken shows New York City between 1939 and 1941.

The Oakland Museum of California has created an online archive showcasing the work of pioneering documentary photographer Dorothea Lange. If you've never explored Lange's work, there may be no better way to dive in.

Sony's annual Kando Trip is usually reserved for the "Alpha Family" of press, ambassadors, and influencers. But this year, given the ongoing pandemic, Sony is turning Kando Trip into Kando Everywhere: an online event that's free for anyone who's interested.