controversy

Photo moderation at Facebook found itself at the center of a controversy (yet again) this past weekend after the social network banned an ad photo of a plus-sized model, saying it depicts the human body, "in an undesirable manner."

I started reading about how to become a professional wedding photographer some time in late 2010. Whether it was on DWF, POTN or Whirlpool, the same advice was being recycled.

Never give away your RAW files

But why?

Gap is apologizing this week after a photo in its new Gap Kids ad campaign sparked controversy for a "racially insensitive" pose. The photo shows a white child model resting her arm on a black child's head.

Brazilian soccer legend Pelé, widely considered the best player ever, has filed a $30 million lawsuit against Samsung. He claims that the company used a photo of someone who looks like him for an advertisement.

Since launching the MagBeam via a Kickstarter campaign two weeks ago, MagMod has raised nearly $200,000 for the flash extender and gobo. But at least one notable photographer has an issue with how the product is being marketed: David Hobby calls one of MagMod's claims "100% bulls**t."

An annual photo contest in Japan is apologizing and canceling this year's event after selecting a photo of a man on a dead whale as the grand prize winner. That photo sparked an strong outcry from the public.

TIME's latest international issue features a portrait of a rape victim of the civil war in South Sudan. The magazine's choice of photo is sparking an outcry online, with people calling the cover "exploitative."

The backlash has begun. A day after Instagram announced that its feed will soon be ordered by a Facebook-style curation algorithm, over 100,000+ people have signed an online petition to "Keep Instagram Chronological."

One of the big stories in the photo industry this month was news that the US government is suing the camera superstore B&H Photo Video for discrimination and harassment of its workers.

After initially refusing the comment to the media, B&H yesterday published a statement about the lawsuit and offered its defense. The store calls the governments claims "not only inaccurate, but bizarre."

Beachgoers in Argentina sparked outrage around the world last week after purportedly killing an at-risk baby dolphin by passing it around for photos. Now a similar video has emerged from Palm Beach, Florida, and this one is sparking new debate.

The 1.5-minute video above shows a man pulling a shark from the water and posing for photos with it before setting it free.

There's a good chance you've never heard of photographer Jake Olson before, but many people are learning of that name this week. He's a self-proclaimed "famous" American photographer who's now at the center of major controversy in the photography world.

If you've been following the ongoing presidential race in the US, you may have seen the Bernie Sanders video above that has been going viral over the past 2 weeks. Titled "TOGETHER," it has the tagline: "America should work for all of us. #votetogether."

But one photographer isn't happy about the way his concept and style were used as inspiration for the ad.

Brussels-based photographer Ezequiel Scagnetti stirred up a hornets nest this past weekend after calling out a world famous boy boy singer for posting a photo on Instagram without any permission or credit. Fans of the star began harassing Scagnetti, defending the singer with abusive messages.

Brides magazine recently published an article titled "Which Vendors Do You Have to Feed at Your Wedding?" In the piece, wedding planner Sandy Malone gives brides advice on which vendors they're responsible for feeding at a wedding, and which you can leave out of your plans.

Her "general rule" is that wedding photographers don't need to be fed, and photographers aren't happy about it.

A week ago, Nike released a new viral video (shown above) titled "Ousadia Alegria." Promoting new soccer boots made for Barcelona superstar player Neymar Jr., the video uses a "flo-motion" hyperlapse technique that combines time-lapses and a rapidly changing point of view.

Now one of the major pioneer photographers of that technique, Rob Whitworth, is crying foul. He says that Nike ripped of his work and the work of Australian filmmaker Selina Miles in its new video.

A 3-year-old boy named Jacob Bellis recently won £2,000 in a photo contest after taking a selfie with his father, David, and a grinning horse in the background. Now the owner of the horse is demanding a share of the money for the role his horse's photobomb played in the photo.

We shared back in November 2015 that David Beckham's 16-year-old son, Brooklyn, is considering pursuing a career in photography rather than follow in his father's footsteps in the world of soccer.

Well, Brooklyn just took a huge step in that direction: he was hired to shoot a Burberry campaign this weekend.

One of the big stories in the photo world this past weekend was the fact that Nikon Singapore selected a clearly Photoshopped image as the winner of a recent contest. After a wave of relentless mockery from photographers around the world, both Nikon and the winning photographer have since apologized for what happened.

Hungarian journalist and human rights lawyer Boglarka Balogh recently published a series of photos for a good cause... and it blew up in her face.

Balogh is now being widely criticized online for the project, which featured Photoshopped portraits of her face edited onto the portraits of black African tribeswomen.

The University of Missouri has one of the oldest and most prestigious journalism schools in the country, but in November 2015, the school had its reputation tarnished by a viral video that showed student photographer Tim Tai and cameraman Mark Schierbecker getting blocked and harassed by student activists and university staff.

Over 100 of Missouri's lawmakers are now demanding that the assistant media professor, Melissa Click, be fired for her actions during the protests.

The manager of the Marriott Courtyard hotel in Charleston, South Carolina, is apologizing today for a request that the hotel not be included in photos of Emanuel AME Church, the site of a mass shooting that killed 9 back on June 17th, 2015.

44-year-old South Korean photographer Ahn Se Hong has won his lawsuit against Nikon over the cancellation of his 'comfort women' exhibition. The Tokyo District Court ruled last Friday that Nikon must pay Ahn ¥1.1 million (~$9,150) in damages.

Here's a short behind-the-scenes video showing how fashion photographer Yu Tsai recently photographed tennis superstar Serena Williams for Sports Illustrated magazine. Williams was featured in the cover story after being selected as the publication's Sportsperson of the Year, the first time an individual woman has taken the award in over 3 decades.

Louisiana-based photographer Hannah Hawkes is taking heat this week over a family portrait she shot and shared on her Facebook page. The Christmas photo shows the father holding a sign that reads "Peace on Earth" while the mother and two daughters are gagged with green tape and bound with Christmas lights.

The photo soon went viral in a negative way for Hawkes, as commenters around the Web condemned the photo as "sexist," "degrading," and promoting violence toward women.

TIME's latest contract for photographers has been at the center of controversy for about a month now, and many photographers are still refusing to sign it as they campaign for more favorable terms.

There's currently a heated dispute going on between two photographers over the issue of a signed "no compete" contract for teaching photography.

A school portrait photography company in the UK has apologized and pulled its "retouching service" after a mother publicly complained about the service sending the wrong message to children.

19-year-old signer, actress, and model Zendaya is making waves today after calling out a magazine for Photoshopping her body. She says she was "shocked" when she found her hips and torso "quite manipulated" in the published photo, and she has posted comparison photos showing what the retouchers did to her.

If you're one of those who's unhappy about the redesigned Lightroom Import tool that appeared in the latest update, there's some great news for you today: Adobe has heard your cries, and now the company says that it will restore the previous import experience.

Heads up: digital rights management (DRM) could be coming to the JPEG image format. That's right... the same kind of controversial technology that's currently being used to protect movie, music, and book copyrights could one day be used to restrict the usage of images, and that proposal has people up in arms.

B&H is one of the biggest retail names in the world of photography, but it's also the one at the center of a new controversy after nearly 200 workers launched a campaign to unionize. The disgruntled employees accuse the photo retail giant of widespread racial discrimination, wage theft, and unsafe working conditions inside the Brooklyn-based warehouses.

Hungarian photographer Norbert Baksa is at the receiving end of Internet outrage this week after publishing a series of fashion photos that he says are inspired by the ongoing refugee crisis.

Guitarist Dweezil Zappa, the son of Frank Zappa, recently took to Facebook to respond to critics of his strict concert photography contact.

Donald Trump is lashing out at an Associated Press photographer over photos of empty chairs at a Trump speech in South Carolina. The presidential candidate is accusing the photojournalist of portraying a dishonest story through his photos.