Websites

Akiwi is a Semi-Automatic Image Tagging Website

Akiwi is a new website that's designed to help you keyword photographs with minimal effort. It's a semi-automated image tagging system that is easier than manually tagging and more accurate than automatic image recognition.

Yahoo’s Image Search Now Pulls Personalized Results from Flickr

Yahoo is rolling out a revamped image search engine today that now includes photo results from its Flickr service. As long as you're signed in, the personalized Flickr results will include your own collection of Flickr photos, photos from people you follow, and other top public photos on the service.

100 Million People Are Now Using Google Photos

Google announced yesterday that Google Photos has just crossed the huge milestone of 100 million active users per month. The news comes less than half a year after the May 2015 announcement of the the standalone service, which provides people with free and unlimited photo sharing.

Polarr Photo Editor 3 Launched for Web, Chrome, and Windows 10

The free browser-based photo editor Polarr is expanding its reach yet again. After launching version 2 of its online photo editor back in February and a wildly popular iOS photo editing app back in June, the company today unveiled version 3 of its flagship photo editor and the company's expansion to Chrome and Windows 10 Desktop.

500px Expands into China with 500px.me, and Some Photographers Aren’t Happy

Back in July 2015, we reported that 500px had raised an additional $13 million in funding led by China's equivalent of Getty Images, the Visual China Group. The move suggested that 500px was working hard to offer its massive archive of 55 million images to photo buyers in Asia.

Today, 500px announced that it is officially expanding into China with the unveiling of a new website, 500px.me.

500px Unveils New Profile, Photo, and Discover Pages

500px today unveiled revamped profile, photo, and discover pages that aim to deliver a better experience to the 6+ million member community. The company says the new designs are based on user feedback, have been tested over the past few months, and have the goal of "enabling and rewarding visual creativity."

Lens Battle: No B.S. Lens Comparisons Using Side-by-Side Sample Photos

Polarr is on a product launching frenzy. Back in February, the startup launched version 2.0 of its browser-based photo editor. In June, it launched its new iOS photo editing app, which saw 250,000 downloads in the first 48 hours.

Polarr's latest product, which just launched this week, is a new website called Lens Battle. It's a slick, browser-based lens comparison tool that lets you compare similar lenses using interactive sample photos.

Facebook Introduces 360-Degree Interactive Videos

Earlier this year, YouTube opened up its service to 360-degree interactive videos that you can "look around" in while watching, whether by swiping with your finger or by swinging your phone around in space. This week, Facebook also joined in on the fun by announcing that virtual reality videos are now supported in News Feeds.

This SmugMug Glitch May Be Quietly Damaging Your Photo Business

Editor's update: It appears that SmugMug has identified and fixed the issue described in this article.

I recently discovered a glitch with SmugMug that's now causing me a massive headache. If you use SmugMug, this may be negatively impacting your business as well, so this article is a heads up for any photographer on SmugMug that may be affected.

My Hobby: Messing with Nigerian 419 Scammers That Target Photographers

PetaPixel has written a number of times in the past about Nigerian 419 scammers targeting photographers and photography assistants. After spending time setting up business arrangements, the scammers will use shady tactics to try and steal your hard-earned money.

I'm a freelance photographer, and I recently got sick and tired of being contacted by these scammers. To get back at them, I started having ridiculous conversations with them to lead them on and piss them off. I also started publishing the exchanges on a new site called Messing with Scammers.

Agree.com Helps Take the Pain Out of Photography Contracts

Nothing seems to be a more tedious task than the need to fill out paperwork. Especially if the paperwork has to be sent back and forth between you and a client multiple times. Luckily, Agree.com is a website that aims at making contracts easy to compile and sign for photographers (and videographers, designers, and more). Let’s take a moment to try out the service and is if it delivers on its promise of simplicity.

Over 1,500 Free 4K Stock Video Clips, All Courtesy of a Single Cinematographer

Mitch Martinez is a Philadelphia-based director of photography and cinematographer. Over the past 2.5 years, he has been working on building a free library of 4K stock footage. Since its inception in January 2013, the collection of clips has become an impressive resource: the 1,500+ clips have been downloaded over 300,000 times, and they been used by some of the largest companies in the world.

LTD.RUN Makes Printing Photos as Posters as Easy as a Few Clicks

What is your process for quickly printing out a piece of your work? If you currently use a website to get the job done then it probably involves uploading your images, surfing through menus, making adjustments, selecting paper types, and more - quite a lengthy process. Now, LTD.RUN is here to make printing as simple as possible. Simply visit the website, upload your photograph, and you are good to go.

The Red List Lets You Study the Work of the Greatest Photographers

Photography is an art; by looking upon past examples, we can not only learn to improve our own technique, but also to study and appreciate times before ours. However, with the first photograph taken almost two-hundred years ago, it can be difficult to find a place to start. Enter, The Red List: a website with over 100,000 images that continues to cull the world of photography to find the very best images.

This Site Will Sell Your Instagram Selfie Without Your Permission for $150

Earlier this year, artist Richard Prince sparked a huge controversy by taking people's Instagram photos, making very small changes to them, and selling the prints as fine art for $100,000 a pop. Now there's a new website that's following in Prince's footsteps, on a larger scale but with smaller prices.

It's a service called Sellfie, which scours Instagram for the hashtag #selfie and then sells the photos as single-edition, high-quality prints for $150 -- all without the photographer's permission.

Roundme Offers Virtual Tours of The World Through 360-Degree Photos

We are on the fringe of widespread virtual reality that can truly captivate our minds and take us places we've only dreamt about. Services such as Roundme continue to bring these worlds a step closer every day. By utilizing a network of 360-degree imagery and a platform designed for professionals, advanced virtual tours are only a tap away.

This Site Can Tell You if Selfie Sticks Are Banned at the Place You’re Going

You’ve just purchased a selfie stick and are ready to conquer the world. However, not every venue you visit will be as excited about your new purchase as you. Luckily, a new website has emerged to help answer the question “Can I bring my selfie stick?”. Using CanIBringMySelfieStick.com, people can quickly search through the site’s database of ‘attractions’ to find whether their selfie sticks are welcomed or if they are best leaving them back at the hotel.

Photo Magic: Create Custom Photo Books with Text Messages

The 21st century appears to be all about speed: order a pizza from your phone with a tap of your finger, dispense your favorite coffee with a push of a button, and now with a simple text message, you can order a customized photo book with all your favorite moments.

Photo Magic is a new service provided by publishing company SimplePrints. Simply send a text message to a special number and you can begin building your own personalized 8” x 8” softcover or hardcover masterpiece.

6 Top Online Photography Portfolio Hosting Options

Your photography deserves a website that can showcase its creativity and beauty... without breaking the bank. Former TIME CEO and Curator Gallery owner Ann S. Moore told us in a recent interview, “Shame on you if you don’t have a website! You absolutely have to have one!” Today we'll be looking at a few of the top industry solutions for hosting your photography portfolio in style.

An Online Archive of Leica Photography Magazines Dating Back to 1949

Some photographers find that shooting with a Leica camera provides an experience unlike any other. If you happen to be one of those photographers, or possibly a curious individual, we have quite a bit of exciting news. Photography enthusiast Daniel Neal has uploaded a large collection of Leica Photography magazines to the web for public viewing.

IsItNude is a New Site That Can Figure Out if a Photo Contains Nudity

A new website, IsItNude.com, has set out on a mission to help identify whether or not photographs contain nudity. California-based algorithm company, Algorithmia, designed the custom code for a client, but you can use the above link to test it out for yourself. If interested, you can even pay to use the system within your own application or website.

How’s Your Color Vision? This Simple Game Will Tell You

Most of you have probably spent a considerable amount of time staring at the colors of photos in programs like Photoshop, but how good are your eyes at discerning colors? iGame's Eye Test is a simple online test that will assess the quality of your color perception through a simple game format.

10 Helpful Websites for Protecting Your Photography Copyrights

Being a photographer in the digital age presents a number of excellent advantages along with a collection of new concerns. Sharing your images with the world and gaining exposure has never been easier, but the risk that someone may decide to steal your work is also increasing. Protecting your images on the web should be at the forefront of your thought process when uploading a new potential masterpiece. To help you out, we have established a list of ten sites that can assist you in your creative endeavor.

TOSDR Has Terms of Service Report Cards for Photo Sharing Services

When signing up for virtually every photo sharing service, you'll be asked to agree to a lengthy terms of service document that's filled with legalese. If you're confused by the text and want that agreement spelled out for you in simpler terms, check out Terms of Service; Didn't Read (TOSDR), a new site that's dedicated to explaining terms and giving out report cards based on the conditions.

Hello Future: YouTube Now Officially Hosts 8K Videos

We can all agree on the fact that 4K is last year’s news and if you aren’t watching video at a resolution at least quadruple that resolution, then you might as well be watching in standard definition. Alright, maybe that's a tad bit extreme and premature, but if you do feel that way, then you’ll be happy to hear that YouTube now officially supports playback of 8K video.

There’s a New Free Browser-Based Film Emulator

Back in 2013, photographer Pat David released a large set of film emulations as open source color lookup tables. Software developer Jonas Wagner just took that data and turned it into a free online analog film emulator. It's a simple web app that lets you give any photo the look of a particular film stock.

My New Thoughts on Google Photos After Digging Around for a Week

Last week when Google Photos launched, I quickly tested it out and then wrote a post with my immediate initial reaction to the service. Much of my early disappointment centered around the fact that Google chose to limit the size of photos in the service to 16 megapixels. As a DSLR shooter this meant that a large portion of my library would be downsized with Google Photos. Bummer.

Camera Instructor Offers Free and Interactive Online Photo Courses

If you're looking to learn to program, there are free interactive online courses such as Codecademy and CodeSchool you can use. Programmer and photographer Cody Meyer wanted to give the photography world a similar kind of resource, so he created Camera Instructor. It's a new web-based photography school that aims to teach photography skills for free through interactive videos and exercises.

Legoizer Helps You Turn Your Favorite Photographs Into Giant LEGO Murals

You’ve finished your photographic masterpiece and had it printed on the finest paper money can buy, but have you had your photo immortalized in precious LEGO plastic? A new website, Legoizer, wants to help you turn your photography into giant wall murals. The best part of the entire site is that the process is entirely free - except for the LEGO bricks of course.

Google Photos Offers Free and Unlimited Storage and Sharing of Your Memories

Google today announced its new and long awaited Photos service, a standalone service that's separate from Google+. It's "a single, private place to keep a lifetime of memories, and access them from any device," Google says.

In short, Google wants to be the place that stores your digital memories safely for the rest of your life and the place from which you share your memories with others.

Some Thoughts After Using Flickr Version 4.0

Having had a few weeks now to spend significant time exploring Flickr 4.0, I thought I’d write up a detailed post about my ongoing thoughts on the recent update by Flickr.

A Look at What Top Cloud Storage Services Say About Your Photo Rights

In the age of digital photography, many of us turn to online cloud solutions to help us backup our precious moments. However, the question that many of us want to know is what permissions a perspective service has with our content. With a form of hysteria sweeping the Web, we have decided to take a look at the industry’s top storage solutions and what their terms of service say about the files you upload. By using any of these solutions, you are automatically accepting their terms.

Bundle: A Smart App That Groups and Backs Up Your Best Mobile Snaps

There are a great number of storage options out there for your photographs, but a new app called Bundle believes they can bring something to the table that others cannot. Using advanced machine learning algorithms, the service helps to easily arrange your images into ‘bundles’ and then upload them to the cloud for safe backup from both Android and iOS devices.