In this week’s Issue:

• Meta is using your images to train their AI

• How Nikon found its way back

• Let’s build your photography website

• Canva gets big upgrades

• Thypoch’s new vintage Lens

• Photographer of the Week

• 5 Street-photography Tips

Meta is Using Your Instagram Photos to Train its AI Image Generator

At Bloomberg’s Tech Summit last Thursday, Chris Cox, Meta’s Chief Product Officer, talked about why Instagram and Facebook are strong in the generative AI field. He pointed out that they have a lot of "public" photos to use. Even though Meta isn’t a big name in AI image generators yet, they are working on their own model called Emu. Cox believes Meta has an edge because other companies are struggling to find enough data for their AI.

Cox explained that Meta only uses public content for training, saying, “We don’t train on private stuff, we don’t train on stuff that people share with their friends; we do train on things that are public.” He said that Emu can create “really amazing quality images” because it uses Instagram’s data, which he described as “one of the great repositories of incredible imagery.” He added that Instagram’s mix of photos — including art, fashion, culture, and people — makes it great for building AI image generators.

Photographers have little choice

Instagram is essential for many photographers, but there’s a big issue: creators don't trust AI image generators. Chris Cox from Meta says they avoid using private photos for training. However, photographers rely on public accounts on Instagram to showcase their work.

Isabelle Doran from The Association of Photographers in the U.K. is frustrated. She says, “It's really frustrating that Instagram (Meta) is using thousands of professional photographers’ work for their AI program without caring how it affects us.”

She added, “It feels like they’re just taking photographers’ work without thinking about the consequences. These AI programs are now competing with photographers, which isn’t fair.”

Doran wants companies to be transparent about what photos they use and to pay photographers fairly. In February, Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg said they use Facebook and Instagram photos to train their AI tools.

Zuckerberg shared during an earnings call, “When people think about data, they typically think about the corpus that you might use to train a model up front.” He highlighted the vast amount of data available on Facebook and Instagram, stating, “On Facebook and Instagram, there are hundreds of billions of publicly shared images and tens of billions of public videos, which we estimate is greater than the Common Crawl dataset. People also share large numbers of public text posts in comments across our services as well.”

How Nikon Found Its Way Back

Despite its long-standing presence in the photography industry spanning nearly 107 years, Nikon has faced significant financial challenges in the past that once posed a threat to its survival. However, with strategic decisions and the introduction of impressive new Nikon Z cameras and lenses, the company has successfully navigated away from the edge of collapse. In fact, Nikon has gone beyond mere survival and has actively expanded its presence by acquiring companies, such as RED Digital Cinema, for a substantial $85 million. This acquisition marks a significant shift in the cinema industry. Yet, Nikon's financial journey is more intricate than just this acquisition or its previous struggles.

Nikon’s Transition from DSLRs to Mirrorless

Throughout the past decade and beyond, Nikon's profit margins have been on a rollercoaster ride. In 2012, the company reached a pinnacle with a profit of $722 million, only to plunge into dire straits just three years ago in 2021, with a staggering loss of $324 million. This substantial loss could have spelled disaster for many companies, and Nikon certainly felt its impact, despite managing to survive.

However, 2021 wasn't Nikon's first encounter with financial losses. In 2017, it faced a loss of $66 million, while in 2010, it incurred a loss of $136 million. The loss in 2017 was particularly significant as it followed four consecutive years of declining profits since the stellar performance in 2012.

While Nikon is predominantly recognized as a camera company, its business extends beyond photography. Nevertheless, the performance in this sector often reflects the overall success of the Japanese company. So, what led to Nikon's remarkable profitability in 2012, its struggles in 2017, its dire financial situation in 2021, and its remarkable recovery today?

While it's understandable to attribute the 2010 loss mainly to the effects of the Great Recession, the situation in 2017 was more closely tied to Nikon's internal decisions rather than global economic conditions.

The KeyMission Was Nikon’s Worst Misstep

Let's travel back in time to 2016, where Nikon finds itself in the twilight years of its DSLR dominance. While Nikon had previously explored mirrorless technology with its small-sensor Nikon 1 system launched in 2013, its bigger gamble was its brief venture into action cameras.

During this period, action cameras were all the rage, particularly in 2015 and 2016, which saw GoPro enjoying its most profitable year ever. It was against this backdrop that Nikon decided to enter the action camera market, thinking it was a lucrative opportunity.

Thus, the Nikon KeyMission was born in 2016, consisting of three variants: the KeyMission 80, KeyMission 170, and the flagship KeyMission 360. While 360-degree cameras are commonplace now, a 4K 360-degree action camera in 2016 was ambitious. However, this ambition proved to be its downfall, as the camera faced significant performance issues, ultimately leading to its failure.

Less than three years after Nikon launched its KeyMission line, it disappeared. Despite Nikon's attempt to sweep it under the rug, barely acknowledging the product line in its 2017 annual financial report, the repercussions of KeyMission's failure lingered. 2017 proved to be a tough year for Nikon, and while KeyMission bore some blame, it wasn’t the sole culprit.

In 2016, Japan was struck by a series of devastating earthquakes, resulting in significant casualties and widespread damage, including the closure of several image sensor plants. This unfortunate chain of events compounded Nikon's challenges.

Every camera company encounters products that don’t meet expectations for various reasons. In the case of KeyMission, the products themselves fell short. However, even excellent products can falter in the market due to various factors.

The First Steps Into Mirrorless

With a desire to pivot, Nikon redirected its attention to its highly anticipated full-frame mirrorless camera system, the Nikon Z. The Z6 and Z7 made their debut on store shelves in late 2018, accompanied by a trio of native Nikkor Z lenses and an adapter for DSLR shooters to utilize Nikon F-mount lenses. It appeared that the company was on the path to recovery.

The products garnered positive reviews, although Sony had already established a significant lead. Financially, Nikon's fortunes also improved, with their financial reports showing promising results in 2018 and 2019, marked by profitable figures.

Then, things took a turn for the worse.

Nikon couldn't have predicted the COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020, which caused disruptions in labor and production, both internally and in the supply chain. This slowdown led to Nikon releasing only the D6 in 2019 and just two Nikon Z cameras in 2020 — the Nikon Z50 and Z5 — neither of which made much impact. Even with the release of the Nikon Z6 II and Z7 II in late 2021, the Nikon Z system felt incomplete. There was no standout camera to elevate the system.

Meanwhile, as Nikon fans questioned the system's future, the company suffered a massive loss of $324 million in 2021. This financial blow prompted Nikon to reconsider its position in the photography industry.

The Nikon Z9: The Start of something New

In 2022, Nikon introduced the Nikon Z9, its first true flagship mirrorless camera. This milestone marked a significant turning point for the company, akin to the game-changing "D3 moment."

With the success of the Nikon Z9 and a steady flow of impressive Nikkor Z lenses, Nikon experienced a remarkable financial recovery. In 2022, the company generated a profit of $380 million, signaling a staggering turnaround of $704 million.

The introduction of the Z8 last year further solidified Nikon’s position in the market. Although Nikon's performance in 2023 didn't quite match the exceptional results of 2022 — with profits dipping from $380 to $333 million year over year — the company's situation is far from the dire straits it faced two years prior.

Nikon’s Recovery Shows the Power of Sticking to Your Strengths

Nikon's comeback story in the photography world is fascinating. While the company faced almost going under due to various reasons, its revival is largely thanks to the talented designers and engineers at Nikon who consistently created excellent products.

Looking back, Nikon struggled with products like the Nikon 1 and KeyMission systems, which felt like attempts to keep up with competitors. However, the Nikon Z system, despite a shaky start, felt authentically "Nikon" from the beginning. For longtime Nikon fans like me, it felt like reconnecting with an old friend. The release of the Nikon Z9 took this feeling to new heights.

Nikon has scored big with its firmware strategy for the Nikon Z system. While some companies reserve new features and improvements for entirely new models, Nikon has enhanced its already impressive cameras with free updates. Some of these updates have been substantial, greatly improving the overall user experience.

Having great products and support isn't always sufficient, but for Nikon, it seems to be working — at least for now. Can Nikon maintain its momentum in 2024? It's hard to predict, but betting on Nikon seems like a wise move. Despite being late to the mirrorless game, the company has made a lasting impression.

Let’s build your Photography Website

Are you ready to take your photography business to the next level? Look no further!

I specialise in creating stunning websites tailored specifically for photographers like you.

Whether you're a seasoned professional or just starting out, a visually captivating website is essential for showcasing your work and attracting potential clients.

Showcase your portfolio, integrate a Print shop, get traffic from Google and much more.

But not only that, do you already have a Website, you just want to up the design? or is your Website not being ranked in Google and you need an SEO expert? or you don’t have a Print shop integrated in your Website?

No matter what it is I can help you with all things Photography Website.

Check out my Website, get in contact with me and lets talk about your vision ;)

Canva Gets Major Makeover and Targets Enterprise Users

Canva, the widely-used online editing platform, underwent a substantial transformation during the Canva Create Event in Los Angeles. The updates touch upon virtually every facet of Canva, including its pricing model, tools, templates, and editing interface. Asset libraries and feedback on ad designs are also available from apps by Amazon, Google, and Meta.

Although initially catering to non-designers seeking to create polished content for social media or professional contexts, Canva's user base has expanded dramatically, exerting notable influence on its competitors.

An Enterprising Subscription Tier

In response, Canva has unveiled its latest offering: the Enterprise subscription. While the platform already offers a Teams subscription tier, this new level is tailored specifically to large corporations, including those with multiple internal teams. Concurrently, Teams will continue to cater to small- to medium-sized businesses. Canva proudly states that its products are already utilized by "across 95 percent of Fortune 500 companies," highlighting that these additions signify "a significant advancement for the company’s enterprise strategy."

"We're thrilled to roll out a refreshed Canva experience alongside a range of new products aimed at empowering all organizations to design," remarks Melanie Perkins, Canva's co-founder and CEO. "With the escalating demand for visual content, navigating organizational intricacies poses greater challenges. Having democratized the design landscape in our initial decade, we now eagerly anticipate uniting the fragmented realms of design, AI, and workflow tools for organizations in our second decade."

Enterprise subscribers will enjoy scalable cloud storage, a unified account encompassing all their tools, "enterprise-level" security features, and advanced brand management controls. Notably, the security measures extend to indemnification for AI-generated content, available to "eligible customers," mirroring a service offered by competitor Adobe. Canva is keen to underscore its capability to centralize all users within a single hub while facilitating scalable expansion.

An Office Makeover

In addition to the new subscription offering, Canva has introduced a revamped workplace user interface. This includes a redesigned editing toolbar aimed at creating more space and enhancing focus. Key features such as background removal are now prominently displayed for easy access. Furthermore, a customizable homepage allows users to bookmark specific designs, folders, and templates, while organizations can pin company- or team-specific content. The search function has also been enhanced with advanced filters to expedite item retrieval. Moreover, Canva has streamlined collaboration by facilitating easier navigation between projects, access to crucial resources and assets, and adherence to designated brand guidelines, enhancing the usability of Enterprise subscriptions.

These updates to the homepage and editing experience are already available today, albeit exclusively to the first one million users who uncover the hidden secret portal on the homepage. For everyone else, availability will be rolled out in August.

A Canva For Everyone

It's easy to assume that only the design team within a workplace would benefit from a Canva subscription, but the app's rapid growth indicates broader interest. Today, Canva unveiled new tools tailored to various departments within organizations through Work Kits. These kits offer work-specific templates designed explicitly for different use cases. For instance, the human resources department now has access to resources for onboarding decks, company newsletters, and job advertisements. Sales teams can utilize pitch decks, sales reports, and sales proposal templates.

Similarly, the creative team can leverage production request forms and brand strategy templates. While some of these tools already exist in Canva in some capacity, the company plans to refine them further and tailor them more towards business needs. This initiative feels akin to the social media templates long offered by the app but with less emphasis on influencer-centric content.

Canva launched Canva Courses to help users who aren't as familiar with editing and design tools make the most of the technology.

To keep things organized as more people work on projects, Canva lets users track changes and work together on edits.

Enterprise Worthy AI

Just in time for its workplace upgrade, Canva unveiled enhancements to Magic Studio, its suite of AI tools. Users can now transform text prompts into graphics or image edits, resize or convert designs to various formats, and even generate text content.

Canva reports that Magic Design, which creates entire designs from prompts automatically, now delivers three times higher quality. Additionally, AI-based photo editing is smoother, enabling users to effortlessly manipulate, remove, and edit objects in images. Highlights automatically trims clips for longer videos, while Enhance Voice enhances audio clarity in footage. Third-party collaboration with Salesforce and others streamlines workflow by auto-filling designs with text and images. Bulk Create allows users to upload CSV or Excel files for quick updates across various designs. Following Canva's acquisition of design-focused platform Affinity, updates include variable font support, a stroke width tool for editing pressure profiles of curves, and optimization for the latest Windows PCs with Arm 64 chips, coinciding with the launch of Windows' new Surface laptops.

Canva's showcase reaffirms its enduring presence and readiness to compete with established editing tools.

Thypoch’s New Collapsible Eureka 50mm f/2 Vintage Style Lens

Thypoch, the renowned Chinese lens manufacturer celebrated for its Simera 28mm f/1.4 and 35mm f/1.4 lenses, has unveiled its second lens series: Eureka. Leading the charge is the Eureka 50mm f/2 prime lens, designed for Leica M-mount cameras. While presently available exclusively in M-mount, Thypoch's track record with the Simera series hints at possible expansions to E, Z, and X mounts in the future. Nonetheless, the company acknowledges the versatility of lens mount adapters and confirms compatibility of the Eureka 50mm f/2 with the 44 x 33-millimeter image sensor found in the Hasselblad CFV100C camera, ensuring comprehensive image area coverage across its full 100-megapixel sensor—a notable feature given its ample image circle.

Beyond its technical prowess, the Eureka 50mm f/2 stands out for its design, offering a contemporary reinterpretation of the iconic Leica 50mm f/2 Summicron Collapsible lens, initially introduced in 1953. Notably, the lens boasts a compact form factor, measuring a mere 27 millimeters (1.06 inches) in its minimum length and extending to 41.2 millimeters (1.62 inches) when fully extended.

Thypoch assures exceptional optical performance with the Eureka 50mm lens, promising edge-to-edge sharpness. This is attributed to its double gauss structure, featuring six lens elements arranged in four groups. These elements are divided into front and rear sections, creating an asymmetrical formula.

Among these elements, a single ED glass element is incorporated to correct chromatic aberrations, while a high refractive index (HRI) element combats field curvature and spherical aberrations. Thypoch emphasizes that the lens maintains its sharpness even when used wide open at f/2.

Thypoch also promises pleasing bokeh, thanks to a 12-blade aperture diaphragm. "The Eureka 50mm f/2 guarantees circular and aesthetically pleasing bokeh, creating a dreamy and poetic atmosphere," the company states.

The lens aims to blend vintage design with modern imaging performance, featuring a look reminiscent of lenses from the 1950s.

"Eureka 50mm f/2’s nod to historical craftsmanship not only awakens the imagination of those yearning for the golden era but does so with a modern twist that enhances usability without sacrificing quality or aesthetic appeal. Its compact design enhances convenience for on-the-go photography," says Thypoch.

Pricing and Availability

The Thypoch Eureka 50mm f/2 is now available for order in two versions. The aluminum version is lighter and more affordable, weighing 120 grams (0.3 pounds) and priced at $579. The brass version, made of a darker, heavier metal, weighs 230 grams (0.5 pounds) and is priced at $859.

Photographer of the Week 

Photographer of the week goes to: Photographer 4 life

You can find him on Instagram as @_only_in_digital

A few photos of his:

New chance to win a free feature will be next week again ;)

5 Street Photography Tips

Wait and let things happen

Everyone wants to reach that next spectacular spot. This type of photography is about getting lost and walking as much as possible.

A key aspect of this genre is to pause along the way. Find a good spot and let things come to you.

The same moments will happen whether you're walking or standing still, so it’s better to be in a good location, ready with your camera.

This approach also makes the dynamic easier, as people will enter your space instead of you entering theirs. You'll already be in place, waiting with your camera.

Don’t rush and don’t takes things for granted

Taking this technique further, when working with photographers, it's noticeable that many are always on the move, searching for new locations and overlooking what's around them.

Take it slow and avoid disregarding anything. Many of the best photos are hiding in plain sight, in the most mundane places.

Some of the most interesting photos are of things you see every day and might overlook because of their familiarity.

So, if you find yourself thinking that you're in a place where good photographs aren't possible, use that as a challenge. Slow down and really look at what's right in front of you.

You'll likely be surprised by what you find.

Street Portraits

While the technical definition of street photography focuses on candid moments, street portraits are a significant part of the genre.

They capture the spirit of the people in your area and help tell a story.

If you're just getting comfortable with street photography, street portraits can set you on the right path. You'll quickly find that many people are receptive and pleased – they're looking for a connection too.

Think about what you'll say ahead of time. It can be as simple as asking if you can take their picture, or explaining that you're working on a photography project or taking a class. Let them know you stopped them because you thought they had a great look.

Once they agree, it's your responsibility to take a good portrait! Consider the background and how it will look. Including the details of a good background can really make a portrait stand out.

Try to make them as comfortable as possible. While many people will pose, I like to tell them to stand and look as naturally as possible. This helps them relax and be themselves.

Engaging in conversation also helps put them at ease. Ask an interesting or simple chit-chat question to get them talking.

Ultimately, we want our street portraits to have a candid and authentic feel, capturing the true spirit of the person.

Up your ISO

"Sharpness is a bourgeois concept," as Henri Cartier-Bresson famously said and has been repeated countless times.

Despite this, it's essential to know how to capture a sharp shot in this fast-moving genre, and the trick to achieving this is raising your ISO in most situations.

By raising your ISO, you enable your camera to use a faster shutter speed and a smaller aperture, minimizing mistakes.

I typically shoot in Aperture Priority mode, starting around f/8 (and going lower if needed). I prefer more depth of field because if I slightly miss the focus, the shot can still be sharp. Additionally, there are many moments with multiple subjects at different depths, and you want all the subjects to be sharp enough. I pay attention to my shutter speed and always try to keep it above 1/200th or 1/250th of a second to freeze motion in people (at night, going down to 1/80th is fine).

With a baseline of f/8 and 1/250th, if you are not shooting in perfect light, something has to give, and that’s the ISO.

This is why I typically shoot at ISO 400 in direct sunlight, 800 on sunny days (where there are shady areas), 1600 on overcast days, and 3200-6400 from dusk into night.

On most sunny days, I will use ISO 800 to ensure my settings work well in both shady and sunny areas.

What to respond when you get caught red-handed

Realizing this can be empowering – if you communicate effectively with people about what you're doing, you'll feel much more at ease with street photography.

You can approach closely and shoot in a pleasant manner that generally prevents people from questioning you, but it still happens. The key is to be transparent about it.

When someone stops, smile and compliment them. Explain that you're a photographer working on a project in the area and wanted to capture the scene with them because they looked great. Smile and act like you didn't think you were doing anything wrong, because you weren't.

This approach often leads to a pleasant conversation. Offer to send them the photograph as well. In situations where the person is still uncomfortable, offer to delete the photograph and apologize. Legally, you don’t have to, but it’s the respectful thing to do.

On a similar note, it's worth noting that the more comfortable and relaxed you appear while photographing, the more people will ignore you.

People will notice you regardless, so behaving sneakily from a distance will draw attention, whereas smiling, being engaged, and appearing to enjoy yourself while photographing will put people at ease and make them less likely to interfere.

Subscribe to Premium Membership of The Magazine For Photographers to read the rest.