Apple introduced its next OS 27 systems at its Worldwide Developers Conference, which included changes to the Camera and Photos apps that revolve around AI features. Actually, that’s almost literal: the new Spatial Reframing feature lets you rotate a scene and generative AI fills in the missing details. Is it a slide into AI slop or a legitimate tool to help photographers? We’re joined by writer and photographer Craig Grannell to talk it out.

Guest:

• Craig Grannell: Revert to Saved, Craig on Mastodon, Linktree

Hosts:

• Jeff Carlson: website, Jeff's photos, Jeff on Instagram, Jeff on Glass, Jeff on Mastodon, Jeff on Bluesky
• Kirk McElhearn: website, Kirk's photos, Kirk on Instagram, Kirk on Glass, Kirk on Mastodon, Kirk on Bluesky

Show Notes:

(View show notes with images at PhotoActive.co)

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• In my opinion, Apple is about to take a very dangerous step towards fake photography – here’s why, by Craig Grannell at Amateur Photographer

• Apple's Spatial Reframing Is Generative AI I Can Get Behind as a Photographer, by Jeff Carlson at CNET

Subscribe to the PhotoActive podcast newsletter at the bottom of any page at the PhotoActive web site to be notified of new episodes and be eligible for occasional giveaways. If you’ve already subscribed, you’re automatically entered.

If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes/Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast. And don't forget to join the PhotoActive Facebook group to discuss the podcast, share your photos, and more.

Disclosure: Sometimes we use affiliate links for products, in which we receive small commissions to help support PhotoActive.

Titus Making Bread (AI Photo by Kirk McElhearn using Apple Playground iPadOS 27 beta app)

Titus On a Skateboard (AI Photo by Kirk McElhearn using Apple Playground iPadOS 27 beta app)

Titus Current Tech (AI Photo by Kirk McElhearn using Apple Image Playground iPadOS 26 app)

One of Apple’s Spatial Reframing examples; notice the new white building created behind the subject. (Photo: Apple)

We often talk about framing a photo to get the best composition, but sometimes we don’t nail it. Or we realize in editing that a tighter crop would be better. Or something crept into the edge of the frame at the last second. In this episode, we talk about cropping photos, whether AI cropping is worth trying, and why there’s only One True Aspect Ratio.

Hosts:

• Jeff Carlson: website, Jeff's photos, Jeff on Instagram, Jeff on Glass, Jeff on Mastodon, Jeff on Bluesky
• Kirk McElhearn: website, Kirk's photos, Kirk on Instagram, Kirk on Glass, Kirk on Mastodon, Kirk on Bluesky

Show Notes:

(View show notes with images at PhotoActive.co)

• Rate and Review the PhotoActive Podcast!

• LUMIX L10 Uncompromising Image Quality

• Panasonic Lumix L10 Review: Compact, Stylish, and Capable | PetaPixel

• Episode #13 - Aspect Ratios and Why They're Important — PhotoActive Podcast

• When editing this episode, Kirk went to the Guardian website, and the photos of the day were not all in 3:2 aspect ratio, whereas he is sure that in the past they almost always were. Most photos in this daily selection are in 3:2 but this is changing. Photos of the day | The Guardian

• Enlarging easel: this is the tool you use to crop when printing photos with an enlarger.

Subscribe to the PhotoActive podcast newsletter at the bottom of any page at the PhotoActive web site to be notified of new episodes and be eligible for occasional giveaways. If you’ve already subscribed, you’re automatically entered.

If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes/Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast. And don't forget to join the PhotoActive Facebook group to discuss the podcast, share your photos, and more.

Disclosure: Sometimes we use affiliate links for products, in which we receive small commissions to help support PhotoActive.

Lumix L10 Aspect Ratios (Credit: Panasonic)

Kirk’s bread (Photo by Kirk McElhearn)

Before you go out to do some photography, how do you determine where to go? Jeff had a portrait session booked and discovered that the location was fenced and blocked -- but scouting in advance gave him time to find a new spot. We talk about tools and techniques for finding the best photo spots and conditions.

Hosts:

• Jeff Carlson: website, Jeff's photos, Jeff on Instagram, Jeff on Glass, Jeff on Mastodon, Jeff on Bluesky
• Kirk McElhearn: website, Kirk's photos, Kirk on Instagram, Kirk on Glass, Kirk on Mastodon, Kirk on Bluesky

Show Notes:

(View show notes with images at PhotoActive.co)

• Rate and Review the PhotoActive Podcast!

• Google Maps

• Storm Radar app

• TPE

• Lumy

• Best Budget Coffee Grinders for 2026, CoffeeGeek

Jeff’s Snapshot

• MiiCoffee DF54 Single Dose Coffee Grinder

Kirk’s Snapshot

• Ankarsrum Mixer

Subscribe to the PhotoActive podcast newsletter at the bottom of any page at the PhotoActive web site to be notified of new episodes and be eligible for occasional giveaways. If you’ve already subscribed, you’re automatically entered.

If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes/Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast. And don't forget to join the PhotoActive Facebook group to discuss the podcast, share your photos, and more.

Disclosure: Sometimes we use affiliate links for products, in which we receive small commissions to help support PhotoActive.

Jeff defends his spot throughout the day in the Piazzale Michaelangelo in Florence, Italy. (Photo: Jeff Carlson)

One of the photos from that spot in Florence. (Photo: Jeff Carlson)

The Photographer’s Ephemeris (TPE)

Our conversation in this episode started with news of John Ternus becoming the next CEO of Apple as of September 1, but that led to an intriguing concept that isn’t as far-fetched as it might seem: What if Apple makes its own camera? Imagine a fixed-lens compact mirrorless with a larger sensor, better glass, and all of the technologies Apple has developed for the iPhone. Could it happen? We get into the details.

(Photo: Apple QuickTake 200, by Don DeBold. Used by Creative Commons license.)

Hosts:

• Jeff Carlson: website, Jeff's photos, Jeff on Instagram, Jeff on Glass, Jeff on Mastodon, Jeff on Bluesky
• Kirk McElhearn: website, Kirk's photos, Kirk on Instagram, Kirk on Glass, Kirk on Mastodon, Kirk on Bluesky

Show Notes:

(View show notes with images at PhotoActive.co)

• Rate and Review the PhotoActive Podcast!

• Apple Leadership - John Ternus

• Apple in China: The Capture of the World's Greatest Company, Patrick McGee

• tado smart thermostat

• AppleCD - Wikipedia

• StyleWriter - Wikipedia

Subscribe to the PhotoActive podcast newsletter at the bottom of any page at the PhotoActive web site to be notified of new episodes and be eligible for occasional giveaways. If you’ve already subscribed, you’re automatically entered.

If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes/Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast. And don't forget to join the PhotoActive Facebook group to discuss the podcast, share your photos, and more.

Disclosure: Sometimes we use affiliate links for products, in which we receive small commissions to help support PhotoActive.

We remain fascinated by monochrome cameras, and this week we discovered just how tough it is to source the sensors used by the Ricoh GR IV Monochrome. We also talk about DNG, Adobe’s universal raw format, becoming an official image standard (and why the big camera companies probably won’t adopt it). And if you hadn’t heard, Apple turned 50!

Hosts:

• Jeff Carlson: website, Jeff's photos, Jeff on Instagram, Jeff on Glass, Jeff on Mastodon, Jeff on Bluesky
• Kirk McElhearn: website, Kirk's photos, Kirk on Instagram, Kirk on Glass, Kirk on Mastodon, Kirk on Bluesky

Show Notes:

(View show notes with images at PhotoActive.co)

• Rate and Review the PhotoActive Podcast!

• The GR IV Monochrome Is Expensive Because the Sensor Is Hard to Source

• GR IV Monochrome

• Nvidia CEO's Defense Of DLSS 5 Gets Contradicted By One Of His Employees

• After Over 20 Years of Efforts, DNG Is Now the Official RAW Image Standard

• Apple's Best Products in Its 50 Year History, According to CNET

• 'Restoring' Old Photos With AI Is a Fundamentally Broken Concept

• Abraham Lincoln colorized

Jeff’s Snapshot

• Take Control of iPhone Photography

Kirk’s Snapshot

• David Pogue Writes the History of Apple

Subscribe to the PhotoActive podcast newsletter at the bottom of any page at the PhotoActive web site to be notified of new episodes and be eligible for occasional giveaways. If you’ve already subscribed, you’re automatically entered.

If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes/Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast. And don't forget to join the PhotoActive Facebook group to discuss the podcast, share your photos, and more.

Disclosure: Sometimes we use affiliate links for products, in which we receive small commissions to help support PhotoActive.

So it’s come to this. Generative AI has quickly gotten so good that it’s hard to distinguish real photos from generated ones. So where do we go from here? We talk about C2PA authentication, trusting your sources, and more.

(Image: Generated with Adobe Firefly)

Hosts:

• Jeff Carlson: website, Jeff's photos, Jeff on Instagram, Jeff on Glass, Jeff on Mastodon, Jeff on Bluesky
• Kirk McElhearn: website, Kirk's photos, Kirk on Instagram, Kirk on Glass, Kirk on Mastodon, Kirk on Bluesky

Show Notes:

(View show notes with images at PhotoActive.co)

• Rate and Review the PhotoActive Podcast!

• Inspiring International Garden Photographer of the Year Winners (PetaPixel)

• Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA)

• Google Thinks AI Can Make You a Better Photographer: I Dive Into the Pixel 10 Cameras

• Fujifilm will explore the potential of 1-inch sensors, Digital Camera World

• Fujifilm Instax Mini 13

• AirPods Max 2

• My Original AirPods Max Stopped Working, So I Put Them in the Freezer. Really

Jeff’s Snapshot

• Anker Soundcore Space One

Kirk’s Snapshot

• Logitech MX Creative Console

Subscribe to the PhotoActive podcast newsletter at the bottom of any page at the PhotoActive web site to be notified of new episodes and be eligible for occasional giveaways. If you’ve already subscribed, you’re automatically entered.

If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes/Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast. And don't forget to join the PhotoActive Facebook group to discuss the podcast, share your photos, and more.

Disclosure: Sometimes we use affiliate links for products, in which we receive small commissions to help support PhotoActive.

Apple has announced the MacBook Neo, a $600 laptop running on the same A18 Pro processor that was used in the iPhone 16 Pro. Oh, and it has 8GB of RAM and starts at 256GB of storage. Believe it or not, lots of people on the Internet take issue with those specs, so we look at it from the point of view of whether it could be a good machine for photographers who blew all their money on a $10,000 Leica f/1.2 lens.

Hosts:

• Jeff Carlson: website, Jeff's photos, Jeff on Instagram, Jeff on Glass, Jeff on Mastodon, Jeff on Bluesky
• Kirk McElhearn: website, Kirk's photos, Kirk on Instagram, Kirk on Glass, Kirk on Mastodon, Kirk on Bluesky

Show Notes:

(View show notes with images at PhotoActive.co)

• Rate and Review the PhotoActive Podcast!

• MacBook Neo

• You Probably Don't Need an f/1.2 Lens

• Leica Leitzphone

Subscribe to the PhotoActive podcast newsletter at the bottom of any page at the PhotoActive web site to be notified of new episodes and be eligible for occasional giveaways. If you’ve already subscribed, you’re automatically entered.

If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes/Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast. And don't forget to join the PhotoActive Facebook group to discuss the podcast, share your photos, and more.

Disclosure: Sometimes we use affiliate links for products, in which we receive small commissions to help support PhotoActive.