Show Notes
The Drone Photo Awards, a leading international competition celebrating aerial photography, has named Israeli photographer Gilad Topaz the grand prize winner for their image, Drifting in Space. Coincidentally, last year’s grand prize winner was also an Israeli photographer.
Topaz’s stunning winning photo shows Topaz and fellow adventurers floating in the frigid Baltic Sea in Sweden, donned in specialized orange suits to survive the harsh, surreal conditions.
The winning photo was selected from a pool of 4,000 entries submitted by over 2,000 photographers from 113 countries. Alongside Topaz’s grand prize winner, the jurors selected winners across multiple categories, including Abstract, Nature, People, Series, Sport, Urban, Wedding, and Wildlife. There is also a video category in the competition. All category winners are featured below, save for the People category winner, which is Topaz’s grand prize photo.
All the Drone Photo Awards 2024 winners and second-place finishers are featured in the ongoing Siena Awards Festival at the Museo di Storia Naturale in Siena, Italy. The exhibition is open now until November 24th.
Adobe announced the latest version of its “Elements” creative software, Photoshop Elements 2025 and Premiere Elements 2025. The newest annual releases continue to add new artificial intelligence-powered features and more Guided Edits to enable users of all experience levels to edit their photos and videos.
In Photoshop Elements 2025, a new AI-powered Remove Tool makes it easy to erase and replace distracting objects in photos, including unwanted people and distracting objects. This new feature also includes an accompanying “Object Removal” Guided Edit to walk new users through the process.
The tool uses AI to identify a painted-over object and generate new pixels to seamlessly replace it in the scene, much like users can do in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop.
Another new AI-powered tool is a Depth Blur filter. This tool automatically adds blur where it’s needed most, and users can adjust details like blur strength, focal distance, and focal range to dial in a natural-looking result similar to what could have been achieved with a professional-grade fast lens.
A widespread user request inside photo editing software is to change the color of something, whether it’s an object, a piece of clothing, or natural foliage. Photoshop Elements 2025 adds a simple color-changing tool, allowing users to select what they want to change and pick a new color.
Photoshop Elements has long included a range of collage tools, enabling users to combine multiple photos. With AI-powered subject detection tools, it’s now easier to blend the subject from one shot with the background of another. Editors can learn the ropes of this type of photo compositing with a new “Combine Photos” Guided Edit.
Rounding out the Photoshop Elements 2025 updates are four new Quick Actions to add motion to still photos, new textured photo backgrounds, new Guided Edits bringing the total to 59, and full Apple M3 support to deliver improved performance.
On the Premiere Elements 2025 side of things, the video editing software features new dynamic title templates with fine-tuned control over text, alignment, direction, color, and more
To help video footage look better, the software includes a new White Balance tool to make specific color and brightness adjustments to selected parts of the scene or the entire frame. Premiere Elements 2025 also adds support for LUTs, which video editors can use to dial in a precise look or mood for their footage.
This year’s version of Premiere Elements aims to make video editing more straightforward and more accessible. To that end, the software has a simplified Timeline that groups certain file types to make the user interface more navigable. It also integrates Adobe Stock title templates in the software, making it easier to go from ingest to export. Further, the app includes a variety of new Guided Edits.
As part of Adobe’s continued push into web- and mobile-based editing, Photoshop and Premiere Elements 2025 work alongside web and mobile companion apps. While these apps are currently in beta, they allow users to view their edited Elements photos and videos from any browser or compatible mobile device for additional edits and streamlined sharing. The apps also sync with Elements Organizer, making it easy to access edited files across all devices.
Among the most significant changes with this year’s Elements releases has little to do with new features but instead concerns the ways users purchase and own the software. While prior versions of Photoshop and Premiere Elements have been lifetime licenses — the user buys the software and then owns it indefinitely — this year’s release has moved to a three-year license term.
While Adobe is quick to say that there are no monthly or annual recurring subscription fees like there are with Creative Cloud software, Elements 2025 is still, at its core, now a subscription service. Customers pay a fee; the precise amount depends on if it’s a new purchase or an upgrade, and then they have access to the software for three years (36 months).
Once that period is up, users will no longer have access to the software’s editing functions, although they will still have access to Elements Organizer to view and manage their files. There is no automatic renewal, and presumably, users will be expected to purchase the most recent version of Elements once this period has expired, assuming Adobe continues its typical annual release schedule.
Adobe Photoshop Elements 2025 and Premiere Elements 2025 are $99.99 each for a three-year license term, or $79.99 when upgrading from a prior version of the software. The apps can also be bought in a bundle for $149.99, or $119.99 as an upgrade.
Court Rules Against Photographer
A German court has ruled against a photographer who sued the AI image dataset company LAION in a case that could have big implications.
In April 2023, stock photographer Robert Kneschke discovered “heaps” of his photos in one of LAION’s large image repositories used by major tech companies to train AI image generators with. Kneschke requested his photos be removed from the dataset but LAION denied holding copies of his photos saying it “only maintains a database containing links to image files that are publicly available on the internet”.
The dispute between the two parties wound up in the Hamburg Regional Court where on Friday the court ruled that LAION benefited from the exception of copyright infringement under Section 60(d) of Germany copyright law. A proviso that allows privileged research organizations to reproduce works even if granted an opt-out by the author of the work, according to Norton Rose Fullbright.
In its decision, the court says that because LAION releases its dataset for free, it is considered non-commercial and for scientific research.
“The fact that the dataset in dispute may also be used by commercially active companies for training or further developing their AI systems is, however, irrelevant for the classification of the defendant’s activities,” the court says, per TechnoLlama.
“The mere fact that individual members of the defendant also pursue paid activities for such companies in addition to their activities for the association is not sufficient to attribute the activities of these companies to the defendant as their own.”
A counsel from Norton Rose Fulbright, Ronak Kalhor-Witzel, tells The Global Legal Post that the decision is “somewhat surprising.” Without getting into the weeds of German copyright law, Kalhow-Witzel was expecting the judge to rule on a different section of the German Copyright Act which looks at valid opt-out terms.
Kneschke calls the judgment “strange” and says he is considering appealing the judgment.
Kalhor-Witzel tells The Global Legal Post that the ruling will raise concern among the photographic and wider creative community.
“This is because Section 60(d) limits the control creators have over their works and therefore many photographers and others may find it troubling that Kneschke was unable to prevent the use of his photo even in circumstances where the court seemed willing to accept that he had exercised his right to opt-out of the general text and data mining exception,” says Kalhor-Witzel who is based in Munich.
She also tells the legal trade publication that the ruling could affect the upcoming EU AI Act.
Astronauts Photograph Comet A3
Two astronauts onboard the International Space Station (ISS) have been documenting Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) as it sails toward the Sun.
Matthew Dominick and Don Pettit, astronauts well-known for their photography skills, have been following Comet A3 and capturing it on camera which isn’t easy because the comet wasn’t yet visible to the human eye so the pair used math and their orbital geometry to figure out where to point their cameras.
“It is totally awesome to see a comet from orbit,” Pettit writes. “The perspective of rising through the atmosphere on edge is truly unique from our vantage point. The comet tail is still too dim to see with your eyes, but it is heading towards the sun and growing brighter every day.”
Dominick says that an amateur astronomer told them the comet would be roughly 20 degrees ahead of the Sun from the ISS’s perspective.
“We needed photos to be taken when we were on the dark side of the Earth because the comet is still very dim,” Dominick explains. “We have software on the ISS that tells us when orbital sunrise will occur. So we did a simple estimate to figure out when and where to point the cameras.
“This told us we should expect the comet to rise out of the horizon five minutes prior to orbital sunrise. With the naked eye, the comet is still just a dot and pretty much indiscernible from stars. So about seven minutes prior to sunrise we started scanning the horizon back and forth with a 200mm lens looking through the viewfinder for the comet. You can imagine how we felt when it appeared. Math works!”
Comet A3 is now brighter in the sky and was visible to those in the Northern Hemisphere this morning. It is currently moving toward the Sun and will disappear before reappearing again on October 12 when it will makes its closest pass to Earth — about 44 million miles (71 million kilometers).
Drone Footage of Orcas Eating Dolphins
Scientists have captured world-first drone footage of a pod of orcas hunting and feeding on dusky dolphins.
A team of marine biologists filmed the killer whales successfully hunting dusky dolphins for the first time and then sharing the food within the pod in the Humboldt Current system, off the coast of Chile in 2023.
The researchers, led by Dr Ana García Cegarra of the Universidad de Antofagasta, Chile, were in a nearby boat and captured drone footage of the orca pod feeding on the dusky dolphins, which are a small coastal species native to South America.
The scientists had previously documented orcas in the region chasing both dusky dolphins and long-beaked common dolphins.
However, this drone footage is the first evidence of dusky dolphins being hunted, caught, and shared by orcas of the Humboldt Current system, which flows northward in the Pacific Ocean along South America’s western coast.
The scientists filmed the footage in 2023. However, the discovery was first reported in a study published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science last week.
After conducting surveys and analyzing more than 10 years of data, photos, and video, the team of scientists recorded 28 sightings of orcas in two Humboldt Current locations. On two of those occasions, the orcas were observed and photographed eating dusky dolphins.
Orcas, often regarded as apex predators, boast an incredibly varied diet. However, not all orca populations share the same culinary preferences. They can be segmented into different ecotypes depending on their food choices, acoustics, and genetics.
The observation indicates that orcas off Chile’s coast may be preying more frequently on other marine mammals, such as dolphins. Furthermore, the prey is shared among the pod, highlighting the strong social bonds and cooperative behavior between killer whales.
The sighting shed new light on the eating habits of orcas and may help better conserve their populations in the southern hemisphere.
Studying orcas in their natural environment is very challenging as they are marine top predators, traveling long distances and living offshore, which makes observation difficult,” Dr. Cegarra, who led the study, tells Earth.com.
“But understanding their role in the marine environment is crucial for the conservation of this poorly-known species in the Humboldt Current.”
The Coalax Lancer300 is a modular backpack made for outdoor adventurers and was designed particularly with photographers and drone enthusiasts in mind. Part of the design was also inspired by the video game Death Stranding which brings the delivery simulator to life in an unexpected way.
The Lancer300 is built around a durable and lightweight frame that can accept a variety of modular parts that are ready for different tasks depending on the need. Coalax says that its “exoskeleton design” was chosen to make the system truly modular and can accommodate a power station, magic arm, drone bag, main bag, and accessory bag. It is also easily customized to fit any number of other possible add-ons that aren’t specifically supported by Coalax — a “DIY” approach that the company specifically encourages.
“This backpack was initially designed for photographers and drone enthusiasts,” the company tells PetaPixel. “Considering how quickly drones drain battery power, it not only solves the power issue for outdoor photography but also protects your camera gear. The side-mounted Magic Arm can hold an action camera or light, allowing you to go hands-free while recording and adding extra lighting.”
Coalax makes a battery system for the Lancer300 that comes in one of two sizes: 96Wh or 336Wh. Both appear to be the same size and are only differentiated by their battery capacity and the fact the 336Wh solution is rated IPX5 moisture resistant. The Power Station provides AC, DC, USB-A, and USB-C connectivity and sports a large, circular display to monitor output and remaining capacity. The 336Wh Power Station weighs 6.61 pounds and takes about five hours to charge while the lower capacity option weighs 3.2 pounds and takes about two hours to juice up.
Both can be paired with another Coalax accessory, the 25W solar panel, that allows the battery to be recharged sustainably and easily while out in the wilds.
Coalax also offers a front pack and a magic arm that can be purchased separately but the system itself comes in two versions. The first includes a Power Station, drone bag, and a selfie arm in addition to the main backpack system while the second swaps in an accessory pack for the Power Station, which is presumably why Coalax offers two Power Stations for separate purchase. Both include a backpack with camera dividers that sit between the wearer and the optional add-on parts found in the exoskeleton.
“The Lancer300 allows you to customize your setup for different adventures. You can easily swap or add modules like the Magic Arm, Power Station, or Drone Bag depending on your needs,” the company says. “The exoskeleton is made from nylon and fiber plastic injection, which is lightweight yet durable. It offers strong protection without adding unnecessary bulk.”
Coalax says that excluding a power station, the whole backpack weighs 5.73 pounds — which is a lot considering that weight is when the bag is empty.
The Coalax Lancer300 is available for $450 for a system that is just the backpack and $600 to upgrade to the power pack version. Coalax successfully funded the backpack on Kickstarter earlier this year and is now fulfilling orders directly through its website.
Meta was fined more than $100 million for a security breach that saw the company store some users’ passwords in plain text.
On Friday, the Irish Data Protection Commission — which is the lead privacy regulator in the European Union — fined social media giant Meta with a $102 million (91 million euros) penalty for inadvertently storing some users’ passwords without protection or encryption.
The Irish Data Protection Commission says it slapped the parent company of Facebook and Instagram with the fine following a five-year investigation.
The watchdog started investigating Meta in 2019 after it was notified by the social media company that some passwords had been inadvertently stored on its internal system in plain text, which means they weren’t encrypted and it was possible for employees to search for them.
“It is widely accepted that user passwords should not be stored in ‘plaintext’ considering the risks of abuse that arise from persons accessing such data,” Graham Doyle, the deputy commissioner of the Irish Data Protection Commission, says in a statement. “It must be borne in mind, that the passwords the subject of consideration in this case are particularly sensitive, as they would enable access to users’ social media accounts.”
Meta publicly acknowledged the incident at the time. However, while Meta did not disclose the exact number of affected accounts, a senior employee informed Krebs on Security in 2019 that up to 600 million passwords were involved.
Some of these passwords had been stored in an easily readable format on the company’s servers since 2012. They were also reportedly accessible to over 20,000 Facebook employees.
However, a Meta spokesperson said the company took immediate action to fix the error after identifying it during a security review in 2019, and that there is no evidence the passwords were abused or accessed improperly.
The Irish Data Protection Commission, which is based in Dublin, Ireland is the lead EU regulator for most of the top U.S. internet firms. The $102 million penalty is the latest in a series of hefty fines that the regulator has handed Meta.
Last year, it hit Meta with a record-setting $1.3 billion fine for mishandling users’ data. Meanwhile, the Irish privacy regulator fined Instagram’s parent company $402 million for letting teenagers set up accounts that publicly displayed their phone numbers and email addresses.
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