Content delivery giant Cloudflare has announced a new tool to preserve the digital history of images using Content Credentials, based on the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA). It is also joining forces with Adobe’s Content Authenticity Initiative (CAI) to help people verify the authenticity of online images. The new one-click setting to “Preserve Content Credentials” is available starting today across the entire global Cloudflare network.

Given that roughly 20% of the web uses Cloudflare’s services, this marks a significant jump forward in the movement to address the growing problem of AI-based imagery. One of the holdups with the success of this initiative is simply the lack of compatibility across the web. If the metadata is wiped from a file, it’s much harder to retain proof that it’s authentic. Such a major player getting involved to capture and keep all metadata moves the needle forward in a big way.

Given how easy it is to create realistic-looking fake photos using AI, there has been a push to come up with a solution for verifying the source of imagery. After all, faked imagery can have significant implications, so a greater level of trust is needed as this type of content becomes even more prevalent. Additionally, in the age of viral content, it is all too easy for someone’s photo to become hugely popular without any credit provided. Content Credentials aims to address both situations.

The new tool is designed for content creators and publishers alike. Media organizations such as BBC, the New York Times, Associated Press, Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones are members of the CAI. In addition to news organizations, Microsoft, Arm, Nvidia, Qualcomm, Truepic, Getty, Shutterstock, Canon and Leica have also joined.

“By integrating Content Credentials across our global network, we can help media and news organizations to verify authenticity and maintain ownership of their work”

“The future of the Internet depends on trust and authenticity,” said Matthew Prince, co-founder and CEO, Cloudflare. “By integrating Content Credentials across our global network, we can help media and news organizations to verify authenticity and maintain ownership of their work, wherever it moves online. This isn’t just about securing individual images—it’s about giving publishers the tools they need to preserve trust and remain relevant in the age of AI.”

Image: Cloudflare

In a blog post, Cloudflare explains that the Content Authenticity Initiative aims to create a digital version of content provenance. Provenance enables a better understanding of how a piece of digital media was created and edited, even including resizing. With the new tool, anyone uploading images to their sites will know that any Content Credentials they have will be retained, letting their users verify the file’s digital history using tools like Adobe’s Content Authenticity web tool or Chrome browser extension.

“Cloudflare’s implementation of Content Credentials is a major win for Content Credentials, particularly at the final stages of the content creation and management lifecycle,” said Andy Parsons, Senior Director Content Authenticity at Adobe. “Ensuring these credentials are always available at the edge provides valuable ‘trust signals,’ ensuring those who interact with content online have confidence in what they engage with, especially with the rise of generative AI and deepfakes. Cloudflare helps strengthen the integrity of digital content, supporting content authenticity for news organizations and journalists, while also enabling creators to maintain proper attribution.”

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For many years there was something of an ideological struggle between the brands that pursued optical image stabilization and those that adopted an in-body approach. Or, to be more precise, between fans, owners and proponents of those brands.

The pro-lens crowd would willfully overlook the fact that their brand had adopted optical stabilization in the film era, when it was the only practical option, and focus on the fact that optical stabilization is better at correcting the large image displacements that can occur with telephoto lenses.

The in-body side of the debate focused on the fact that sensor-shift stabilization worked with every lens they had and was better at correcting the impact of translational movements, that can bedevil wide-angle and macro shooting.

We’ve just found a diagram by Canon that rather elegantly settles the debate, showing the relative strengths and weaknesses of optical and in-body stabilization. As the diagram makes clear both sides were right. And wrong for indulging in cross-brand bickering, obviously.

What Canon points out in the accompanying, rather marketing-led article, is that this means you can get further benefit by co-ordinating the efforts of both approaches and having them work co-operatively. This is something we first saw with Panasonic’s Dual IS 2 system and that had subsequently appeared across most brands, in the intervening years.

As a site that does its best to explain some of the more complex behaviors in photography, we appreciate a good diagram more than most.

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Editors’ Photo Challenge: Your best photos of 2024

The theme for our January Editors’ Photo Challenge was black-and-white street photography, one of the most frequently requested themes since we started our Editors’ Photo Challenges last year.

We asked you to show us the city through your lens in glorious black-and-white photography, and you absolutely crushed it! To be blunt, we were blown away; you submitted more fantastic images than we could possibly present here, and we had a tough time judging this one. You’ll find our top picks on the following pages, presented in random order.

If you want to view all the photos from this challenge and see how your fellow readers voted, head to the challenge page to see the complete set.

Want to enter some other photo challenges? Here’s a list of currently open and upcoming challenges hosted by members of the DPReview community.

Open challenges

• Laughter (closes Feb. 3)
• Sunset Silhouette (closes Feb. 7)
• Repeating Patterns (closes Feb. 7)

Upcoming challenges

• Show us BREAD! (starts Feb. 3)
• Fortnight 44: My Best Non-bird Photo Shot after 2025-01-20 (starts Feb. 3)
• Black and White Landscapes (starts Feb. 4)
• Photographer(s) photographed (starts Feb. 8)
• The Power of Flowing Water (starts Feb. 8)

Smile!

Photographer: fatplanediaries

Description: I have so many questions about this photo. The dude in the subway window. Why’d he blink? Was he posing for me? What was he texting at? And most importantly, how the heck did I get perfect focus of him at 1.2? A lucky picture.

Equipment: Sony a7R IV + Sony FE 50mm F1.2 GM

Moment in Zadar

Photographer: dksano

Description: While exploring Zadar, Croatia, I left the main busy pedestrian walkway to explore less trafficked side streets. Here, there were local people and some gritty old apartment buildings. I walked past a group of young boys, transfixed by a mobile device. I quickly took a few photos. I still wonder what they were looking at.

Equipment: Fujifilm X-T20 + Fujifilm XF 27mm F2.8

Mesmerized

Photographer: Daneland

Description: A young girl watches soap bubbles with a mesmerized expression on Southbank, London. If you look carefully, you can see reflections of the Tate Gallery in the individual bubbles.

Equipment: Leica Q2 + 28mm Summilux

Kings of the street

Photographer: SFStreets

Description: Every year, the San Francisco Low Rider Council holds the “King of the Streets” event, where lowriders cruise along Mission Street. This year I caught a skateboarder come riding by one of the entrants, between 17th and 18th Streets. We all survived the encounter.

Equipment: Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 II

Hot food noodle

Photographer: rkny

Description: This was taken in NYC in the summer of 2012. The bench the fellas are taking a break on is outside a deli, but I’m not sure if they work at the deli or a nearby restaurant. I was fascinated by the variety of poses they struck and the angles they created. I also felt for them, as they were clearly working some arduous job.

Equipment: Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100

Daredevils of Fitzrovia

Photographer: Mike Engles

Description: Fitzrovia is a term coined to describe the area around Fitzroy Street and Charlotte Street in London. It was a bohemian area occupied by well-known writers, musicians and artists such as Jacob Epstein, Nina Hamnett, Dylan Thomas, Augustus John, and George Orwell, who frequented the Fitzroy Tavern on Fitzroy Street. They had an annual festival, and this picture was taken in June or July 1976 on Charlottes Street.

Equipment: OM System OM-1

Nemo

Photographer: Vampscunos

Description: An old man drinking a coffee alone on a cloudy evening in a crowded bar. He was nobody to them. He was nobody to me. He was nemo.

Equipment: Fujifilm X100VI

Olympic moon in Paris

Photographer: Samu photo

Description: I captured this picture on a warm evening in Paris during the Paralympic Games. The city buzzed with energy, lively and filled with tourists and locals alike. The festive mood of the Games was palpable, with cafés and streets teeming with crowds. People perched on every available spot, soaking in the atmosphere and scenery. I feel this photo is a snapshot of Paris embracing a special moment.

Equipment: Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II + Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 9-18mm F4.0-5.6

Day’s end, Times Square Station, 1976

Photographer: phototransformations

Description: From 1974 to 1979, I roamed the streets and subways of NYC with two cameras and a tape recorder, documenting street life. Decades later, I compiled them into a book of stories and photos. I was working as a researcher at a stock photo agency on Park Avenue South. I changed trains at Times Square. This woman epitomized the weariness of the day-to-day grind at a time when unemployment was the highest in decades, garbage piled up on the streets, and crime was high. The camera was a Robot Star II, which captured square-format images on 35mm film. Its wind-up spring could actuate the shutter multiple times per second. It was the perfect street photography camera.

Equipment: Robot Star II

Imagine all the people

Photographer: ebaphoto

Description: The photographer picked his best vantage point to view the Mermaid Parade at Coney Island, NY, the site of the nation’s largest art parade celebrating the start of the summer season. He exuded confidence with his chosen equipment; each of his images would be perfectly captured. On the other hand, I felt the time I spent shooting in the set-up area was more interesting than in the parade itself.

Equipment: Nikon D90 + Nikon AF-S DX Nikkor 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR

Buddhist kids driving through Myanmar

Photographer: JohnnyBE

Description: I took this photo through the front window of a taxi while driving through a city in Myanmar. I could not believe someone would or could fit seven Buddhist kids on a modified motorcycle. They seemed very happy with the situation.

Equipment: Nikon D5

Marching in peace

Photographer: Andreas Sander

Description: At noon in the spring of 2023 on the promenade of Tel Aviv. A young couple seems to be marching in step through the heat. The sunshade casts a wonderful pattern on the square. No one suspects anything of the developments after October 7. It is siesta time.

Equipment: Nikon Z7 + Nikon Nikkor Z 24-120mm F4 S

Monte Sant’Angelo di corsa

Photographer: Luigi Azzarone

Description: While I was visiting a beautiful town in Italy, the Puglia region, I saw these works drawn on the wall. I waited for the right moment to immortalize the beauty of youth, the desire to live.

Equipment: Nikon D7100 + Nikon AF-S DX Nikkor 16-80mm F2.8-4E ED VR

Man on the bridge

Photographer: Tim Zhou

Description: Some new architecture has been built and has slowly transformed the city center of Swansea, Wales, in recent years, including this footbridge that was initially called ‘The Taco’ and ‘Crunchie’ by the locals.

Equipment: Sony Alpha NEX-5N

Three old ladies

Photographer: Pretoret

Description: This was shot a while ago and is still one of my favorite street shots. I was walking around one of my city museums when I noticed the winter late afternoon light falling on people arriving at the top of a staircase. Lucky I was. I didn’t have to wait very long before this group of elegant old ladies suddenly appeared. I just had to instinctively trigger… the decisive moment?

Equipment: Olympus OM-D E-M5

Storm surge

Photographer: Rye Clifton

Description: We were on the top of a building in São Paulo filming helicopters. We had to take cover because of some heavy storms. When the rain stopped, the clouds opened, and we got a few minutes of amazing depth.

Equipment: Sony a7R V + Sony FE 24mm F1.4 GM

Inside West, self-portrait in Greensboro

Photographer: West of Cary

Description: In/outside a defunct eatery and not yet defunct human in Greensboro, NC. Strolling the edge of the annual NC Folk Festival, this building invited me to peer through the window’s reflection into its heart…

Equipment: iPhone 15 Pro

Mohinga

Photographer: ElaineSpringford

Description: Mohinga is considered to be Myanmar’s national dish. It is a fish broth with noodles, served with various accompaniments. It is traditionally eaten for breakfast, served at home or more often on the streets on the way to work/school. Here, you see a street vendor at dawn, selling mohinga to the market traders.

Equipment: Nikon D70

Light stroke at Pena Palace

Photographer: leoncaruana100

Description: This arch at Pena Palace caught my eye as a frame for the cobblestones. The shifting sunlight suggested some interesting composition with shadows, but the ever-mingling tourists made for a busy scene. Finally, after some 45 minutes of patience and several pictures, I was rewarded with this clean and central subject.

Equipment: Panasonic Lumix DC-GX9 + Panasonic Lumix G Vario 14-140mm F3.5-5.6 II ASPH Power OIS

Street spirit

Photographer: KeithFord

Description: As far as capturing the spirit of life on the streets of India, this is one of my favorites. The men crammed into the back of a truck, waiting to leave the market somewhere in Rajasthan. I believe Jojawar, a lesser known village in the Aravalli Hills.

Equipment: Nikon D200

Hydrant at sunset, NYC

Photographer: robsl

Description: In the later months of summer, an oppressive heat accompanies the soft glow of the early evening sun. During this time, it’s inevitable for someone to open a hydrant to let people in the neighborhood cool off. (Some say the NYFD will do it on occasion, but I couldn’t say where I heard that.) Until my time in the Dominican district (around 98th), this had always been a trope from a film – but that day, I fully understood what it meant and why this activity had become part of the social fabric. I remember sweat dripping off my forehead as I captured this from the 5th floor of a walk-up. Soon after, I went downstairs and got my feet wet!

Equipment: Canon EOS 30D + Canon 24-105mm F4

Street light

Photographer: unView

Description: This photo captures the sometimes amazing light and shadows that appear underneath the ‘L’ scaffolding on Franklin Street in the River North neighborhood of Chicago. Sun has to be out in Chicago! And late morning to midday, so the light angle maximizes the shadows.

Equipment: Fujifilm X-T5 +Fujifilm XF 27mm F2.8 R WR

Lone soul in a snowstorm

Photographer: Hooyat

Description: In a snowstorm, offices and shops closed early, and people were told to go home or seek shelter. I crossed the downtown street when I noticed a lone man crossing on the opposite side and direction. He leaned as he was struggling against the howling wind. I stopped in the middle of the street, took out my camera, and timed the moment. Later, at home, the photo inspired this haiku poem: Flakes dance like echoes; A single breath cuts the cold; Heartbeats pierce the night.

Equipment: Ricoh GR III

Don shadows. Or not…

Photographer: agott123

Description: It was winter 2018. I just saw the shadow on the wall and immediately thought of the, at that time, POTUS. I just waited as long as I could to get something else in the picture to balance the composition.

Equipment: Olympus PEN E-PL7 + Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 17mm F1.8

Eyes

Photographer: tolgatacmahal

Description: This refugee child, who came to Gaziantep, the closest Turkish city to Syria for refugees escaping from the Syrian war in 2015, was watching a card game played in a coffeehouse when he suddenly saw me and opened his eyes wide at me, and at that moment I pressed the shutter button.

Equipment: Sony Alpha NEX-5N + Sony E 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 OSS

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