Editorial Policies

Here you’ll find all our details on our privacy, editorial, and advertising policies.

Mission Statement

The Phoblographer works to bridge the gap between the art and the gear world in photography. As a result, our staff works to test camera gear in practical ways that photographers would actually use them. These include photographing weddings, street photography, landscapes, paid gigs, etc. It also includes photographing purely for its joy. Further, we have done work to profile and spotlight various photographers from around the world — but as of 2025, we are taking a break from the art world. We aim to serve as a place for people to enjoy the art and craft of photography as well as understand how photographers will be able to shoot photos in a way that generative AI won’t replace them. We specifically work to provide balance within the photography world.

Founded in 2009, the Phoblographer’s staff has evolved in many ways. But our core tenets are:

Profiling inspiring photographers
Transparency
Delivering educated opinions on happenings throughout the photography world
Testing camera gear in various ways
Helping readers make informed purchasing decisions
Helping readers grow and become inspired to create photos
Emphasizing that plagiarism within the photo community doesn’t actually help it at all
Urgently making photographers aware that generative AI is coming to replace all of us, and it is fueled by billion-dollar companies and hyper-capitalism.

These tenets have holistically been reflected throughout our coverage over the years.

Privacy Policies

The Phoblographer collects your email address when you subscribe to our newsletter or purchase a subscription. It is used for delivering emails to you, both editorial and sponsored. We do not give your email address to third parties. We also comply with GDPR.

The Phoblographer does not sell or collect information about you or your browsing habits when you visit this website. In certain instances, though, we may poll the audience.

This website uses Adnimation to manage its programmatic ad sales, which may include the use of first and third-party cookies to collect non-sensitive, anonymized data for ad targeting purposes. Users can opt-out of personalized advertising by adjusting browser settings. You can review Adnimation’s cookie and privacy policy here.

The Phoblographer also creates Sponsored Posts and series, such as Xpert Advice with Fujifilm, feature round-ups that are presented by brands, and more. In all cases, we clearly state this within the article. Depending on the deal entered into, sponsored posts are typically worked on by the Editor in Chief to ensure that the article is tailored to the audience. It’s a unique approach that ensures that readers get the most benefit from its creation.

The Phoblographer does not have comments on our website. Everywhere in the world is trying to be some sort of community. But we’re a publication first and foremost with accreditation in various educational institutions. Take what you want from what we produce, and share your thoughts with the world on other platforms.

The Phoblographer’s product testing process follows a strict guide that we use and constantly revamp internally. We don’t do technical tests; instead, we strive to do practical tests. No photographer shoots photos of clients and tells them about pixel-peeping. We care about the moment and what’s creatively possible. The Phoblographer has been testing products for over a decade. Often, our reviews are updated due to changes through firmware updates, recalls, etc. Our reviews aren’t sponsored.

In many instances, we have completely stopped working with various companies. These are often because of a massive breach of our ethics. Grounds for why we would stop working with companies include:

Purposeful deception of the press and our editorial staff.
Support of Unsplash and their methods of deceiving photographers.
Practices that we deem very shady. These may include trying to pay for reviews from us or other outlets and range into many other things.

The Phoblographer does not take money for our reviewing gear. We abide by FTC laws here in the United States and take them very seriously.

The Phoblographer works to be transparent about whether we get to keep the gear we’re reviewing or whether it’s provided for the loan.

The Phoblographer strives to be as diverse as possible in our hiring practices and coverage. Our media kit, interviews, and various opinions provide more on this. All editorial positions require a journalism degree. Product reviewers need to meet certain requirements before they can work on the website.

In some cases, the Phoblographer’s staff will attend press trips, which are often fully paid for by the manufacturers. When our coverage centers around these trips, we will always have an editorial policy. Our reviews team receives feedback from our editors based on these trips and washes away all possible biases. In many cases, the Phoblographer does all we can to avoid attending press trips. But sometimes, it’s the only way to receive a product for testing.

The Phoblographer’s reviews team is explicitly taught how to test certain pieces of camera gear. This includes working with autofocus parameters and factors that affect them, as well as various intricacies around weather resistance.

Sometimes, we syndicate articles from other publications or have our content syndicated by other outlets. However, this is a rare practice for us.

When we work with sources for articles, we ensure sources fully understand what they’re being interviewed about when we talk to them. Typically, we only do this through email records so that there is full transparency. All subjects of our stores are generally aware of what is being said about them before we publish an article. We also work to show that our sources are real people by linking to LinkedIn profiles. The only exception to this is with gear reviews.

We do not share the full text with sources beforehand, and will correct factual mistakes quickly and transparently if notified. Our website shows when articles were last edited.

All of the information we publish on our website is based in fact. We do not use fake names because of this. Anonymity is granted when a source has a legitimate fear of danger or retaliation, which must be explained in the text.

The Phoblographer is a human-first progressive website.

Use of AI in Editorial Practices

In April 2024, the Phoblographer became a member of the Content Authenticity Initiative.

The Phoblographer has examined the world of independent journalism in the context of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and believes that we should transparently disclose our use of AI in our everyday editorial practices.

Our policies are simple: we use AI to supplement what humans do, not to replace.

Much of our reporting involves the ethical questions around AI in photography. This includes using it to help photographers with autofocus features, such as with wildlife, birds, athletes, and vehicles. In many situations, we find that AI is very helpful, especially for those who are visually impaired. Our entire Editorial team wears glasses that help them see better, and our Editor in Chief/Founder is legally blind. AI within cameras helps our staff create photos for our testing and tutorials.

In 2024, Chris had two reconstructive eye surgeries and goes between the world of 20/18 eyesight with contact lenses and 20/60 eyesight with glasses.

In our various interviews with photographers, we tend to ask them about their thoughts on AI. These opinions are solely theirs, and we present them to you to provide different sides and thought processes on the matter.

We, first and foremost, do not use AI to replace our journalists. Instead, we use it to augment what they do. Depending on when this is read, it may include:

Headline generation – where the journalist suggests what sort of headline might work better than the other. We choose whether or not to take the AI’s suggestions. A human journalist and a human editor work on the headlines. We create separate headlines for social media, SEO, and the website. AI makes suggestions to us. Sometimes, we lean in line with what the AI suggests, while at other times, we do not.
SEO practices – there are several platforms using AI that make suggestions based on databases of what will work for page ranking. We use these for certain articles but abide but our internal journalistic ethics and policies for most of these decisions. We do not work to cater articles specifically to Google algorithms as we feel that this is often pandering to misinformation. We use this in conjunction with an outside consulting service where we work with humans on doing this.
Copyediting – The Phoblographer has employed copy editors in the past for editing on many of our articles. In some sponsored series’, we’ve done this with editors who have always worked to provide restructuring to pieces. All of the site’s journalists are equipped with copy-editing AI that helps them make their articles read better according to its own standards. We choose whether or not to use its suggestions and edits. At least two humans work with the AI on providing edits to the articles after it is written.
Caption Generation of Images – To meet new demands of the inclusive web, the Phoblographer employs AI to assist with the generation of captions and Alt Text of our images. The intention is to help folks get a better understanding of what we’re illustrating in our images.

Much of how we use AI is standard within the entire industry. However, we’re a smaller business and do not have the resources of much larger publications. Despite this, we have a big impact.

The Phoblographer does not use AI in the full creation of our reviews, news, opinions, product recommendation features, interviews, or tutorials.

Advertising and Affiliate Policies

The Phoblographer uses several advertising methods to pay for ever-rising expenses and help the site grow. For example, monthly server expenses and newsletter distribution cost several hundred dollars each. We comply with GDPR.

Certain advertisers pay for the display of banner ads or for clicks on banners. In these instances, we don’t necessarily endorse any particular advertiser. However, we try to weed out scammers who buy ads through Google’s AdSense ads and offer bait-and-switch prices. If we see these or if readers notify me of such ads, we will block them from being able to display their ads on The Phoblographer.

Certain trusted photography-related retailers or service providers have affiliate relationships with The Phoblographer. As a result of these relationships, The Phoblographer receives a small commission when someone makes a purchase at an affiliate site after clicking on a link on ThePhoblographer.com.

For many years, the Phoblographer has actively entertained affiliate relationships with only third-party dealers. While our other affiliate relationship accounts are still open, we do not work to actively promote them so as to not give brand preference to any one manufacturer over the other. We find this to be a breach of ethics.

In all cases, the products or services through which The Phoblographer receives an affiliate commission does not increase the price that The Phoblographer readers pay. In some cases, however, it may reduce that price. I work hard to get special deals and discounts for The Phoblographer readers and will pass along special coupon codes or offers that aren’t available (or may otherwise be unknown) to people who visit a retailer or service provider directly through its homepage.

As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. We also work with Adorama, eBay, VSP, and Blue Moon Camera.

In many cases, affiliate companies provide The Phoblographer with loaner equipment or test gear/software for review The Phoblographer (sometimes for keeps); however, such review samples are provided with the understanding that The Phoblographer writers cannot and will not promise a favorable review of the product or service. All reviews are based on our honest opinions, and requests for revisions will not be considered unless it is clear that an error in our use of the product or service was made.

This website also used VigLink to provide sponsored hyperlinks at one point.

If you require more information, please email [email protected].