It’s that time of year again when we look ahead at the photography trends expected to shape 2026. With the rapid advancements in AI throughout 2025, it will be especially interesting to see how the medium continues to evolve next year.

We’ve researched and pulled together the most anticipated photography trends for 2026, so you don’t have to.

With AI, we’re naturally drawn to a pendulum effect, embracing rapid technological advancements and increasingly realistic deepfakes, while simultaneously craving imagery rooted in real life. Images that feel undeniably human, evoke emotion, and tell authentic stories through culture, experience, and perspective. We’ll continue to see an emergence of these images in 2026 and beyond, as many creators push back against AI advancements by leaning into authentic, human-driven imagery.

While embracing authentic human moments, there is also a pendulum swing toward exploring the vast possibilities AI can bring to imagery. By combining real photographs with AI-driven design, creators can let their imagination wander. There’s an expansive world of hyperreal AI imagery waiting to be explored.

AI can be viewed as a form of art, an ongoing debate that shows no signs of slowing. But as with any conversation around AI, the real question is how it can be used in a way that feels creatively human, rather than purely machine-generated. In hyperreal AI imagery, we may see a surge of artists who use AI as their paintbrush, shaping it into something distinctly their own.

This trend seems to be reinforced by advancements in video formats on social media, which are gaining more traction than static images. To keep up, photographers will likely embrace movement by crafting cinemagraphs, images with subtle motion. For example, an image with an ocean background might be edited so that only the ocean has movement, while the rest of the scene remains still.

Kevin Burg and Jamie Beck popularized the modern version of cinemagraphs around 2009-2011, especially in the fashion and digital art scenes. Before this, GIFs were already bringing movement to still images, though they were simpler and less refined than cinemagraphs. In the 2000s, cinemagraphs were not yet widely recognized, but the concept of combining still images with subtle motion was emerging.

Something interesting this year was the absence of retro or vintage imagery trends in most reports. As AI continues to advance, there appears to be a growing focus on capturing the rawness and nostalgia of the human experience. Rather than recreating a vintage aesthetic, the emphasis is shifting toward a genuinely human look, one that, when contrasted with AI-generated images, taps into the same creativity once inspired by retro styles.

As 2026 begins, a tug-of-war will emerge between authenticity and AI, exploring how the two can coexist while navigating the pressure of social media trends to stay relevant, all while allowing natural creativity to lead the way. These are trend forecasts, reflecting how people continue to shift within an ever-changing photography landscape. Trends can guide you, but the most important perspective to follow is your own creative instinct.

Trends will come and go, and while you may adapt and evolve, no one will ever be uniquely you, and that is the most important connection to stay grounded in as a creative.