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How to Take Better Photos of Moms (Listen Up, Dads)

How to Take Better Photos of Moms (Listen Up, Dads)

How to Take Better Photos of Moms (Listen Up, Dads)

One of my favorite things is seeing moms in photos with their kids. But sometimes even the most well-meaning spouses can be…not great behind the camera. So! In partnership with Aura Frames — just in time for Mother’s Day — here are 12 tips for taking beautiful snapshots of the mothers in your life…

How to Take Better Photos of Moms (Listen Up, Dads)

1. Look out for candid moments. The quickest way to become a great photographer is just to keep an eye out for sweet moments. Kids move quickly, so don’t hesitate: grab your phone and take a shot.

How to Take Better Photos of Moms (Listen Up, Dads)

2. You don’t always need faces. Photos of feet or hands or people from the back can be so charming and tell a story on their own.

How to Take Better Photos of Moms (Listen Up, Dads)

3. Take a LOT of photos. Seriously, take 30. One is bound to be good, and then she can pick her favorite. You can also use “live photo” mode. It will capture a few seconds before and after you snap. You can go back later and pick the best frame — aka the one where no one was blinking.

How to Take Better Photos of Moms (Listen Up, Dads)

4. Take photos of views. If there’s a view, pull that camera out. Every. Single. Time.

How to Take Better Photos of Moms (Listen Up, Dads)

5. Move the camera around. Positioning your camera above eye level often makes faces look brighter (think: fewer shadows) and more engaging. Also, move around while snapping photos. Different angles can make a big difference!

How to Take Better Photos of Moms (Listen Up, Dads)

6. Remember the cuddles. “When I lost my mom, I realized I had a finite number of photos with her,” my friend Liz Libré once told me. “I want pictures of my arms around my own children, my body touching them. I want to be represented in my camera roll.” Same, oh my gosh.

How to Take Better Photos of Moms (Listen Up, Dads)

7. Capture the daily routine, too. Photographing activities she does all the time — running errands, taking a kid to school, helping tie shoelaces — can feel real and beautiful.

Joanna Goddard Italy

8. Play around with light. Golden hour — in the morning or evening — is always soft and magical. If you’re indoors, switch off the overheads and move toward natural light by the windows.

How to Take Better Photos of Moms (Listen Up, Dads)

9. Try black and white. If the lighting is wonky or the colors feel off, switch to black and white — it instantly looks classic. We especially do this on photos taken at night.

How to Take Better Photos of Moms (Listen Up, Dads)

10. Offer to take photos with mom friends. Parenting takes a village, and it’s so nice to look back on times you were raising your children together.

How to Take Better Photos of Moms (Listen Up, Dads)

11. Perfection isn’t necessary. Even a blurry photo can become an all-time favorite.

How to Take Better Photos of Moms (Listen Up, Dads)

12. Enjoy the photos! Don’t let them waste away on your phone, soak up all the beauty with her. I’d highly recommend Aura digital frames, which let you easily share photos from multiple phones (you can invite friends and relatives through the app) and display them in an ever-changing carousel. My mom, my dad, my sister, my aunt, my cousin, and I all have Aura frames in our homes, and they help us feel like part of each other’s everyday lives. The frames are one of those things that bring so much joy, and they’d make a really meaningful Mother’s Day gift, don’t you think? xoxo

Bonus for all readers: Get $25 off this Aura frame with code CUPOFJO, good through May 13th.

aura frames

Now, what would you add? We’d love to hear your photo tips. Thank you, Aura! xo

(Photos in this post from Joanna Goddard, Alison Piepmeyer, Jannelle Sanchez, Selena Ma, Erin Jang, Julia Robbs, Merie Subryan, Leah Fink, and Jenny Rosenstrach. Aura frame photos at the end by Julia Robbs. This post was sponsored by Aura Frames, whose digital picture frames we’ve loved and used for years. Thank you for supporting the brands that support Cup of Jo.)

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Pennsylvania is suing Character.AI for allegedly practicing medicine without a license

Pennsylvania has taken the unusual step of suing an AI company for practicing medicine without a license.

In a lawsuit filed May 1, the state is targeting Character.AI after an investigator found a chatbot on the platform posing as a licensed psychiatrist and providing what the state characterizes as medical advice.

According to the complaint, filed by the Pennsylvania Department of State and State Board of Medicine, a Professional Conduct Investigator for the state created a free account on Character.AI and searched for psychiatric characters. He selected one called “Emilie,” described on the platform as a “Doctor of psychiatry.”

The investigator told Emilie he had been feeling sad, empty, tired, and unmotivated. The chatbot mentioned depression and offered to conduct an assessment to determine whether medication might help.

When pressed on whether she was licensed in Pennsylvania, Emilie said she was and even provided a specific license number. The state checked and found that the number doesn’t exist.

The complaint also states Emilie claimed she attended medical school at Imperial College London, has practiced for seven years, and holds a full specialty registration in psychiatry with the General Medical Council in the UK.

In a similar case, 404 Media reported last year that Instagram AI chatbots were pretending to be licensed therapists, even inventing license numbers when prompted for credentials by the user.

Pennsylvania is seeking an injunction ordering Character.AI to stop allowing its platform to engage in the unlawful practice of medicine. The company has more than 20 million monthly active users worldwide and hosts more than 18 million user-created chatbot characters, according to the complaint.

In an email to Mashable, a Character.AI spokesperson declined to comment on the lawsuit. Further, they added that “our highest priority is the safety and well-being of our users. The user-created Characters on our site are fictional and intended for entertainment and roleplaying.”

The spokesperson added that the company “prioritizes responsible product development and has robust internal reviews and red-teaming processes in place to assess relevant features.”

A much bigger legal battle looms over AI health

The Pennsylvania lawsuit lands in the middle of an already messy legal debate over what AI is actually allowed to tell you — and whether any of it is even admissible in court.

As Mashable’s Chase DiBenedetto reported, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has publicly advocated for “AI privilege,” arguing that chatbot conversations should be afforded the same legal protections as conversations with a therapist or an attorney. Courts have so far been split, with two federal judges reaching opposite conclusions on the question within weeks of each other earlier this year.

The stakes are high on both sides. Legal experts warn that sweeping AI privilege protections could effectively shield companies from accountability, making it harder to subpoena chat logs and internal records when something goes wrong. Meanwhile, health AI is booming — $1.4 billion flowed into healthcare-specific generative AI in 2025 alone, according to Menlo Ventures — and much of it operates outside of HIPAA protections.

Pennsylvania is one of several states to have introduced an AI Health bill this year, following a trend of states that aren’t waiting for Washington to act.

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How to watch Bayern Munich vs. PSG online for free

TL;DR: Live stream Bayern Munich vs. PSG in the Champions League for free on RTÉ Player. Access this free streaming platform from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.


Bayern Munich vs. PSG would have made an amazing Champions League final, but we should be happy that we’re getting two matchups between these electric teams. The first leg finished 5-4 to PSG. We’re not expecting the same again, because that was probably one of the best games of all time. If we get half that level of entertainment in the second leg, we’ll be delighted.

Expect more of the same from the likes of Michael Olise and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia as these teams battle it out for a spot in the showpiece event. The winner will meet Arsenal at the Puskás Aréna in Budapest.

If you want to watch Bayern Munich vs. PSG in the Champions League from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.

When is Bayern Munich vs. PSG?

Bayern Munich vs. PSG in the Champions League kicks off at 3 p.m. ET on May 6. This fixture takes place at the Allianz Arena.

How to watch Bayern Munich vs. PSG for free

Bayern Munich vs. PSG is available to live stream for free on RTÉ Player.

RTÉ Player is geo-restricted to Ireland, but anyone can access this free streaming platform with a VPN. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in Ireland, meaning you can unblock RTÉ Player to stream the Champions League for free from anywhere in the world.

Live stream Bayern Munich vs. PSG for free by following these simple steps:

  1. Subscribe to a streaming-friendly VPN (like ExpressVPN)

  2. Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)

  3. Open up the app and connect to a server in Ireland

  4. Visit RTÉ Player

  5. Watch Bayern Munich vs. PSG for free from anywhere in the world

$12.95 only at ExpressVPN (with money-back guarantee)

The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but most do offer free-trials or money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can access free live streams of the Champions League without actually spending anything. This obviously isn’t a long-term solution, but it does give you enough time to stream Bayern Munich vs. PSG (plus more Champions League fixtures) before recovering your investment.

If you want to retain permanent access to the best free streaming services from around the world, you’ll need a subscription. Fortunately, the best VPn for streaming live sport is on sale for a limited time.

What is the best VPN for RTÉ Player?

ExpressVPN is the best choice for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream live sport on RTÉ Player, for a number of reasons:

  • Servers in 105 countries including Ireland

  • Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more

  • Strict no-logging policy so your data is secure

  • Fast connection speeds free from throttling

  • Up to 10 simultaneous connections

  • 30-day money-back guarantee

A two-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $68.40 and includes an extra four months for free — 81% off for a limited time. This plan includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a generous 30-day money-back guarantee. Alternatively, you can get a one-month plan for just $12.99 (with money-back guarantee).

Live stream Bayern Munich vs. PSG in the Champions League for free with ExpressVPN.

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AI stocks are cooling — this ChatGPT trading tool keeps delivering

TL;DR: A ChatGPT-powered investing platform that helps you find and manage stocks with clearer signals—lifetime access for a one-time $54.97.


Credit: Sterling Stock Picker

The AI trade has seemingly had its moment — big runs, big headlines, big expectations. The AI fun is not over by any means. But now that things are settling, the real question is what comes next?

Instead of chasing whatever’s trending, Sterling Stock Picker leans into a more grounded approach: using a ChatGPT-powered assistant (Finley) to help you understand what’s actually happening inside a stock. You can ask questions about companies, sectors, or your own portfolio and get explanations that are tied to real data — not just surface-level summaries.

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It also handles the heavy lifting most people avoid. The platform analyzes financials, growth metrics, and risk, then surfaces signals like whether a stock is worth buying, holding, or avoiding. There’s even a “North Star” system that simplifies that call into something actionable.

If you’re building from scratch, there’s a done-for-you portfolio builder that aligns with your risk tolerance. If you already have positions, it can suggest adjustments based on your portfolio’s performance.

One thing that stands out is how it balances guidance with transparency. You’re not just handed picks — you can see the reasoning behind them, which matters if you’re trying to build a repeatable process.

Have a lifetime way to pressure-test your judgment — especially in a market that’s moving past hype and into something more selective.

Get lifetime access to the ChatGPT-driven Sterling Stock Picker while it’s on sale for a one-time $54.97 payment (reg. $486) through May 10.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

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