A Photographer’s Take On Artificial Intelligence

A Photographer’s Take On Artificial Intelligence

by William Lulow

We have all heard about AI (Artificial Intelligence). We have all read a bit about it. We all know it is about how computers and machines can learn to do things that have previously been entirely within the realm of human creation, but not many know how it will impact our world as we know it. There was an article in the New York Times a while ago about how a company known as “G42” has been creating some concern in certain intelligence communities about its ability to take over some otherwise human intelligence roles and how it might compromise data important to the United States’ national security agencies. This is a company based in Abu Dhabi that is run by a Chinese CEO who has gained Emirati citizenship and has developed partnerships with several US based firms. Some US officials are concerned about G42’s partnerships. My hunch is that unless you are wired into most things about AI, you probably don’t know much about how it works. We do know quite a bit about cloning and it’s not a giant leap to figure out that the technology could affect us in the photography industry.

These days, everyone is hungry for CONTENT and SALES and they don’t really care too much how it is provided. In the news business, lies and innuendos spread faster than the truth because it takes work and some education in order to discern fact from fiction. But “memes” and other such suggestions are much harder to ferret out.

Today, with just about everyone doing digital photography, retouching and post-production, the industry is bracing for another change: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. I don’t think it will replace humans entirely, but it looks like it has already begun to affect the modelling industry and it will probably force a change in how images are used and billed. Political innuendo has been used for quite some time now with heads being placed on different bodies doing all kinds of crazy things to distort the truth.

AI has already begun to affect various forms of marketing and advertising. Ads can be created without the need for as many art directors or a production staff and, as I mentioned, models will be created by AI, wearing whatever fashions can be dreamed up by designers. We are on the precipice of an era when almost anything for which there is a need for an ad can simply be conjured up and executed by computers! This would make for a monumental change in how advertising photographs would be produced. There would be no real need for models. Mannequins might just be all that’s needed. Artificial Intelligence would do the rest! “Visual Merchandising” is already being used to reduce the cost of photoshoots with live models. It might eliminate the need for fashion photographers entirely!

Visual merchandising

AI-generated models offer unparalleled convenience for e-commerce and fashion studios. Instead of arranging photoshoots with real models, AI-generated models can showcase your fashion products virtually.

Cost-effective marketing

Reduce the cost associated with traditional photoshoots significantly. AI-generated models offer a budget-friendly solution without compromising on the quality of your product visuals.

Here the garment was fitted to a mannequin and everything else was created digitally.

Over the centuries, huge changes that have affected human life, the way humans make their livings and how they go about their daily existence, have forced men to adapt to them and figure out ways to use them to continue making progress with their lives. With the invention of digital imaging, my business as a sole proprietor changed drastically. After a couple of decades of running a successful photographic studio in the heart of New York City’s “Photo District,” I had to learn a whole new technology. I would say that I have mastered it fairly well and with twenty-something years of practice in the digital realm, I have gotten even better – to the point where most of my production has become more or less routine and works amazingly well. The results I am getting today, are way better than they ever used to be. I don’t really need the services of professional retouchers or page creators. Software can do it all. If I need a postcard or flyer, I can simply create it on the computer and send it off to be printed.

Here are some examples not of AI created images, but ones that employ the current technology:

Clouds added by Photoshop.

Artificial filtration and colorization.

Colors literally created by Photoshop.

Photography is one of those art forms that will always have a place in human psyches. Light will always need to be controlled to create images that can be used for one purpose or another or to simply show us what the world and outer space actually look like. It will be aided by AI, but not taken over completely without some human input. There will also always be a need for photographs of people and the various things they do. My studio pretty much always specialized in portraits of people for various uses. My career really started by photographing musicians in concert and then switched to doing fashion photography for catalogs. These days, almost all on-line (website) images are done using AI. There seem to be very few actual, location photoshoots. Almost everything can be created in the computer, and the jobs I learned when I was starting out in photography may be obsolete in coming days.

But, it can be done. Man can adapt to technological changes that we haven’t even dreamed of yet. What it takes is a willingness among professionals in any field to be open to them, embrace them, study and learn them and then put them to use.