We’ve rapidly bought used to AI bettering the AF efficiency of our digital cameras. And now, more and more, with regards to additional enhancing resultant photographs in AI-powered picture processing software program, together with the likes of Evoto AI and Luminar Neo. I’ve lately had a go along with the newest iterations of each and one thought struck me.
It seems like dishonest.
It additionally seems like relinquishing management, because the AI instruments make visible choices that – whereas producing completely acceptable-looking outcomes – aren’t essentially mirroring the choices I’d personally have taken, or the edits I’d have made. Am I completely satisfied getting generic outcomes, somewhat than genuine expressions of my identification?
That mentioned, there’s no denying I can get outcomes a complete lot faster – and I can think about professionals, going through an edit of lots of of pictures from a portrait or wedding ceremony shoot, will likely be tempted to batch course of. It’s not like their shoppers are going to know that that they had assist from an AI toolkit.
However, in asking AI to make artistic calls on our behalf, will we run the danger of changing into much less artistic ourselves – and downright lazy?
The tried-and-tested mantra for any jobbing photographer has at all times been to ‘get it right in camera’, as the first approach to keep away from spending hours cleansing up or adjusting pictures in Photoshop.
If now, with AI, I can get similar-looking – or certainly ‘good enough’ – results in seconds, where’s the motivation to go the extra mile at the outset, or get exposure and depth of field spot-on, while my subject is still in front of my lens?
The counter-argument, of course, is that with such programs promising to speed up our workflow and help us avoid tedious, repetitive tasks, photographers will have more time to devote to the ‘fun’ part of taking the pictures. Or even less fun things, such as filing company accounts with the taxman.
I guess it all comes down to whether we see AI image editing software as a method to maximize our hard-earned skills and take our visual expertise up a notch – after all, it pays to have a decent image to work with in the first place – as well as a timesaver. Or whether we view it as a sticking plaster, or crutch, to make good our own deficiencies or occasional errors.
Perhaps exposure to too much ‘AI slop’ is rewiring our brains and encouraging and excusing our own photographic sloppiness. Or, more positively, is what photographers are wrestling with now more akin to the transition from film to digital, when we potentially ended up with many more ‘keepers’ because we could quickly see the result?
Whether we’re producing images au naturel or aided and abetted by AI, I think what matters most is still our personal judgement. If the result looks great then it’s a keeper, however I’ve reached that stage. If it looks crap, then I’m still reaching for the ‘delete’ button… whatever the robots are suggesting.
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