Artificial Intelligence (AI) is making quick inroads into photography and, specifically, in creative image making. As I am involved, as an amateur, in that field, I need to think about where this may be leading to. I welcome any assistance I may get from AI but do not want it to overpower my creativity. (I am sure those in the other creative fields will think similarly.
So, here are my thoughts.
First, for the sake of convenience, I am dividing this type of creativity into four buckets:
1. Creative capturing of a photograph,
2. Creative post processing to enhances a photograph,
3. Creative non-realistic image from photograph(s), and
4. Creative image purely from software.
Second, let me elaborate each one and insert my thinking of how AI could impact it.
1. Creative capturing of a photograph
This is where one needs to find the right subject, compose it correctly, make sure the lighting is good and capture it. No post processing is required in expressing this type of creativity. The image stands by itself.
AI can suggest subjects within the camera’s viewfinder. Once approved by the user, it can then provide guidance through composition and lighting. This way, an average photographer can start making better images, both for keeping record (people, places), and for creative purposes.
This is my favorite bucket and a common compliment I have heard is that “I have an eye for photography.” Hopefully, I will continue to learn, through AI, and keep producing even more pleasing images.
2. Creative post processing to enhances a photograph
Although, sometimes I am happy to stop after just capturing the image, I often use tools such as Lightroom and Photoshop to post process the photograph I have taken. These are not easy software tools to master, and my camera club spends a good deal of time explaining what can be done using these, and other, similar packages. The resulting image is superior to the one captured. Distractions are removed, there is more contrast, and the image is better cropped, among other improvements.
This is where AI can provide a big help. As my cousin, who is an AI expert, points out the benefits of AI packages, such as ChatGPT for this type of creativity. Instead of learning the intricacies of Photoshop, just saying (or typing) “make this image darker” to will do the trick. This certainly looks quite attractive. Now of course, AI may have a different interpretation of what looks good compared to mine, but that is a learnable difference to overcome.
If you enter your images thus created into a competition, there may be an issue. Depending on who is running the competition, and the category of competition, the use of AI may be restricted. Generally, the most open category is “Creative” where AI can be used without any issues, but that is not the case for the more restrictive categories, such as “Nature”.
3. Creative non-realistic image from photograph(s),
Now we are truly venturing into the creative field. What comes out does not have to represent reality but rather an artistic expression that stimulates the mind of an observer. The intent is not to record something but to create an artwork.
This is the area I hope to master, and my tools are Lightroom to some extent, and Photoshop to a great extent. I can apply filters to radically change the photograph(s) I have taken and use layers to create a composite. I can, for example, insert an image of a polar bear in an unlikely situation, or use a distort filter to create an abstract image. I can radically alter color and saturation so that the image is a work of art (at least in my mind) and not a realistic representation anymore. I imagine and then I strive to produce.
The way in which AI can provides assistance in this area is to make suggestions on how abstract images can be created from a photograph I have taken, or how could different photos from my library can be combined to develop likable composites.
4. Creative image purely from software
AI makes it possible to create an image, say of a spaceship on an alien plant, purely from prompts given by the creator. No photographs are required. However, now we are invading the space that an artist with a brush and paint occupies, not a traditional photographer. However, AI can also be asked to create a photorealistic image of a scene, based purely on prompts, such as “create a picture of a lake in the mountains”.
Now, I am not involved with this type of creativity, but I admire the imagination of creators and ability of AI software to produce some fabulous images. This is clearly an area where AI will make a huge impact because its very existence depends on it. Someday, I can see myself becoming good at creating images this way.
My fear has always been that AI will replace me and my creativity will drop down to just writing the appropriate prompts. Now I feel that AI will help me get better, and in some ways give me opportunities in areas that did not exist in the past. I can thus spend more time in imagining and less time producing.
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