NZPhotographer Issue 61, November 2022

AI Photographer: New Career on
the Horizon
by Ana Lyubich
Since you’re into photography, the chances are
high that you will have heard about Artificial
Intelligence (AI) images taking the creative industry
by storm. Suddenly, everyone with a computer
is not only a ‘photographer’ but an illustrator
too! Does this mean there won’t be a need for
creative professionals in these fields soon, now that
everyone can type a few words and get a super
realistic image in high enough resolution in just 60
seconds?
Although the sudden popularity of AI image
generation might seem like it happened overnight,
it took two decades to develop. It started with
image recognition, training machines to identify
what was displayed on images and to know when
a dog was a dog, not an elephant, etc. Google
Image search is a great example. Next, the
technology was applied in the real world, various
apps started using image recognition to solve some
important problems, e.g. helping blind people
‘see’, the app helping to identify objects around
them.
We all know the saying, ‘There’s an app for that,’
but with the development of neural networks and
AI, it is really time to say ‘there is an AI for that’.
There are many different AI algorithms, whether
you need to write or edit a piece of text, do
analysis, forecast, or search for an image.
Now we see the subsequent development in AI,
where it not only recognises what already exists
and analyses images but can also create new
work. It is developing fast in the image creation
realm, so should we worry as photographers? Will
we still be needed to capture photographs in 10
years?
Just like cinema vs theatre, TV vs cinema, and
Internet vs TV, global changes mean shifts happen.
However, everything fits into its niche in the end,
and we still love going to the theatre, watching
movies on big screens, watching Netflix on TV, and
checking reels online. The same is happening now
with AI. Yes, it is a huge development, a growing
trend, and no doubt will be transformational for
most people, but I don’t think it will bring an end to
the era of photography as we know it and here is
why.
AI, no matter how good, will never be able to take
your wedding or family photos, present you with
photographs of events happening in real-time, or
create that truly local Wellington photo while you
sit in your New York office. While it is capable of
generating images, it can’t compete with a real
person taking a photo who puts their soul into it. So
as long as you continue to capture authentic, fresh
photographs, your work will stay in demand just like
it has always been.
AI image generators, including Midjourney, DALL-E
etc., are still great to use as a source of inspiration,
though. For us photographers, coming up with
‘what to photograph’ is quite often a challenge, so
why not try and pick the brain of this new ‘Artificial
Intelligence’ - type a few words of what you would
love to capture and see what comes up! Then try
to replicate it in real life. Maybe it will spark an idea
for your next photography project.
In saying that, the image you see here is probably
the only one that will appear in the pages of
NZPhotographer. Being a photography magazine,
we still require photographs to be the original work
of those who take them, not a mix-and-match result
of millions of images taken from the world wide web
by some kind of robot! The ethical part of AI is an
entirely different topic, and we will cover that in the
next article.
Join our conversation about AI and other topics on
ExcioHub (https://hub.excio.io) – join for free and
stay in the know about what’s happening in the
photographic community.
Co-founder of the Excio Photo Community and NZPhotographer Magazine, Ana Lyubich
is a passionate photographer and photography mentor. She loves exploring the unseen
macro world and capturing people's genuine emotions. Ana is always happy to help
fellow photographers so don't hesitate to get in touch with her at ana@excio.io
80 November 2022 NZPhotographer
@excionz