Beyond the Captured Lens - The Rise of AI-Created Photography

Photography is the art of capturing light. From the earliest forms of photography, such as the daguerreotype, to the high-resolution sensors we carry in our pockets today. Photographs have always required the presence of the physical. That is, light reflecting from some subject through a camera, and crystallising the moment in time. But what if we could remove our physical camera? What would we see if the subject never really existed in the physical world?

Every photograph we currently see is a representation of a visual culture. This representation is presently in the middle of an enormous transformation. Artificial Intelligence is going beyond photo editing and is expanding the capabilities to generate photographs from nothing. Programs such as Midjourney, DALL-E 3, and Stable Diffusion are able to create images that are nearly equal to even the best photographers, and in a fraction of the time, simply by responding to small text prompts.

This is not the introduction of a new photo filter or editing tool. It represents an entirely new way to create and to consume images. For the creator, it opens up a world of limitless possibilities in art at lightning speed. The photography branch of AI is art's hidden superpower, and at the same time, a Pandora's box for much deeper philosophical questions regarding the future of creation, copyright, and authenticity in artistry.

What is AI-generated photography?

AI photography is the process of using computer programs, specifically GANs and diffusion models, to create an image that is similar to an actual photograph, but was never taken. These programs are trained with billions of actual photos. They study the images to learn how to create and put together all the elements that go into an actual photograph, including texture, patterns, light, and composition. However, it is essential to note that the AI is not looking for any actual image that fits the user's prompt.

For example, if a user asks the AI to create "A portrait of an astronaut in a field of sunflowers, cinematic lighting", the AI will not search the internet for that image because it does not exist. Instead, it will create the image by calculating where light and color should go for an image that meets the prompt. The AI-generated image will be original, and it will look like a photograph of an actual scene. However, the scene in the image is not an actual scene; it only exists in the AI's programs. These programs, once only created blurry images containing random elements, are now so advanced that their pictures often look like actual photographs.

How is AI changing the photography industry?

AI's influence reaches all of photography, including lower-tier stock photography and higher-tier fashion photography.

Disruption of Stock Photography:

Custom image generation gives risk management companies the ability to generate website and ad images quickly and for much lower prices than traditional stock image licensing firms like Getty Images or Shutterstock. Although this significantly reduces costs and improves creative control for marketers, it does undercut the livelihoods of stock image photographers.

New Tools for Creative Professionals:

For many digital photographers and artists, AI is a supplement, not a replacement for their work. AI assists in quickly creating a prototype of the idea. Photographers, for example, can visualise configurations of lighting, colors, and compositions on a virtual board in seconds, before hiring a model or a studio. AI acts as a digital mood board that can quickly iterate to capture the shoot vision.

The Democratization of Visual Art:

Just as every photographer in public is armed with a smartphone and digital camera, AI tools open creative visual art to everyone. The technical mastery of exposure, aperture, and lighting configuration is no longer a requirement, with the skill being prompt generation for AI. This allows people to express their imagination without the technical skills in photography.

What are the ethical concerns of AI photography?

The industry as a whole is still trying to fully understand the challenges of this new disruptive tech.

Copyright and Ownership

Copyrighted work from artists and creators is often used without any consent, and AI image generators are no different. This includes the lawsuits surrounding image ownership. Is the image the creator of the prompts, the AI's developers, or no one's? AI law is still evolving, and the intricacies of AI ownership are still being explored.

Deepfakes and Misinformation

The creation of Photo Realistic images is a prolific risk for Misinformation. AI images spread false narratives about people. This becomes a larger risk the more realistic the images become.

Unbalanced Reporting

AI models mirror the information on which they are developed. So, if their training data contains societal prejudices, the created images will amplify these prejudices too. Users report that when they input vague prompts like "doctor" and "CEO", AI defaults to harmful stereotypes. AI designers need more care and consideration to address these issues.

The Fear that AI will Replace Human Photographers

This is the popular opinion, and it is a bit out of the blue. In some aspects of photography, the answer is yes; however, in many aspects, the answer is no.

AI is excellent at making the vague, the imaginative, and the absurd. If you need a "happy family eating salad" or a "futuristic Martian city", AI can generate that in an instant. However, in photography, the aim is to capture a specific, real and unreproducible moment.

The Worth of a Real Moment

AI will never capture your wedding. They will not document a live, breaking news moment. They will not capture authentic feelings of a person in a street portrait. "Being there" in real life to document a moment, using technology to combine photography and memory as an art, is what genuine photography is about. It is an aspect of life that AI will never be able to replicate.

The Human Connection

Event and portrait photography is all about the people involved. Each skill a photographer uses, be it calming a subject, giving direction, or finding the correct angle, is a human skill. While a machine can create a picture-perfect face, it will never be able to convey the essence and the spirit of the person in front of the lens.