Commercial architecture photographer here ✌️ All this AI hype has been a little bit amusing for us because we've been dealing with the rise of 3D rendering in our industry for many years now. AI now threatens those graphic artists a lot more than it does us photographers. Two other points too, advancements in technology usually just raises the overall standard of work required. so if you're somebody who's always trying to push the quality of your work, you'll always be a few steps ahead of somebody else who might be trying to cut corners with AI. Also on the commercial and advertising side of the photography industry (where the real money is as a photographer) clients will always need real photos of their products. It's the law in many cases.✌️
Its very much the same in the film industry. We saw miniatures die out because of CGI and sets be replaced with green screen. But that trend shifted back to not only building sets but building them to the extent of fully realizes vs a wall or portion. All new technology comes in a giant wave then it recedes and we settle into a hybrid mix. AR volume stages is a most recent example. They were going to replace set building and post vfx. Well we are building more sets than ever and they still have to clean up in post because despite the hype the technology still comes up short and is very very expensive
And CGI can look shite. Look back when Star Wars came out, George insisted on real models etc then he went down the CGI route as and he lost the authenticity of the movie which is what made SW so good. They then revered back to real miniatures to recreate that fee ofl the original movie. It's all cyclical like everything in life.
Us, as consumers, we will always like a little bit of nostalgia. I do think that analog photography will become very popular amongst the masses again. Saying that, any advances in technology only created more demand for content...so I don't even think "the lower jobs" will be gone, they will just adapt. at the end of the day, high end photography, high end design, high end videography...they still require creativity and human input. And those jobs are becoming easier to learn and progress through. I started my full time photography career during the first lockdown, when I predicted that everything will move online and there will be demand from every brewery, restaurant, bar, etc to get their content and try to market themselves.
Adapt and move ahead. Pro shooter since the 80s, been to the funeral many times. Just keep telling real stories with whatever technology is available and we’ll all be fine.
I agree with you I 101%. This is why I always say “if you do not know/forget where you are coming from, you can not know where you are going to”. And I say that because of these important history lesson in which many people can see haw things evolve and yes, a part of the photography business will be replaced by AI but no all of it. You always are giving us good examples about getting better everyday is what will takes us long way. Again sorry for my English and thanks for the video. Bests regards from a Venezuelan follower in Panama!
I have been embracing the changes, learning from the past and adapting to the new. Photography will never die, it will just change as new innovations are made. I feel if you cannot get passed new technology taking over some sectors and you can't adapt to the new things coming out then you should really learn what the new tech can do to help you.
That was a great stance on the situation, going through the evolution of cameras and photographers evolution of using them. Great points, thanks Scott!
yee some jobs have disapire like the photo lab , when digital came around 2003 , and also the small news paper or web magazin photo reporter when phones got good enof in 2010 , well now the retoucher graphic desinger job will disapire with ai
I remember about 30 years ago going to a seminar that was sponsored by Sinar, Jobo, and Photoshop. The rep from Sinar said that in 10 years we would all be shooting digital and film would virtually disappear. We all laughed at his "joke". It took 20 but he was right. The photographers at the seminar were more worried about job losses from Photoshop than from the digital revolution.
I don't know what the future of photography holds, but I do know that there is nothing that will ever replace the human connections between photographer and subject and what that amounts to.
So far enjoying AI as a photographer. Helps make my life easier trying to figure out how I want a background to look...hehe...on that note though, it does take some time to use until you find something you like or suits the image, regardless of how specific the key words I use in PS are. A lot of miss to few hits.
I am always striving to be better, and using new tecnology as a tool, not as a hindrance. As many have said here, yes some jobs will go away, but others will flourish because there will be people who will want the real deal, the bespoke photographer.
Arguably, the best thing that happened to the art of painting and drawing was the invention of photography. People thought it would make it obsolete, but instead art just started focusing more on what you _couldn't_ do with a camera, and it led to a change in understanding the nature of art. The same thing might happen now: AI will not ruin photography, but it might change people's perspective on it a little bit, and possibly even for the better.
IKEA brochures don't use any photography and that's been the case for years, they use 3D Renders or simply put CGI, if anything there their 3D artists could start losing some jobs or make their job easier. Maybe lean a little towards AI to do some of the heavy lifting.
There is a feel, a sense a connection to a finished image you see, the examples of AI images I have seen lack those elements. Bottle of booze in a forest with sunbeams, a car driving fast around a corner in a city scape, they have a plastic feel about them. I guess it is the smallest of imperfections that make an image real. We will soon get tired of the plastic imagery used in some ads and again feel comfortable with realism.
I think you are right it is not the end of photography, it may be a new era, but it is up to us to get the right balance and not get adsorb in our human "laziness" and leave AI to do all for us.
Hello from Toronto, Canada,... I love watching your videos, they're always thought-provoking, informative, humorous, and accurate. I was hoping that you might give your thoughts on Computational Photography that is built into cell phones that currently produce amazing images, especially iPhones. It's rumored that the upcoming iPhone 15 will have a 48MP camera and with the prevalence of A.I. incorporated into many products, especially Photography Software, it's just a matter of time now for A.I. technology to be built into cellphones. What are your thoughts on this and do you believe that normal professional cameras will be eventually antiquated with future cellphone cameras replacing them?
Thanks for your thoughts. Photography will be here to stay. It will probably evolve into ever more distinct creative branches blurring the lines between reality and imagination. Documentary photographers will need to find ways of authenticating their work as pictures can be manipulated to create false narratives
AI is just a thing that makes "photoshopping" faster and easier but makes you loose some of the control over the result. Photos of real events, places and people will always be wanted no matter how good our software gets. Could you imagine trying to convince wedding couple that you don't need to show up in the wedding as a photographer because you can make the photos with AI at home even before the wedding :D
Also AI is the new buzzword, did you know the light bulbs in my house all have AI and have done for years. I simply prompt them and they come on and when I don't want them to illuminate the room anymore, I give them the same prompt. The prompt action is found alongside any door entering a room in my house lol no more flint and oil for me.
There is a concept I love, "Knowledge has a half life!" Mind you that half life could be decades long or a few weeks. Another pro spoke about AI and the time it takes compared to making up a product set for product photography, in some cases AI was faster and in others it was slower, but the big take was if you are a photographer with a good grasp on lighting narrative, this would give you the edge with using AI. It has amazed me in how much a photographer can do in the digital world when compared to the days of film and dark rooms. I had hardly touched a digital camera until last year and the last roll of film I shot was in about 2004. The camera on my phone was adapt until I wanted to expand my horizons and whilst phone cameras are good and getting better, I suspect as it was pointed out to me today, there is perhaps a limit in how far they can go because of the limitations on sensor size. Will AI take over, not yet and perhaps it never be able to totally takeover. Not until they can make autonomous robots that can attend weddings and shoot fashion through a human creative eye.
AI imaging will be relegated to the 'RU-vid cat video fraternity' before long. I've tried it, and lost interest in it after 5 minutes. If you want to create an amusing image of a banana in a top hat or some weirdly dystopian picture of ruination and decay then fill your boots as my nan used to say, but it will be one of those flash in the pan things. I expect there will be some RU-vidr out there who gets 'famous' for AI pictures, but so what? It'll never replace composing a shot, getting your exposure right and pressing the shutter button.
When I opened my commercial studio in 1970, people around me thought I was mad. Not only had I wasted four years on an apprenticeship destined for the scrap heap, but it was clear that anybody could now make much better photos with these fancy automatic SLR cameras that were coming out. They would spell the end of photography as a profession for sure! Well, not exactly. Instead they created several new areas of photography which just increased the appetite for pictures. So instead of killing off photography, they fanned the flames and pushed the boundaries, and commercial work grew along with all the rest. My bet is that’s what happens again, at least to those who have the vision and courage - and strength - to hang on. The ride is about to get wilder.
100% In my opinion, AI (like it's predecessors) will help your 'average' person create something good enough. It helps the 'pros' push their work to an even higher standard
Had a job this week that I ****’d up. AI in post production saved my ass… well, saved a lot of hours of manual correction. So defo has its uses as a tool.
I agree I think going forced there will be a ever increasing chasm between High End Photographer and low-end photographers, no more middle ground . Low end photographers will have to be so cheap to compete with other low end photographers. The only clients that will buy photography are Ad companies and wealthier clients that can afford it.
Love your videos, Scott and they make perfect sense with great humour within. In my humble opinion, AI will have it's place, but I don't believe it's the end of photography a camera doesn't take pictures the person looking into the viewfinder takes the image. AI no matter how powerful, has the ability of the person behind the lens, the composition, lighting and creativity of the shot is the human eliment and AI will never be able to take that away.
All of the advances you spoke about are based around saving time, or saving money, or both. It's not necessarily about the art. AI will succeed in environments where time, and money can be saved, that goes for music, writing, and other forms of creating art. Those art forms will still be present amongst fringe groups, those who truly love those art forms, just like people still shoot film, or Hi-8, write with a pen today… Real-world Creating, will become the new "nostalgia-factor" thing, for those coming up in the "Roaring 2020s" and artists will attempt to market it as such. Sadly though, I think we will get to a stage where AI is dominant, and everyone else won't care how the blasted thing was created…
Photography will not die, but phones, and now AI, will kill off some parts of the business. Earning money from photography an already a crowded market, and will become even more difficult. However more people are struggle with mental health, than we were previously aware of - photography and photo walks are becoming popular and a great way of easing stress and anxiety. Maybe this will be more of a hook. Even though I have many people buying my prints. I still cannot get a commercial shoot. I'm in a long, long, list.
It's nonsense. Vinyl records are dead The CD is dead The paperback book is dead Wet print is dead Film is dead Manual focus lenses are dead. Since the dawn of civilisation, humans have adapted to technological change. It's what we do. I'm planning on enrolling on a water colour painting class this September.. that's it. My cameras are dead. Let's just roll all of it up under one category and say that creativity is dead. 🤷♂️ AI is an opportunity for creatives to show why they matter, why society needs them and why commerce needs creative input. Great post 👍
One way or another photography will probably live for ever. But, from the viewpoint of professional photographers the amount of work left for them to do has diminished with each premature "end of the world" prophesy. Every really major innovation undeniably rocked the market of the time and sometimes even disrupted it. IMHO AI generated images will definitely not pass by leaving us all unscathed.
AI is a tool just like lightroom is a tool. I think there will alway be people who can pivot and use the latest tools exceptionally to expand their craft. Look at how photography has or has not changed since lightroom has come out.
I still shoot film sometimes. Even ancient technology like a 4x5 camera. I have 35mm and medium format also. That's because these old technologies are very good. You get the equivalent of about 30 megapixels from 35mm, and medium format is as good as high end digital. Large format is limited by the lenses, since the film sheet is the size of a piece of toast or larger. Now, I shoot mostly digital because it's more convenient. What about the cost of film? Add up all the other expenses, and it becomes a minor consideration. The fact that you can take hundreds of digital images for very little cost is not really a help. If we are not deliberate in our images, they won't be great. The spray and pray for a good image is a failing approach. So, for me, no aspect of photography has died. Given any sort of decent equipment, the excellence of the image is generated by the eye of the photographer and the excellence of his subject. Does someone really want fake AI images of their wedding? I do think AI images may find useful applications, but they are not a threat. And, by the way, people still have portraits painted. I have one I had painted of my wife that is now hanging in the living room. If photography could not displace portrait painting, what is the fear of AI images?
I'm still worried about AI as a threat to hobbyist photography - if hobyist photography is in large part about learning, practicing and demonstrating a skill and an artistic sense, whether for personal satisfaction or to impress your friends, then it feels like AI could get in the way by making some types of photography too easy so that it won't feel or like like an accomplishment.
Please forgive me for this totally off topic comment😬 you are one of my most very favourite creators on RU-vid, I spend a lot of time looking at your face 😂 and keep wondering what gauge your ear tunnel is? I am currently stretching mine, your’s is where I want mine to end up at. Any help appreciated 👊
Being much nearer the end of my working life than the beginning I can honestly say I've seen it all before. Most industries, not just photography, go through these existential crises whenever some grand new technology comes along and there's much wringing of hands and doom and gloom by the naysayers but it always blows over. Sure, some things change. New tools and new ways of doing things come along, replacing some of the old tools and ways of working. And some jobs will change or even disappear but they're usually replaced by some new job or specialism we haven't thought of yet. But the core of the industry rolls on - people will still need to take photographs, and shoot videos and films. The thing about AI is that it can't have an original thought, or create out of thin air, or be in the moment. It relies on vast amounts of existing data to look for patterns relating to whatever has been asked of it in order to come up with a solution. I'm sure there will be lots of new AI tools to help photographers in the future - some of them useful and some not - but someone will still need to take the photographs in the first place. And I suspect many of the so called 'AI' tools and features that manufacturers are pushing with such zeal today are more to do with clever marketing and sales, and an excuse to push up prices for profits, than they are to do with actual real AI. AI's an interesting development which I'm watching with interest, but I for one aren't losing any sleep over it.
I work in chip design. For the last 16 years. From year 1 I'm hearing tools will get smarter by day and in 2 years all will be out of job. Still it is next 2 years! Only the way of work is changed. Still needs a human to do the things that needs to.
If you sat down and had a little think about AI and how it actually learns, you'd realise photographers aren't really in danger for the most part (not entirely at least). Let's just say, hypothetically, that every photographer in the world just stopped shooting tomorrow and never again uploading another image to the web. Would AI be frozen in time? How is it going to advance with changing fashion, the world around us in general etc? It needs imagery to advance and remain relevant. If it killed off photographers and the act of making photography it too would die... Maybe slowly but it will die eventually. It needs to remain relevant or people wont use it (I'm obviously referring to image creating AI not something like ChatGPT).
Film photographers will become more expensive as their will be few people that will know how to do it just like portrait painting. All things analog make their return, Facts!, Lps cost more now than they did 30, 40 years ago.
I'm sorry, I'm back in August 2022 still catching up on reading articles on LinkedIn about how product photography is done for with all of the CGI photography
It was all doom and gloom as digital photography and later social media "destroyed" the photography. Apparently bad photography became more accessible but thats it. What I really do wonder is not that much related to AI, but to the image editing tools. There is a plenty of tutorials, mostly to products by Adobe how to edit, except... a lot of time of editing could be spared by different approach when taking the picture. Like why to stop down to F8.0 and then add blur in the background in POST, when you just can open the aperture to F2.8 and skip this effect entirely? Its much more interesting to do this with optics, as those can have their own specifics. I've seen a lot of photographers nowadays who should have known more about the photography itself and less about using the tools.
Regarding technology there's allways hype about everything. By the way, kodak made it into a camera, but the digital sensor was actually invented by a rocket scientist from the nasa's jet propulsion lab 😁
It is strange and funny at the same time to see the unexplainable rush to film photography at the peak of the digital…how can any one reconcile that…rush to the past because we are sick and tired of the present.
AI will make professional photographers more productive by eliminating some of the tedium of editing. The machine learning aspect of it could analyze the edits and adjustments from prior work and begin making certain adjustments automatically, so that all one would need to do is review and confirm.
I think AI will be used by lazy photographers as someone already said here. But for those that enjoy photography for what it is or as you said for the pro's, AI isn't an issue. I have noticed that film seems to have come full circle and regained popularity, I could be wrong but I think that is due to film being more pleasing to the eye, no harsh sharpness or overly vivid colours, the whole over processed look that modern digital seems to produce. I had a rant about AI photography before on another video but after considering it more, AI isn't photography and it's isn't a threat to photography, it cannot replace a human and their creativity whilst holding a camera nor can it recreate images that really matter to us.
I just got a job doing historical document reproduction and AI can’t build actual documents out of thin air if it’s not trained on them. That’s just one example. I think we’re gonna be okay. For a while … 😂
Some AI photos look 100% real even when closely examined, it depends on the software and skills of the artist. Photographers are still safe though since you will want a picture of your child or wedding to actually be a real picture of your child or wedding. How many people would want that kind of thing faked?
Yes and No. It depends first on what you see as photography (without rating any 'kind' above or below others). Certain photography, or more general: “picture creation” for generating a -- let call it "phantasy" as used e.g. in advertising, motion picture and many more areas are already enhanced/replaced by 3D rendering since a while. That "phantasy" area is also where also all non-hyperlrealism painters and other non photo artist work and had worked since decades. Yes, AI will enhance, easy (==msake cheaper),… those areas of "phantasy" photography to next levels. BUT, in every area where a “picture of reality” is the target, AI will not be any threat at all. -- aside minor picture enhancements as camera’s, etc . do already. Here people want to see the reality, not a generated phantasy. Or do you want to have pictures of documentaries, your experienced memories, your beloved ones etc. be generated by AI ? Some might, but those might no more realize that they are already living in an Orwell kind of Metaverse.
AI is just the new Snapchat filter. It'll die off. Many forms of photography, the clients are there for the experience and not just the image. I laugh at people taking compliments on work created by AI and generative fill.
Maybe, maybe not. My concern would be that art directors start playing around directly with AI image generators. They are "generally" degree qualified. An image generator "does not" offer direct control of course, but non the less the concern is there. To my mind there are very serious questions about whether AI image generation should be legal. Aside of the copyright issues, and employment issues in the creative industries (which I entirely agree with), there are very serious questions regarding the technology being used for political and legal manipulation, and for those reasons alone, there is a credible case for banning the technology outright.
I recall all these phases and I’m not dead…. Yet! BUT not so long ago a certain bearded photographer started calling himself a “creative” instead, a transition we’ll all have to get used to 😢
I don't know, I hope you are right, but everything you mention did kill a significant portion of photography. There are 50% less pro photographers today than there was 30 years ago. One could argue they didn't adapt etc etc. But the fact remains one day they were making a living and the next they were not. That is huge. Ai won't kill it 100% but it's going to give it a mortal wound. There will be work for the top few, but it will be exponentially harder to get into that level if you were not there or close to there already. As an example, stock. Stock is still great for those that have an archive going back decades but a waste of time for anyone that started in the last 5-10 years.
@@TinHouseStudioUK In the US, Bureau of Labor and statistics in 2002, before the widespread adaptation of digital. there were a little over 118K photographers listed in the census. in 2022 this was listed as just over 47k. granted covid skewed these numbers, but a lot had to do with with the demise of publications, rise of cell phones, lowering of the technical and financial bars to entry in photography. All have taken a bite out of the industry. Not sure how many more pieces can be bit off before there isn't anything left.
35mm not for pros?! If you only talk about commercial photography, then maybe. But, I think it would surprise a lot of photographers like Henri Cartier-Bresson, Harold Feinstein and Saul Leiter and the photographers, who covered the wars of the 20th century with what ever camera was best suited for the job at the time including the Nikon F1 and many many other professional photographers. With that said, I think AI in photography can corrupt a lot and is very easily abused to create all kinds of fake photo and video material. In time this could change the role of photography to where photos and videos may no longer be considered trustworthy evidence for anything from news coverage (this was already an issue before AI) to courtrooms and so on. It could lead to photography and video only being trusted for commercial use, entertainment and art. But, as we are all becoming more and more visual, consuming more photo and video material every day than ever before, photography will survive. Some adjustments will surely be required, but photography isn't going anywhere - AI is just a new tool, we need to learn how to incorporate into things - including into photography.
Do what you love and love what you do. The vast majority of photographers do it for the love of it. Many do it for the meditative and mental health benefits. Some do it to record milestones in their lives. These are all things that AI will have a hard time replacing. For some, creating AI images will give them some of these benefits as well, just like woodworking or crocheting does for others. Do what you love and love what you do.
Sean Tucker did a video on AI. In it he mentioned that in the distant past, he did commercial work for home furnishings. Then he found out that Ikea didn't actually take pictures of real furniture and real homes for its catalogue. It was computer generated stuff. Surprise! So this AI apocalypse has been a long time coming....like the rapture. Yeah, it'll do in some forms of "photography" but it won't do in everything or everyone. But, for example, if you can generate accurate AI photos of your wedding and reception without having some type of camera there to take the pictures...then we really are screwed. The Matrix will have arrived.
Yeah I had seen that, but I also know for a fact that Ikea use photography and not AI for their adverts and thats where the money is. But I guess the white cut out stuff you might as well CGI as you have already done that at the part of building it.
yes, but 3d rendering is not AI XD. Otherwise you are right. I did a lot of this 3D commercial stuff before photography. Even end of the 90s, with 3d we replaced a lot of really long and boring studio photography stuff.
@@TinHouseStudioUK Yes. Even before AI composite pic were used and generated. Sean Tucker I think was pointing out that Ikea didn't build everything from scratch, light it with perfection, and then photograph it. Photoshop with cut and paste seems to have been used in some way. The current AI doom watch seems to be just this more primitive method evolving into something more. Still can't see AI shooting a wedding, though. But you never know.......
Every generation, being not much different than the previous ones, fed on superstition, need a 'Bogeyman' to keep those superstitions, those fears, that sense of fatalism, entertained. Even from the world of tech. Ideas of Ai being the end of Photography in particular and Humanity in general, originate from the fears of tech first explored in 'Frankenstein' and developed by Doom Sci-fi, like the 'Terminator' films. Ai is a Click-baiters dream. It's about feeding a 'Trope', a fear, in the name of attracting advertising revenue, to sleep-walking monkeys, who just aren't in a position to see it for what it is. Even videos refuting the supposed consequences of humans embracing this emerging technology just feed the controversy. I think Ai is going to be bloody great!
@@monsieurgolem3392 Photographers look at the "AI" in things like Photoshop and marvel at its capabilities. That is a toy version of AI. With the current rate of AI development, AI + robotics will be capable within 5 years of doing absolutely anything that a human can do. Anything. Some of the top minds in this field, and I have worked with a couple of them, believe that some of the top AI models will be so intelligent within 10 years that the smartest humans will be incapable of comprehending them. It will be like someone with an IQ 0f 70 listening to Einstein or Hawking talk about the theory of relativity. There are very good reasons that those same top minds have suggested that govts step in and slow down or stop AI development. And what the public sees is nothing. If Google, MIcrosoft, and other public companies are creating these incredibly smart systems, imagine what the governments of the world are doing behind closed doors. As much as I admire Scott, his work, and the advice he gives, he is hugely underestimating AI. Comparing the changes that are about to come with the creation of digital photography shows a basic lack of understanding.
From what Ive seen you have to be very technical in typing the prompts in order to get a realistic image. I like AI for surreal and conceptual work with an actual photo youve taken, other than that it would be easier to simply take a picture. You have to learn c# to make a photo now, come on.
Forget all the hype with AI as will all look the same, Feed crap in get crap out. At least with some intelligent humans you will get variation. The other day I had someone ask me for my prompts so they could replicate what was generated. Thats where the world is at nowadays, crazy!!! Stick to your undividualism, as it will win out in the end.
Poor bottom feeders. Computers were going to put us all out of work or make our life easier and more rewarding. They have done both. But look what we have achieved. AI will probably do the same, both good and bad. Photography is an art form. Henri Cartier-Bresson was once asked why he gave up painting for photography. He replied that he had never given up painting but now used a camera instead of a brush. A good photographer is an artist and that spark or idea comes from within, not from a computer program.
