The algorithm, computing power, and data. That is it.
Without these 3 ingredients you wouldn’t use Darktable (or whatever), right? That was my point.
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Bit off topic, but chatgpt basically reduces the cost of producing plausible bullshit to zero, which might be a problem, I guess.
I wonder how many of those websites one finds that appear to be nothing more than a container for ads with semi-plausible waffle filling out the spaces are actually done that way.
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Huh? What? No.
This seems unnecessary.
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Especially because to truly mess up a photo you really need RawTherapee.
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Beyond the (non-)AI illuminant selection, there are two tools integrated via Lua scripts that I’m aware of, both related to tagging, not image processing.
But anyway, I think we need to differentiate between AI used to generate content that’s not art (replacing stock photos, creating wedding photos, rendering portraits), and AI as an artist’s tool. Whether it’s a picture or text, as long as the intention is that of self-expression, evoking thoughts and emotions, a human directing an AI is still an artistic process, at least in my eyes.
An example: AI sky replacement may be simply faking something to make it ‘prettier’, or it could be used to create an image that’s full of tension because the sky is so out of place, contradicting the rest of the scene.
3 Likes
I enjoy creating images with Stable Diffusion and Midjourney, but to me, that’s a very much different thing to taking photos, especially if the photos are documentary.
I’m currently participating in a “100 bird species in one year challenge”, and creating a rendered image of a bird would make absolutely no sense in this context. Likewise, I was asked to take photos in my brother-in-law’s mother’s funeral at the end of the last year. Replacing or adding/removing arbitrary details to them surely isn’t something I’d want to do.
Holy words. I imagined that my thought would inflame spirits, but rightly so. We are facing a new and disruptive technology which, like all new technologies, will bring benefits and misfortunes.
I only bought my first smartphone 3 years ago because I didn’t want to become a slave (and I only bought it because there was Covid and I didn’t want to end up in intensive care without a minimum of contact with my family).
I waged war on PCs as long as I could, then realized it was a losing battle, and made PCs my job.
I didn’t want the microwave oven, but I gave in there too.
I’ve had battles against street webcams, but I’ve lost.
I didn’t give in to Microsoft or Apple, but I finally gave in to Google.
I didn’t want the AC, but I had to succumb.
I still don’t have a dishwasher and I sold the car.
AI is here to stay. Is it good? No. Is it bad? I don’t know. Certainly it can be put to good use.
Ironically, I have been toying with AI models lately out of curiosity, just to see what’s currently possible. I can run the audio through the Whisper speech transcription engine and get you a timestamped transcript pretty easily.
Digikam uses facial recognition “learn” faces from the people that you have tagged and tries to find more photos of them so you can tag the correct name on a photo. It sucks. I have often wondered if there’s a way to make a Digikam plugin and use one of the up-and-coming AI facial recognition models to train the model on face tags already in the Digikam database and do a better job at making face tag suggestions.
Finally, if you want a laugh, download the tiny little program photils-cli and feed some of your pictures to it to see how it classifies them. It uses a trained neural network for image recognition.
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Ha! Yes, that is fun. Predicted keywords, with probabilities:
photils-cli.exe -i toes.png -o x.txt -c
snake:0.999941
hands:0.999899
nail:0.999537
wife:0.999246
hippie:0.999008
skin:0.998936
toes:0.998619
fingers:0.998608
newborn:0.998320
film:0.998060
snakes:0.996895
swinging:0.995632
danger:0.995545
Snake? Hmm, very Freudian.
I just tried it too!
aircraft:1.000000
air:1.000000
aerobatics:1.000000
plane:1.000000
aviation:1.000000
boeing:1.000000
flying:1.000000
military:1.000000
airplane:1.000000
airshow:1.000000
bomber:1.000000
flight:1.000000
cloudy:1.000000
aeroplane:1.000000
airforce:1.000000
jet:1.000000
delta:1.000000
pilot:1.000000
spotting:1.000000
fly:1.000000
planes:1.000000
planespotting:1.000000
fighter:0.999999
transport:0.999998
helicopter:0.999997
airline:0.999990
airport:0.999990
fin:0.999988
smoke:0.999981
airbus:0.999981
turbine:0.999961
bottomview:0.999958
clouds:0.999948
landing:0.999926
atmospheric:0.999906
photography:0.999875
wind:0.999848
dramatic:0.999838
wing:0.999507
submarine:0.999354
force:0.999053
united:0.998706
storm:0.998568
transportation:0.998125
sky:0.997946
cloud:0.997843
worldwarii:0.997253
jetaircraft:0.997154
takeoff:0.997077
display:0.996605
bw:0.995402
airliner:0.994502
drama:0.989499
moody:0.987098
bone:0.985840
storms:0.978965
stormy:0.976997
blackwhite:0.958572
tornado:0.957438
airlines:0.954306
tanker:0.950266
war:0.942623
blackandwhite:0.941534
weather:0.934702
monochrome:0.934083
states:0.926946
controltower:0.921206
lift:0.918621
image:0.896226
worldwar2:0.872828
glider:0.871109
fog:0.841302
royal:0.840303
digital:0.804934
wwii:0.802525
general:0.775792
propellerplane:0.775646
beanpot:0.767034
mist:0.704265
day:0.694857
passenger:0.665745
cloudporn:0.637913
black:0.557928
cloudscape:0.545508
duststorm:0.492543
cloudsstormssunsetssunrises:0.466148
selfdeveloped:0.417509
hailstorm:0.384446
telephoto:0.383786
overcast:0.380007
transporter:0.364792
zoom:0.346464
energy:0.265733
courtgame:0.258704
windturbine:0.249450
dslr:0.227634
kingdom:0.224360
rain:0.212378
squallline:0.192704
scan:0.163279
slide:0.163256
militaryvehicle:0.147664
freight:0.143979
whale:0.129013
navy:0.121241
rivet:0.113885
misty:0.111734
hail:0.108579
weapon:0.106004
cargo:0.104494
skyscape:0.065618
training:0.035071
pacific:0.034291
filmphotography:0.025636
groupofanimals:0.024847
fighting:0.022547
environment:0.021196
international:0.019819
runway:0.017984
foggy:0.016895
patagonia:0.012753
freedom:0.011948
lightroom:0.011030
funnel:0.010580
demonstration:0.010519
sepiatoning:0.010380
wanderlust:0.008698
falcon:0.006144
mountainpeak:0.004448
largeformat:0.003986
volcaniceruption:0.003207
beautyinnature:0.003089
white:0.003073
atmosphere:0.003054
airship:0.002997
geyser:0.002942
commercial:0.002766
osprey:0.002515
ww2:0.002317
thunderstorms:0.001618
seagull:0.001578
land:0.001569
arete:0.001499
engine:0.001496
windy:0.001495
grain:0.001317
brume:0.001315
sixnations:0.000934
suisse:0.000924
hill:0.000906
kite:0.000777
steam:0.000774
mono:0.000768
bell:0.000758
eagle:0.000735
windfarm:0.000733
circuits:0.000653
lakedistrict:0.000587
mood:0.000538
power:0.000533
outdoors:0.000512
swordfish:0.000493
filmisnotdead:0.000480
inflight:0.000472
danger:0.000398
norfolk:0.000358
anvil:0.000355
photo:0.000340
aisle:0.000336
nopeople:0.000332
mosquito:0.000332
sticker:0.000258
refinery:0.000213
mountainridge:0.000190
seaplane:0.000188
moorland:0.000167
ram:0.000132
whiteout:0.000125
pole:0.000123
grey:0.000115
oceanbeach:0.000110
severe:0.000090
world:0.000087
gull:0.000084
aerial:0.000072
voyage:0.000063
skylovers:0.000063
amazing:0.000063
composition:0.000062
rainy:0.000057
mercury:0.000050
semitrailertruck:0.000049
infrared:0.000048
sunny:0.000045
pirogue:0.000044
yawl:0.000040
heaven:0.000040
wideangle:0.000039
windmill:0.000039
explored:0.000036
analogue:0.000034
first:0.000032
blackandwhitephotography:0.000028
negro:0.000027
dawn:0.000027
noirblanc:0.000026
ishootfilm:0.000026
vr:0.000023
tank:0.000023
fells:0.000022
skies:0.000020
beautiful:0.000019
fineart:0.000018
breakingwave:0.000017
breathtakinglandscapes:0.000017
outside:0.000017
mill:0.000017
mediumformat:0.000016
great:0.000016
dead:0.000015
analogphotography:0.000015
analog:0.000015
solitude:0.000014
tempo:0.000014
haze:0.000013
wallpaper:0.000013
filmcamera:0.000012
alpine:0.000012
extreme:0.000011
monochromatic:0.000010
film:0.000010
flyer:0.000009
heritage:0.000009
giants:0.000009
leafbud:0.000009
flag:0.000009
coastal:0.000007
silence:0.000007
ww1:0.000006
traveling:0.000006
astroland:0.000006
parliament:0.000006
photographie:0.000006
ketch:0.000005
crane:0.000005
outdoor:0.000005
passengership:0.000005
summertime:0.000004
wirerope:0.000004
tabla:0.000004
large:0.000004
peak:0.000004
passengertrain:0.000004
spire:0.000004
travel:0.000003
coast:0.000003
pigeon:0.000003
vivid:0.000003
chile:0.000003
museum:0.000003
hills:0.000003
bnw:0.000003
silhouette:0.000002
expiredfilm:0.000002
sandstorm:0.000002
hell:0.000002
peaceful:0.000002
motion:0.000002
duotone:0.000002
cornwall:0.000002
calm:0.000002
sepia:0.000002
viewcamera:0.000002
oregon:0.000002
taser:0.000002
wide:0.000002
line:0.000002
adventure:0.000002
union:0.000002
cielo:0.000001
hangar:0.000001
bulkcarrier:0.000001
darkroom:0.000001
climber:0.000001
square:0.000001
containership:0.000001
dark:0.000001
ir:0.000001
journey:0.000001
ocean:0.000001
fine:0.000001
platinotype:0.000001
balancebeam:0.000001
crater:0.000001
dam:0.000001
rays:0.000001
mustang:0.000001
surreal:0.000001
signpost:0.000001
surfer:0.000001
stillness:0.000001
morning:0.000001
climb:0.000001
reservoir:0.000001
thunderstorm:0.000001
sloop:0.000001
wreck:0.000001
electricity:0.000001
freestyle:0.000001
postalstationery:0.000001
mount:0.000001
waterscape:0.000001
watch:0.000001
beautifulplaces:0.000001
lighthouse:0.000001
loneliness:0.000001
minimalism:0.000001
expired:0.000001
kitesurfing:0.000000
landscapelovers:0.000000
pacificocean:0.000000
south:0.000000
drycargo:0.000000
countryside:0.000000
spain:0.000000
Is AI going to demotivate or even dilettante photographers? No chance. Has it done so for chess players, mathmeticians, model makers?
Besides, until it grows legs and develops genuine emotions, it will never be able to do the most important thing of all — the one thing that makes great photographs (and great photographers) great: be there, both physically and emotionally, to capture that powerful or beutiful or humerous or desisive moment.
And if it ever DOES manage both, then I guess we could drop the ‘artificial’ bit and just call it intelligence — and if THAT happens, Robby the Robot stealing my camera will be the very least of my concerns! 
Sorry, @snibgo; I meant to post a general reply rather than a reply to you directly.
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It’s either going to turn everything on its head or be a weird fad everyone forgets about and we’re all sitting around in 20 years going “remember those weird chat bot and image generator things?”
It’s either the smartphone or Pogs, nothing in between.
I think, at least as photography goes, this is going to be something akin to the HDR clown fart image craze of the mid-2000s. Everyone did it (don’t lie to me) and it looked new an interesting but it eventually evolved into something more useful and less cartoonish. So far these generative ML made images have a specific look to them like that and it may be harder to shake that than we think. However I can see them growing in usefulness for very specific tasks. Sort of like what that Luminar thing does with the sky replacement already.
A lot of product, food and stock photography is on the way out regardless anyway. 3D rendering has become so good a lot of places just pay someone to render a model of the thing they’re selling instead of using a photographer.
Seems a great tool! Really interesting. IMHO does not really relate to photography though.
I need to have a closer look at https://rundiffusion.com
Ok, lazy me only had a look at Midjourney
Very simple, you join their discord channel, agree to their terms, and start. You basically write what you want to “imagine”. I tried:
/imagine a black and white rainy street scene in the style of Lesser Ury
…and a few Seconds later…
I am seriously impressed…
More like “photography”…
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Intrigued by that suggestion for “submarine” …
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I don’t think this is fad territory, tbh. It’s already very, very effective at what it does and is improving exponentially. A lot of enthusiast photography involves sharing images publicly these days, like it or not. Often the more spectacular or eye catching the better. Even if you don’t do that yourself, I can’t see being able to generate infinite numbers of spectacular pics, or even crappy disposable camera looking pics, in seconds with zero effort not having effects
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I think the real risk with wildlife photography is misuse to attempt to make an average photo into an exceptional one for competitive purposes. Beyond creating or embellishing a scene like an eagle snatching fish or a kingfisher just touching the water in a vertical dive, the ability to re-render motion blurs or critical details takes the talent, patience and luck out of the scene. I know that national outfits like the Audubon society are wrestling with how to keep auto edited photos out of their competitions - usually by requesting the original raw files from potential finalists - but its going to get harder as more commercial mainstream editing programs incorporate AI into their offerings.
I think this is correct. A lot of good photography is about human storytelling, even if it’s the story of the photographer getting the shot rather than the subject matter as such. If the story is entirely made up, or it’s the non-story of a black box ai, things become very weird. You kind feel that when you look at photorealistic portraits (frankly technically better than I have ever taken with a camera) on the video above. It’s unsettling because our brain is saying that’s an actual person but we’re conscious that it’s not. (But then my wife thinks I’m “cheating” when I use Darktable.). If there’s no human behind story the photograph is telling, I’m not sure what that means other than evoking a feeling of the uncanny and perhaps a sense of obsolescence
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Doesn’t stop me looking at “obsolete” film cameras on eBay…
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