AI in Photography – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

By enhancing colors, adjusting focus, or improving sharpness, AI-assisted photographs can provide a clearer representation of the moment captured. Ultimately, whether or not AI-assisted photos should be differentiated from raw photos is up for debate. While there are valid arguments on both sides, the most important thing is for photographers to be transparent about their techniques and for viewers to be aware of the potential limitations of AI-assisted images.

However, the problem that is now raising its head is that AI is being used in many photography software packages. Professional Photo magazine had a brief look at some of these packages in an article in issue 203, that included Imagen AI which has paved the way to an entirely new way of working, by providing a full edit based on its AI engine learning how you’ve previously edited your photos, creating an individual profile to suit your signature style, and then batch applying that to any work you process through its system; PortraitPro, which has just released its latest version, has changed the editing game for this type of work; Nvidia Canvas which uses AI to turn simple brush strokes into frighteningly realistic landscape photographs (left), and Midjourney which is so new it’s still in its Beta stage, and it’s only accessible through Discord, which is a server-based community. With Midjourney you can create any unique texture or image you want, and the best thing is that it’s so fast, and it provides incredibly detailed results. We input a prompt of ‘landscape, autumn, leaves, realistic,’ and it gave the results you see to the left. You can even upscale them to get higher resolution versions that will then be usable in photo art.

Then there is Adobe Photoshop’s AI-powered tools, such as Adobe Sensei, which can be used for tasks like selecting and masking objects, automatically enhancing images, and generating alternative compositions. Skylum Luminar uses AI-powered editing tools to enhance images, such as its AI Sky Enhancer and AI Structure tools. Topaz Labs offers several AI-powered plugins for photo editing software,  such as  Topaz AI  Gigapixel for   enlarging   images without losing  quality and Topaz Sharpen AI for correcting blurry images. Google Photos uses AI to automatically organize and enhance photos, such as by adjusting brightness, contrast, and color balance. DxO PhotoLab has AI-powered features such as DxO Smart Lighting, which can automatically adjust exposure and contrast in images. These are just a few examples of photo software that utilize AI to improve the editing and enhancement process. As AI continues to develop and improve, it is likely that more photography software will incorporate AI-powered tools and features.