AI in photography: Using artificial intelligence to your advantage

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming more and more popular. Whether you’re a fan of it or not, there’s no denying it’s being used more regularly in everyday life and will continue to do so.

So, what is AI exactly? In simple terms, it uses computer programmes to carry out tasks that normally require human intelligence. It can help with a variety of tasks, such as data analysis, language processing, and image and video recognition, and is beneficial when it comes to helping with creative tasks such as photography.

AI in photography can be used to create completely new photos from scratch or edit existing photos by carrying out tasks such as auto-enhancing or removing objects. In this guide, we’ll look at how to use AI in photography and the future of AI in photography.

How AI can help with post-production of photography

The history of AI and photography first started with AI photography editing tools. Before AI, editing photos was an arduous task and took significant time. However, using AI tools can now help simplify the process and enhance the editing process.

With editing software such as Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom using AI features it can automatically enhance photos by adjusting sharpness, saturation, colour and exposure, as well as the ability to remove unwanted objects, to name a few. AI in photography will reduce editing time, ensuring the photos are consistent with your style. It can detect and correct imperfections that aren’t visible to the human eye and generate artistic effects to enhance your photos.

AI can also be used to sort and manage photo libraries. It uses facial recognition which enables automatic tagging of individuals in photos, reducing organisation time significantly.

You don’t have to be a professional photographer to take a high-quality photo. With AI integrated into smartphones, you can transform a simple photograph into a high-quality, professional-looking one in a matter of seconds. For instance, Apple uses AI to enhance colour and lighting and to improve night mode.

AI algorithms are used to identify scenes, objects, and human faces, enabling the camera to adjust settings such as exposure, contrast, and saturation to produce the best possible image quality. Have you ever watched those memory movies on your phone? Well, your phone creates these by using AI.

Related: 10 UK street photographers you need to know about

Generative AI

Generative AI can produce a brand new image from a written command. With AI tools like Midjourney and Stable Diffusion, you can create high-quality, professional-looking images by inputting a text command. Crazy, isn’t it? But how does it work? Generative AI models are trained on masses of image data sets so it learns pattens and structures of real images. It will then use its knowledge to generate new images with similar characteristics.

The benefit is that you don’t have to be a professional photographer or even own photography equipment to produce professional looking images or photos. The more detailed the prompt the more detailed the final result, but even a simple prompt can create incredible images. The accessibility to produce fast, professional images and graphics is a game changer, especially for businesses that require a quick turnaround time. Apart from a minimal monthly subscription fee, the ability to create amazing, high quality images comes at a very low cost.  

Related: What is shutter count, and why does it matter?

Ethical issues

The rise of AI in photography and art has become controversial. One of the main reasons for this is it can sometimes be hard to differentiate between real photography or art and AI-generated images.

Photography is a great skill—people train for years to be able to do it as a career, whereas AI can produce a photograph in a matter of seconds. It can be argued that AI has the potential to devalue these skills and human creativity, potentially putting jobs at risk.  
AI can generate or change images of real people, leading to consent and privacy violations concerns and a lack of transparency, where the lines are blurred as to whether the image is real or AI-generated.

Deepfakes raise serious concerns. This is where fake AI-generated images of people—potentially showing them in situations they’ve never been in—result in fake news and spreading misinformation.  

Copyright and ownership are also a massive cause for concern. As mentioned previously, AI is trained on pre-existing images from the internet, and yes, some of these can be copyrighted photos. This can lead to debates over copyright and intellectual property rights, as the original artist may not have been credited or compensated.

Related: The 3 essential camera filters (and how to use them)

The future of AI in photography

Instead of fighting against AI, the general consensus in the photography world is to use it to your advantage. AI can be incredible for saving professional photographers time when using its cutting-edge technology to enhance and better their portfolios.

There’s no denying that AI’s algorithms will become more sophisticated, and its capabilities will advance. Potential advantages include real-time scene optimisation and auto-styling where AI can be trained to understand a photographer’s portfolio to help continually produce photos in their own specific style, helping to maintain brand consistency.

AI can be used whether you’re a professional photographer or not. So explore, experiment and embrace it. It could take your photography to the next level.

Specialist photography insurance through Ripe

Whether you’re a professional or amateur photographer, you may want to protect your photography equipment with specialist photography insurance.

Through Ripe, you can cover up to £60k of equipment for theft and accidental damage, so you can enjoy your shoots with peace of mind. You can get a free online quote here.