The use of AI in the photography industry, and how we use it at Sydney Rose Portraits LLC
Hot button issue alert! Hot button issue alert! But, seriously, it’s about time we discussed AI here on the blog.
AI is being used in every step of the photographer’s workflow, and within the art industry as a whole, whether you know it or not. However, the degree of AI involvement varies drastically from photographer to photographer. As someone with complicated feelings on AI, I wanted to explain my thoughts on AI, how I use it in my workflow so that you know how SRP is operating, and what you’re signing up for AI-wise when you book with me.
How I Have Seen AI Used In the Industry
For photographers specifically, AI can be incorporated into a large part of the workflow, from small AI assisted tasks to AI creation.
Administrative tasks
Culling is a huge part of a photographer’s workload. Culling, also a term used in farming, basically means sifting through each individual photo and getting rid of those photos that aren’t going to make it to the editing round — think photos where someone’s eyes are closed or where someone got in the way of the camera.
Photographers have begun using AI programs to identify those photos and get rid of them instead of doing it by hand. Many photographers also use AI software to sort through their emails as well.
Another task that’s been turned over to AI is website or blog maintenance. Here at Sydney Rose Portraits, though, that’s all done by a real person. Yes, I am a human and I am writing this blog (even though that’s exactly what a computer pretending to be a human would say).
Social media postings often get turned over to the robots as well, since posts are easy to schedule in Instagram and captions can be AI generated with the click of a mouse.
Editing
The use of AI in editing runs the gamut, again, from big things to small corrections. AI is built into a lot of Lightroom now, the photo editing software, and provides easy edits at the ready.
Subject masking, using AI to select a small portion of the photo to edit, noise reduction and sharpening, which enhance photo quality and remove imperfections, and generative remove, which can magically wipe away unwanted background presences, are all common uses of AI in photo editing.
AI Uses I Disagree With
I am a huge advocate for authenticity in photography. Being your true self on camera with your true love is something I value. So when AI is used to fake things, that’s when I start to disagree.
Using AI to fake weddings, missed moments, or to create things for your profile that you have captured feels counterintuitive to the art we as photographers are creating, and goes against the grain of my personal creative process.
AI systems are trained on creative work without consent, compensation, or attribution to the artist they are artificially emulating. Stealing art is never okay in my book!
Plus, heavy AI use has proven to take a toll on the environment, and I don’t support destroying the Earth.
How I Use AI
I use AI for help with social media. As a small business, we have to do everything ourselves, and I’d rather put my time into my clients, and that goes for everything, not just AI.
I use AI to save time in administrative duties so I can really be with my clients as a person, and invest in other real people. I’ll also use AI for removing small but tedious things in images — if it’s big, I will do the old fashioned way because I can be more consistent — but that’s really about it.
AI is a tool, and while it can be used, it shouldn’t be the cog in the machine of your business that everything relies on. And it definitely shouldn’t de-center humans. Working in art, I think we must rely on humans, and I certainly do in my business.
When you contact me, you will never be speaking or emailing with AI. You’ll be speaking with me. When you read blogs, you’re reading writing done by real people who are being paid for their talents, time, and work.
When I create art, I do it with and for humans. My art is inspired by real people, and continues to reflect all real love.
