Artificial Intelligence In Photography: 5 Cases That Modify Photography

Future Of Photography Using AI

Artificial intelligence is helping us do things much faster and much better today. Especially in photography and where our smartphones are equipped with cameras equipped with AI, with their software including machine learning functions. We can thus have more time devoted to creativity and less time to spend on recurring problems.

One question remains for all photographers: will artificial intelligence change their activity?

In this article, Depositphotos exposes 5 ways in which AI is currently modifying photography and gives examples of technologies that make this possible.

1. The Photo Without Camera

From the first images in the 19th century, the principle of photography was clear : to share with others what our eyes could not see. Being defined as artisanal, photography was the art of literally recording light to create lasting images. It therefore required special technical skills. Finally ! until now.

Cases That Modify Photography

Today the more contemporary technology evolves, the more the question mark on the initial idea of ​​sharing and light recording grows. This became particularly evident with the publication by Microsoft of the Drawing Bot , which just generates images from captions.

Even more interesting, you don't have to include a lot of detail in the description to get a relevant result.

Some basic information such as "yellow body, black wings and short beak" was enough to obtain the profile of a bird. At Microsoft, they also say that the image will likely contain details that do not appear in the legend.

This shows that this “Cartoon robot” not only uses artificial intelligence, but also has an artificial imagination. 

2. Photography Without A Photographer!

Ten years ago, technical talents and a keen eye were a must for both professionals and amateurs. Nowadays, even a newborn baby with a smartphone can take a decent snapshot.

The artificial intelligence camera of the Apple iPhone 11 Pro makes it possible to take photos in difficult conditions and not to spend a lot of energy finding the perfect angle.

Best Quality Photos Without Any Professional Photographer

By the time you press the shutter button, the iPhone camera will already capture eight images. All of these images will be compared and merged to obtain the best possible version of the captured photo. 

There is also another technology that is at the forefront, the Google Clips object which approaches the photo with a completely different perspective. The Google Clips somewhat overlooks the role of the photographer.

Technology allows us to be in the snapshot, to take images and capture living moments at time T. It will therefore profoundly transform certain clichés of commercial photography .

Using the people detection algorithm, the Google Clips camera analyzes familiar faces and activities performed in a room. This is to automatically capture authentic moments.

This Google photographic object does not have a screen or user interface, but you will find on your smartphone the pictures it will take. 

3. Rethinking Photo Collections With AI

Artificial intelligence was created to make our lives easier. It has never been easier to store terabytes (TB) of photos and quickly and accurately find what you need.

The vivid example is the Google Cloud Vision API which allows you to securely store images, browse and process millions of photos. It can detect their metadata: faces, landmarks, handwriting, text and other important details. Details that are generally overlooked by management systems.

Digitize Your Photos

This technology is particularly useful for photo editors. Google has partnered with the New York Times to digitize their photo archives of around 5 to 7 million items. But they also created an infrastructure, which gives immediate access to the office's archives.

This technology not only makes it possible to cover what is happening now, but to see the big picture. It also makes it possible to draw the context, of what preceded the current events. 

4. Process Images With Fewer Resources 

We are told that within 5 to 10 years, photography will be led by artificial intelligence. Photographers will be able to easily manage technical operations and procedures. The images we capture, even with a smartphone, will be of much better quality.

The Quality Images With The Technology

This was already made possible when Apple launched HEIF , for High-Efficiency Image Format. A format intended for devices upgraded to iOS 11 or later.

It allows an image quality superior to JPEG but occupying half the space. You can now store many more images on your devices and iCloud Photos without compromising on quality .

5. Generation Of Fake Instead Of Post-Production 

Editing and post-production applications using AI, are already used in reality modification. This happens in particular thanks to the GAN (Generative Adversarial Network) - a machine learning algorithm, which improves but also generates images.

The Fake Celebrity Image Secret

As an example, Nvidia has published an article in which they show how to create images of unsurpassed quality, using two parts of the GAN: the generator and the discriminator.

They made fake celebrity images, which look exactly like them. In order for GAN to generate new images, technology must address a wide visual spectrum. In addition to creating fake faces, GAN can modify a person's emotions, age and facial expressions.

Nvidia is not alone in experimenting with the generation of fake celebrity images, the world has already been invaded by virtual influencers, such as Lilmiquela .

In Conclusion 

After evaluating dozens of artificial intelligence technologies, the conclusion could lead us to think that developments in this field are as exciting as they can be frightening.

An API like Google Cloud Vision gives us the opportunity to make efforts to make the world a better place.

For example, we can now easily discover forgotten stories and share them with others. On the other hand, we are also faced with a technology which modifies the idea and the function of things and which can simulate reality.

All these fears and hopes had already been echoed in the visual trends of 2020 (see the report by Depositphotos) and in the categories of visuals most appreciated on the Depositphotos platform.

Depositphotos Communicates brand values ​​through the stories of contributors. You can find them on the Depositphotos blog or on their Facebook page. The heroes of these stories are illustrators and photographers who have managed to find their artistic voice.

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