Photography or AI?
Admittedly, I'm finding it increasingly difficult to distinguish a real photo from an AI-generated one. I think most people feel the same way. Recently, I noticed how some fellow photographers commented on a photo on Instagram that was clearly generated by AI... although there's no proof.
No, it's not the photo above. For legal and personal reasons, I cannot and will not show any third-party AI images here. Therefore, here are instructions for generating your own AI images; more on that later. The photo above shows the Bölchen (Belchenfluh) around 1291. I recently received this photo from the Swiss Federal Archives and digitally enhanced and recolored it. Of course, all of this is nonsense! I created the photo with Gemini; you can see the prompts in the following screenshot.
Download Gemini from Google, pay 5 francs a month, and with a little skill, you'll be able to take photos that are almost indistinguishable from real ones. You'll be celebrated as a great photographer. These AI tools are constantly improving, and in the foreseeable future, the modern photographer who doesn't move with the times will be left behind... Of course, this photo is still a long way from a realistic Bölchen photo. You know that because you're involved in photography. And what about the others? Isn't it possible that exactly this kind of photo will eventually be considered real? You just have to keep showing it at different times of the year? As the propaganda expert in the Third Reich said: "If you tell a big lie and repeat it often enough, people will eventually believe it." Just recently, someone in a Facebook group accused me of mostly creating my photos with AI. When I started with landscape photography, AI would have been nothing more than a new kind of bread spread for all photographers. There was nothing like it. Ten years ago, the biggest "cheat" was considered to be time blending—two photos taken at different times of day or on different days. Nobody talks about that anymore! AI has taken over. Fog waves are still very popular, but photographers are getting older, too. Some need more sleep, others are suffering from early morning restlessness. Now, after a good night's sleep, you can create a magnificent fog wave photo in the cozy warmth of your fireplace!
The fog was added later using AI.
You can see how this is done in the text in the top right of the screenshot. Try it out, you'll see how easy it is. Maybe then you'll be able to see the "tricks" on social media platforms better. In the EU, you have to/should/should label such photos as AI, but in Switzerland, nobody asks about it yet! Now that all of this has come across as rather lighthearted and fun (hopefully), let's move on to the more serious aspect of AI in photography. But first, to lighten things up, here's a Bölchenfluh AI picture. Here, too, a real photo was digitally enhanced with fog.
Of course, I can make fun of AI tinkering here; it doesn't affect me anymore, I'm retired. Conventional photography with a camera and lens is only worthwhile for a very small number of professional photographers these days. If you drive through a town and look at the billboards on either side, you'll quickly realize that 90% of them are AI-generated photos. These used to be mostly photos taken by photographers who earned their living from it. Today, such posters are generated in advertising departments; it's much cheaper and still looks good. Practically no one who isn't involved in photography notices.
This photo above will no longer exist in this form. It made me a lot of money with extremely little expense. (I reached the location by e-bike, a 5-minute ride from home.) I'm sure an AI-generated image will hang there in the next few years, and nobody will notice. This list could go on endlessly. There simply won't be any more commissions for photographers to create advertising posters. That sector is lost. What will probably always exist are commissions for tourism organizations, SMEs, or documentaries. Before we continue, here's a little AI-generated break picture.
Looking back on my time as an active photographer, I'm left with so many wonderful memories, countless hours spent with fellow photographers in nature, waiting for the perfect light. Countless trips and funny stories. Of course, money was always involved; when two photographers own the same photo, it can inevitably lead to a dispute sooner or later. I know this all too well: you discover a fantastic spot, and your colleague sells the photo for a pittance and a pat on the back, or they make a few hundred euros off your idea, and you're left empty-handed. I've experienced it all. The negative aspects could go on and on. Okay, things weren't quite so bad around 2015 because commissions and orders were pouring in. Looking around the scene today, I notice that many professional photographers are working solo again. But AI isn't going away, and I wonder how much longer professional landscape photographers will exist. Another thing landscape photography is lacking is a new generation of young photographers. When I see how desperately workshops are being recruited these days... things were very different in my day... Alpine view from the Bölchenflue, of course AI.
Finally, a few personal thoughts: Every photographer's ego comes first, but very few admit it. It's probably no different for me, although I see things a bit differently. For me, it's always been about give and take. But please, no tears now, or I'll show you another AI picture... Ah yes... just recently, I had the pleasure of creating three AI landscape photos for a small or medium-sized enterprise (SME)... for a fee, of course... if that's how you can make money these days... I could elaborate on what a solution might be, but precisely because of the inflated egos of photographers, let's leave it at that... I hope you enjoyed this and will stick around! If you're new here, I'd be delighted if you subscribed to my newsletter. That way, you'll be notified every time a new blog post is online. You'll find the subscription at the very bottom of every page! Others promise "enjoyable reading," but only with me will you truly have fun, at least most of the time...
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