Where is landscape photography headed? (Page 7): PROBABLY As AI improves and the images get closer to simulating reality, some will take the cheapest route. But there will be a booming...

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Where is landscape photography headed?

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Sep 1, 2023 15:29:42 #

photogeneralist Loc: Lopez Island Washington State

Bill Hancock wrote:

Thanks for the replies, but my real question is, will the companies that hire photographers start taking the cheaper way out and start generating AI photos and stop using paid photographers? What are your thoughts?

PROBABLY As AI improves and the images get closer to simulating reality, some will take the cheapest route. But there will be a booming demand for skilled AI image generators. Remember the high demand for website creators

Sep 1, 2023 15:31:45 #

User ID

gvarner wrote:

AI is just another photographer out there taking pictures.

Correction, "making" pictures ... exactly what I do with my photo gear, as do some of our creative Hawgsters. Those who merely "take" pictures are, generally, producing exceedingly boring pictures.

Sep 1, 2023 15:36:01 #

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

User ID wrote:

There a solid contingent of Hawgsters who just love to feel offended ... nothing to apologize about. You give them reason to live !

Sep 1, 2023 15:37:50 #

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

User ID wrote:

Correction, "making" pictures ... exactly what I do with my photo gear, as do some of our creative Hawgsters. Those who merely "take" pictures are, generally, producing exceedingly boring pictures.

There is a difference between making a picture and making a photograph. AI makes pictures, a camera makes photographs

Sep 1, 2023 15:38:16 #

User ID

srt101fan wrote:

I’m just trying to figure out why some people are so concerned about AI intruding in the photographic universe. What are the specific “threats”. 🤔

Major threat to Hawgsters: Too many boring AI Landscapes that look just like all those boring landscapes that they make with their photo gear. Its an incovenient truth, showing them to be more emperors without clothes.

Sep 1, 2023 15:39:46 #

russjc001 Loc: South Carolina

This one is not to proper scale but many AI images are very good. So, why would a company use a photographer if they can get an image they like from their computer. If they need to have the photo reflect an actual place, then they may need a photographers image. I have used PS AI to add elements to the sky or foreground while keeping the primary landscape as shot. But it will definitely impact landscape photographers trying to make a living.

Sep 1, 2023 15:39:56 #

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

But what if the picture identifies as a photograph?

Sep 1, 2023 15:41:12 #

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

yssirk123 wrote:

I still enjoy using my camera and visiting different places in real life.

The question is “why do people photograph?”

There may be less need of professionals - and those who sell gear to them - but those who do it ‘for fun’ will continue on.

Sep 1, 2023 15:43:24 #

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

User ID wrote:

Exactly. Hardly a "profession".

Perhaps so. And yet, one can find countless landscape photographic prints for sale for actual US currency in any number of booths, stores, and other venues any day of the week in any of a number of cities and towns. Someone has gone to considerable trouble and expense to capture, prepare, and offer those for sale.

Perhaps I have misused the word "professional. And yet, these numerous individuals have entered their work into the channels of commerce, ostensibly hoping to exchange them for cold, hard cash. So there is a market, at least on the seller side. That is the market I am suggesting will shrink or disappear.

Sep 1, 2023 15:44:19 #

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

User ID wrote:

Those who merely "take" pictures are, generally, producing exceedingly boring pictures.

That is your view. If we’re having fun, we don’t really care what you think.

Sep 1, 2023 15:47:01 #

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

Longshadow wrote:

But what if the picture identifies as a photograph?

I imagine that someday—probably sooner than later—there will be a program or some other way to identify if an image is AI, AI modified, or a photograph.

Sep 1, 2023 16:40:21 #

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Mac wrote:

I imagine that someday—probably sooner than later—there will be a program or some other way to identify if an image is AI, AI modified, or a photograph.

Maybe in the "Camera" & "Program" fields in the picture metadata.
That's where I would put it in things I would create. Camera: AI Generated; Program: <program used>

Sep 1, 2023 16:42:43 #

srt101fan

E.L.. Shapiro wrote:

6 pages and more to come- not a bad conversation.

So, the picture post by OP is a nice scene but it ain't photography in the traditional sense. It might as well have been a painting, a watercolor, a pastel, or whatever medium. In other mediums and art forms, we accept brushstrokes, various interpretations, representations, abstractions, or impressions of water, foliage, ducks, or whatever. In a PHOTOGRAPH some of us wanthe water to run off the print or screen and the duck to QUACK!

So there is photography, painting, graphics, sculpture, basket weaving, and AI- all separated?

As for "landscape"photogahy being sold commercially. Who are the buyers? If they are aficionados of fine art photogahy, they will stick to photography. Calander publishers? May go Ai if it is cheaper unless the are theme clanders- dogs, pussycats, flowers, whatever. National Geographic- AI? I don't think so!

In commercial photography for advertising, etc. That's what I do for a living. Will my entire lot be replaced by robots? Not anytime soon. It's just that the folks who want to stay in the game will have to up the game and produce products that robots cannot. Human relations are still part of business life. Add agencies and advertisers still need to appeal to potential clients and they need to come up with creative concepts. These concepts will oftentimes be presented to commercial photographers who have to create the visuals. In many cases that is still the stuff of HUMAN emotion, creativity, and teamwork.

Photojournalism? I have not yet seen a robot with a press card! Sadly, it wouldn't be a bad idea, many photojournalists have been killed in war zones.

Not using photography for advertising illustration is not new. There are some high fashion retailers who prefer "fashion illustration" and sometimes pen and ink drawings just to show the lines and concept of a garment that a detailed photogahy. AI might be the way the go!

AI is comparatively new in the general photography scene. New things oftentimes become the latest "bogeymen that are going to destroy or endanger traditional photography". There are still some reactionary folks who feel digital photogahy ain't real. After a while, all the new technologies find their niche somewhere in traditional photography work either as a part of the process or as special effects. Some folks will utilize them and some will not!

There will always be a market for traditional photography. The people who want to be paid for their work have to get better at it and market it more effectively. Commercial photographers are not brain surgeons, rocket scientists, or lawyers. We do not deal in life or death, space travel, or justice. We are artists, craftspersons, and/or technicians and we have a product/service to sell and we need to keep it desirable. If you are a hobbyist/enthusiast-worry not! You can take AI or leave it- the robots ain't coming for your camera or your enjoyment of the craft!

6 pages and more to come- not a bad conversation. ... (show quote)

Sep 1, 2023 16:43:25 #

Reuss Griffiths Loc: Ravenna, Ohio

Architect1776 wrote:

How many billions of photos of Niagara Falls are there?
AI generated is good enough for 99.9% of the population. Most don't sit and analyze every pixel.
Ps, paintings are not exact representations of anything either yet people enjoy them as well.

I think you're pushing it a bit to say that AI is good for 99.9% of the population. The point is that there is a significant market for quality. Lots of people watch football games. You can see a high school football game for a couple of bucks but people pay fantastic amounts of money to attend the Super Bowl or college football playoffs. Same for basketball or baseball. A Van Gogh original is worth millions of times what a print sells for. Same for music with rock concerts, etc. The point is that people appreciate differences in quality and are willing to pay for it in large numbers. That being the case, there's a place for professional photographers in that mix. What do you think an original limited-edition Ansel Adams print is worth these days.

Sep 1, 2023 16:46:47 #

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

Longshadow wrote:

Maybe in the "Camera" & "Program" fields in the picture metadata.
That's where I would put it in things I would create. Camera: AI Generated; Program: <program used>

My understanding was that the comment was thinking of people who wanted to ‘hide’ their use of AI, so would make a point of not changing the metadata; analysis would have to be a result of analyzing the picture itself.

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