Whilst enjoying some landscape photography and photographing the seasonal delight of autumn colour, I discuss some of my concerns with Skylum Luminar AI photo editing software. After seeing a video about Luminar AI editing software I went out in to the field with my camera. I was looking for compositions and thinking about each and every image, how the light was falling on the subject, the colour, the shapes, the weather – all things which need considering when practicing landscape photography. It occurred to me that the future of AI editing might negatively impact how people practice landscape photography.
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#LandscapePhotography #LuminarAI
Original source
44 responses to “AI Editing Will Ruin Photography As We Know It”
Think you will be buying loads of beers as who wouldnt stay to the end given the collection of images you have shared today. A cracking set Thomas and you definitely made the most of the conditions
In terms of the AI debate, I would imagine there will be an argument by some people against any changes to an image that dosent replicate what was seen on the day. I love fine art architecture photography and use Photoshop to achieve a look that in reality dosent exist, so is this different to AI software. You called it when you spoke about integrity and I think it is how you are trying to promote/present yourself if you are sharing your images that is the key here.
I couldn't agree more. Understand this: A software's company vision is to keep you in front of the computer, using the software. Luminars goal is this…You will be able to take any composition, any photo of anything in the world. The computer will generate it and retouch any way you like. Composite and sky, leading line, color grade or objects….and here's the kicker….YOU WILL NEVER HAVE TO TAKE YOUR ASS OUT OF YOUR CHAIR TO DO IT. AI is dangerous. Thomas, you are correct, it will kill photography as we know it,
As a guy who grew up with rotary dial phones, no computers or internet, and using film cameras, I think AI is the easy way out for those who don't want to take the time to learn their craft. Don't get me wrong, it would be fun to play around with if you already know your way around photography, but…
I completely agree with you, when AI starts editing photos to the point of it being so far from reality we lose the sense of human touch. This applies to all forms of art in my opinion, when a computer takes over the creative process it's not real anymore. I hope that people can sense when a photographer has been taken and manipulated by people and not AI software.
I agree with you, AI does take away from what I think is a real image. Yes, some call it a "tool" and that is great. If that is true, perhaps these photographers do not need to even leave their desks, it can all be done with PS (and AI) can it not?
No No No…..its false… and wrong wrong wrong. Trouble is people who have no idea look at these photos and say WOW, what a wonderful photo. No its Fake. I am even not greatly happy with photoshop. Crop and clean up, lightly enhance. What would be said if you did all that in the dark room years ago. You would be ousted and called a fake. Rant over
I think how people use AI editing is what really matters, it's not like you HAVE to make huge changes to the pictures with AI. I think AI is good if you just want to quickly make some small changes without spending a ton of time. Also, I think it's gonna be huge for phone photography. Not to mention Luminar AI is cheaper than Ps + Lr
And what is the ad that I see before the video runs? Luminar AI.
Just watching this made my mood so much better. And I agree with you on the AI thing.
Luminar is, basically, software for the polishing of turds.
I consider AI not as photography but as another form of graphics, more to the side of composing drawings/pictures/forms etc.
Following your reasoning, paint in tubes ruined a tradition of laborious atelier work. Many 19th century painters went outside and painted on the spot. Often they had to be quick, so skipped details. They were later called "impressionists", who put in or left out what they thought best. By the way, Luminar, which I am starting with, only gives you suggestions. You can accept, reject or adapt to any degree.
A hydrophobe coated filter hardly gets wet and wiping will rarely leave smears.
24:29. This image is my absolute favorite. I just love these huge trees with wide branches ๐๐ผ
Minor adjustments and editing is OK, but I absolutely share your worries about AI software. Its like a shortcut, where you can make illusions and dramatic images without any real creativity in the process other than clicking with the mouse. The World will be fake anyway. Fake news, fake music etc.
Which filter is best for purple fringing in high contrast areas?
Photography is already ruined, there must be a challenge facing an activity or art to mean something, anything. photography is a joke. a monkey could do it. aim and shoot my friend. aim and shoot ๐
Well see, myself I don't like changing my skies and shit, but that's my opinion,. If someone else can and want to do it that's totally fine for me, it wont ruin the photography or whatever. Art is art, you can remove everything from your and replace is with fake stuff and this will be as good as the real photo because in the end of the day we are creators and we create ART. And ART does not have borders and should not have borders, There is no such a thing as ''photography should be this and that'' if for you photography should be extremely realistic and untouched that's fine, but that doesn't mean it should be the same for everybody else. Some people do it because they want to recreate their vision and not reality, so everybody should be free to express his form of art ๐
Iโve used it once or twice subtly. I added some puffy clouds to a bland blue sky. I didnโt drop in a dramatically different sky. I think thatโs the limit for me. Iโm just sure where the ethical limit is. I think thatโs the question. When is manipulation unethical. I do not believe in zero. We are creating art. But I feel there may be a point where itโs too much. Not sure how to define that.
Who controls the subtitles? Being deaf I need them to enjoy your video.
Iโm sure portrait painters thought their world was over when the camera was invented
Thomas, help please. There are no subscripts on this video. We deaf people cannot "hear" you without them.
I feel like this is the first true review of this software, your own opinion about it even though we did not see your use of it in this video.
That being said, the software does not do everything on its own. There is intention to editing. Ultimately, it is just a tool to get you where you think you should go.
You said it yourself, the Canon was crucial to your video. You would not be able to make these photos if you were not using this camera. Does this mean your pictures are not just your doing, but also thanks to Canon? I think so. But your intention makes all the difference.
AI sculpted images are a different breed, your work will go on. I would not consider them in the same sense, because the intention is different.
It can be as far from what you do as taking tintypes. It is not a matter of replacing, it's just a different category.
That's just the way I see it.
This is another discussion about "acceptable ways" to make Art. ๐คท๐ฝโโ๏ธ Basically what level of "snobbery" is acceptable. Make Art the way you wish to. With Luminar as a tool, or not.
Regarding AI images, I feel if the photos are categorized as such like, Landscape Composite, then you are still an artist creating a new image. As far as shooting in the rain, if I can get the shot from my truck, then I'm happy.
Great Reminder – use wider apertures to gain focus in Woodland photography. As for AI, you're either enamored with your Camera or with computer software. When you enjoy creating with your camera, you utilize software to enhance. If you're a computer geek, then you take any photo & manipulate that – having a camera may not even be part of your activity or fuel for your computer play.
I have the L4 and can have fun with it as it does have some good sliders but I just hate to put them fake skies on. I get a lot of ads about the L AI but I donโt think I want to go on that path. I think you are absolutely right about it.
Beer pls tom!
Completely agree about AI software. As an amateur photographer I very much enjoy the rewarding feeling of being in the right place at the right time to capture a good image in the right conditions. To take an image on a bland overcast day and transform it with AI software into an epic golden hour shot by changing the sky, the lighting, etc. would feel like cheating to me. And if I'm viewing an image that I know is the product of AI, I appreciate it far, far less.
I don't use it but …
My process for every RAW shot is:
1, highlights and shadows
2, clarity
3, contrast
4, whites then blacks
5, crop to taste
and that is it!
4a, oh and sometimes a little dehaze ๐
So I suppose I'm modifying the photo eh?
"I had a dull trip in bad weather, but the photos show a different story" These AI programs might be good for event or portrait shooting, but for landscapes it would just be fake. That said, we all edit our photots in part to make it look better than reality…so that AI stuff is not that a radical step anyway. Cheers, nice video.
Really nice content Thomas. Good weather conditations. At the moment i dont like edeting. It feels not right for me. Maybe it will change in the future. I dont know.
Anything overdone is blemishing! Moderation . . . . .
Nothing wrong with AI if that's what you want, in my opinion. Surely it's just the extreme end of post processing? Not everything has to be real, but I agree no-one should try to pass it off as being real. If it was discovered that the Mona Lisa was not an accurate painting of a real woman, but was largely made up out of da Vinci's imagination, would the painting be suddenly worthless? And on that topic, isn't Picasso, for example, like the Luminar version of painting, creating images guided by his own imagination rather than making faithful copies of something real?
Watched all 30:40 so Iโll hold you up on that beer haha
Amazing content as usual
IMO, I think AI Software will have it's place. For landscapes though, I'd still prefer it how the weather is when I went out to create the image. I mean like Street photos, it leaves a memory and the experience in shooting is something that I want to keep on the photo. I think AI software will be great for event photographers or any field that shoots a lot of frames and needs that quick processing to deliver their outputs within a given deadline.
I have just received a copy of Luminar AI to try. What I want is software that is quick and easy to use that delivers an improvement to the scene as I saw it. I don't want to change the sky, add the space shuttle or anything that the creative section (maybe that should be called the cheat section) can easily do or make the image vastly different from how it looked when I was there. The template section uses AI to recognise the scene and suggest templates to try. You can then see what that template has changed and quickly make adjustments to achieve your own desired outcome. That seems to suit my requirements but requires restraint in the same way as using HDR or even a polarising filter does. I don't do portrait photography but if I did again the AI can quickly correct some of the things portrait photographers would normally do. You don't have to create an entirely different person – just because you have a bigger hammer you don't need to use it to knock in a small nail. The clone and stamp tool and the dodge and burn are really simple to use. First impressions are good but, like any software it is important to use it wisely. If it achieves my aim of reducing processing time so I can spend more time out in the rain taking wonderful images like yours it will have enhanced rather than ruined my photography.
Great photos Paul and great to see you out and about and at it ๐๐ผ
Hi Thomas, thanks for sharing :–) Sorry to ask this, but I watch your videos from France and I don't have sub title and translate option in your video settings, to help me, can you change that please ? Thank you very much
anything that gets people more interested in taking photographs, not just selfies, is good in my book.
AI is here to stay, so even if you hate it – it is good to familiarise with the enemy. Also while the purists will be gasping over it, kids on instagram taking photos with their phone and pushing sliders left to right will be raking in the dosh. Computational photography and cloud asisted editing has been available to phone users for a long time. It is finally starting to reach the big camera world
I absolutely cringed when I saw that wet canon body and lens! Yes I know itโs weather sealed, hmm. I just canโt bring myself to do that to my gear. Guess Iโm not hardcore enough.
Fantastic shots.
I was taught to get the photo right in camera as much as possible, and that's how I approach landscape photography. I believe the danger of AI is that you may become lazy in the field and just figure you can fix everything in post. That takes away from the true art of photography in my opinion. That being said, I'm not opposed to people using such tools if they want to. So to each his own.
I started using Luminar 4 a few months ago (Not sure what advantage the upcoming Luminar AI would provide). I'm not a purist. I've occasionally used it to replace a sky when I really liked a shot and wanted to use it, but the original sky was a boring solid blue. I did take some flak for that from some people when I mentioned I'd done that. I will only replace them with my own sky shots, however. If I'm just creating artwork for my own pleasure and sometimes gifts, I see no problem. I think the most I pushed the fakery were some midday photos from Palo Duro canyon where I darkened the sky to look like night, added stars and put an enlarged moon into. Not realistic, but I was very happy with the results.