We can't believe what we see anymore. The photograph's legendary credibility, which has been steadily eroding for the last century, has finally hit bottom with the introduction of generative AI. Images and videos can no longer be submitted as courtroom evidence. Seeing isn't believing. The value of an image has plummetted.
So I've been toying with this idea of starting a new brand of portraiture business, one that goes BACK to the days of film and hand-made darkroom work and marketing it to the millionaires who spend their summer vacations on Cape Cod every year. (We live just minutes from Cape Cod, so it's a good fit.)
As a test, I threw this prototype website together to test the messaging. What do you think?
What do you think? Will this idea fly?
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Oh, wait... Maybe Generative AI is the answer!
Ever since I wrote the first overview of Generative AI for Cameracraft Magazine back in 2023, I've been kind of obsessed with the ideas and started following the industry closely, waiting for the tools to reach a certain level of maturity. Some of my favorite experimental videos from other people include shorts that portray Elvis Presley in various pop-culture roles: As Matt Dillion from Gunsmoke, as Dr. Who, in the movie Jaws, auditioning as Han Solo in the original Star Wars movie, on the set of The Wizard of Oz, and as the Captain of the Enterprise. (Also, while I thought the AI-generated song I used in my Uganda post was impressive, that's nothing compared to this track of "Baby Shark" done in 1950's Soul style).
This is the future of filmmaking. One person and a keyboard. But how is it done?
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| Made this last May. Almost there but not quite... |
And this is one of the bigest problems with generative AI - it's a very hit-and-miss proposition. For every great image you may see online, there were probably 100 failed attempts to get there. You're at the mercy of the algorithm, and you generally have little control over the fine details of the final image.
But there are tools that offer you more control than just typing a prompt. One of the most important ones is something called ComfyUI, a stable diffusion front-end that gives you lots of control, providing fields (called 'nodes') for both positive and negative prompts, specifying which models to use, ControlNet Nodes for image conditioning, Utility Nodes for image manipulation, and various Custom Nodes for advanced features. It's so complex that it reminds me of the analog Moog synthesizers of the 1960's (in fact they're wired up similarly!). It's not easy but the process gives you unprecedented control.
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| Learning the complexities of Generative AI is analagous to learning the Moog synthesizer in the 1960's. (Below.) But it sure gives you the kind of control you just can't get anywhere else! |
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| Moog synthesizer from the 1960's. |
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| Me at various stages of my life. |
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| Our youngest grandson with his idol, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson |
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| The "Before" image: This was last year's attempt to create an image of Carol and her father (who died in 2010). The likenesses are awful and it looked like it was made with AI. |
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| Here's the new version, created using my new methodology. It looks like a real picture instead of an AI image. These tools are finally ready for prime time! |
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| A better picture of me and my grandfather. |
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| A daughter reunited with her long-deceased father. |
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| We had two cats over the years who have since died. They never met each other. Here's an image of Carol holding them both. The likenesses are amazing. |
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| A better image of the King of Busoga |
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| No AI that I know of can handle this many image uploads and still retain likenesses. |
- Parents with grown children who want a "snapshot" of how their kids have aged through the years.
- Parents who have lost children can have an up to date family portrait showing, which includes updating the visible age of the participants. (See my blog post about rememberance photography to learn about how valued such images are to the families.)
- Widows and Widowers can smile a little when they see themselves reunited with their spouses.
- Pet owners who wish to be "reunited" with their best friends.
- Large family reunion composits can be created.
- It can bring some comfort to families with military members who are POWs or MIAs. Or veterans who lost friends during wars. Or an aging progression of one person's journey through the military.
Hi Gary I'm happy to see that you ad exploring a film business. I have too, to pay for the film of course... and recently I had pitched an idea where I could do a shoot like you show here with the novelty being that the pictures are one off. they also have the negs with the prints and there will never be another copy of the exact image ever. it appeals to the people I spoke to who saw value in an image being one of in the world and special where they can walk up to it and really take it in as a print rather than have a thousand forgettable images on their phones they feel compelled to share
ReplyDeleteFascinating idea. I hope you enjoy it and that it takes off.
ReplyDeleteGary, interesting concept but I think if you wait until next year to start this venture the technology will be way beyond what it is today and I suspect much easier to use. Meaning your idea to do this for people may engage with a few but in the end most people will be able to do it very easily on their phones. I gave up trying to keep up with what the technology is capable of doing and for now just read the headlines about the next innovation and occasionally generate an AI image just for fun...sit back and marvel at the stars!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think I have about a 3-year window to market this before everyone can get great results. But the response so far has been pretty amazing. It might be different if I start marketing this to "normal people" (i.e., non-photographers).
DeleteI didn't realize you had curly blonde hair. And a black nose.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea. I also like the look of monochrome. I used to shoot a roll a day. - Bill
Sure! Didn't you see the movie, "My life as a dog"? That was all about me! 😂
DeleteCoincidentally I've been thinking about getting that kind of b&w studio portrait of myself, similar to what was done when I was a kid in the 1940s. Looking to see if any local photographers offer that (none found yet). But, I don't want to get into a $2K package, given it is not a set of family members, but just myself.
ReplyDeleteGary, you could not be more on the mark! I came of age in a darkroom and what to see is pretty much the real thing. We were saving history with those one B&W images. AI photos of today are not the history of anything but your imagination. My dad and I setup our first darkroom and it was magic!
ReplyDeleteGary - fantastic image of you, you, you, you and you on the couch - Super creative Aimaging!
ReplyDeleteIt reminds me that I need to hurry up and further coax my Perplexity Pro AI Agent to finish building a time machine in my garage so that I can visit my past and future selves and others in real time! It might even make for a catchy Christmas story...
Barry
GARY; Thanks for your recent invention: I find the idea, to combine timely separated portraits in a single new picture for better and concise remembrance real nice. Thanks for offering to create those for your customers and followers. With warm regards, Michael (Germany)
ReplyDeleteIt’s a great idea and pitched at the right place I feel. It’s something that should be “an experience” in addition to the image making. And as a person who had large format work framed, rather ironically the framing usually cost more than what was in it. Maybe you could team with a craftsman frame maker.
ReplyDeleteOn the topic of generative AI, it has it’s place as a creative tool although it’s horribly abused by some, like digital filters. I use it sparingly and infrequently, nearly always to help if I crop too tight when taking an image.
Good luck with your venture, I suspect the time is right for what you propose.
Keith
Very well written blog. A photo's credibility is finally gone, having been lingering on for many years. It's a novel, wonderful idea to sit in the time machine and bring in the dark room adventures of film photography, but in the present fast paced living, can you afford to spend hours in dark room which you did in youth? It's such a contrast to be asking nanobanana to do it for you while you make apple pie for christmas. I tend to agree when you say AI generated stuff is crap, and I think the surface excitement and social indigestion of the massive serving of this pudding will fizzle out very shortly, but it's here to stay and get worse with inroads into every walk of life. What a life it was, and I can understand your urge to travel back in time... Have you got an extra seat in your time machine?
ReplyDelete:-)
DeleteI still keep a toe in film for the reasons you cite, and would suggest, moreover, that more of us dust off our film cameras and lenses, and get them serviced to see if they still can work (sadly this means that a lot of the 90s cameras may never come back to life as the electronics are often unsalvageable). Authenticity and tangibility are going to become more and more precious as anything entirely digital will come with the automatic presumption of fakery (guilty until proven otherwise). I had some just perfect Autumnal shots this year, but when showing them to people who don't know my other work, their first question was often "that isn't AI?"
ReplyDeleteGary,
ReplyDeleteThe ideas that you posted in your recent blog regarding are intriguing but, like you, the thought of going back to film days is not appealing. I began my love affair with cameras and photography go back to my first camera gifted to me in 1939 (a folding Kodak). This led to a succession of cameras such as Argus A2, Argus C3, Retina ??, Linhoff 4x5, and many more. I still have several film cameras that gather dust on a shelf in a storage cabinet but although the thought of loading film into any of them no longer holds any intrigue.
On the other hand I just love my Sony A7M2. It is the perfect camera for me. That camera, a 13x19 printer and Adobe Lightroom on my computer have replaced the film winders, plates, film holders, enlarger, trays, chemicals, timers and lights of old. Fortunately I never considered professional photography as a chosen profession and I do not sell my work but I do give it away to those who want them.
Getting back to the subject of the advantage of film over digital, I have a suggestion but it is more in the form of a question: since memory cards are so cheap costing far less than film, why not just use an encrypted card for each shoot? Then after copying the images to your computer, lock the card and secure the lock with an adhesive so that the contents can be only viewed but only if decrypted. You could then make your photos and print them for your clients. You also give your client the encrypted card who would have to hand it back to you for further prints.
Would this simple scheme hold up as a legal document?
Ken Clunis
It's an interesting idea. I'm not sure about the permanence of memory cards, nor how the legal profession will view them, though. The other advantage of your idea is you can tweak how the colors are rendered in B&W before the print is made.
DeleteI don’t know if it’s my wishful thinking or sound business judgment being expressed here (maybe both?), but I prefer the heirloom idea. I think that, especially up your way in New England, there is a client base that will appreciate and can afford such an offering. The AI idea could certainly work (and perhaps you could try both), but it won’t be unique for long and there would be no real barrier to entry for others to come in and compete with you. The heirloom idea is unique and leverages the recent appreciation for analogue media and processes.
ReplyDeleteI pretty much agree with you on all points, especially the short window of opportunity and the longer-term appeal to the wealthy folks up here.
Delete"From today painting is dead" and of course it wasn't but photography did bring portrait images to millions. Paintings and photographs have added or removed images of people, both living and deceased from the final published or framed image. If folk gain comfort from being reunited with their deceased loved ones in a manipulated image I am happy for them but this is not for me and seems a little strange to this dour Scottish guy. Happy memories suffice for me whether of long gone pets or loved friends and relations. Having said that I stumbled across a few seconds of my great grandfather, a man I never knew, appearing on a 1934 Pathe news clip. I think I support veracity over AI and for more depth I will dredge my memory banks.
ReplyDeleteYes, Andrew, a lot of people feel that way. That's the reason I labeled this blog post as "controversial". But I've also learned that there's a market for just about everything. Let's see where this leads...
DeleteGary, I think you’re own to something with the second proposal for sure I would do that. I am an attorney. I am interested in your source for making the statement early in your blog. That photographs are no longer admissible in court. What case law do you have to support that statement?
ReplyDeleteI came to this conclusion in the 1990's, after reading this NY Times article about the US shooting down a Libyan plane. Video freeze frames that were submitted as evidence were casually dismissed, saying they were a fabrication. "They were directed in the Hollywood manner":
Deletehttps://www.nytimes.com/1989/01/07/world/un-hears-defense-in-downing-of-jets.html
Since then Photoshop has exploded in use, and simply claiming "That image was photoshopped" provides plausible deniability. I recall that one of my readers who was a retired federal prosecutor suggested that I become an expert witness in caes where the viability of photographic evidence is called into question; I turned down the opportunity because every day it becomes harder and harder to tell if an image is real.
I don't hang out in courtrooms like you do. So if you tell me that photo and video evidence is routinely accepted in Texas courts I'll happily rework my opening diatribe.
So that's my defense. Thanks for keeping me honest! :-)