AI entered the photography circle, reconstructing the business model of commercial photography, picture library, and photo studio, and photographers went crazy

Is AI photography reliable? Before answering this question, let’s take a look at how far AI photography can go.

Image: Midijouney Productions

Figure: By "random face generator", any click can generate a "non-existent face"

Picture: A picture of a girl generated with unbounded AI, by Maomaopengci

Figure: Using Midjourney to imitate the American street photography in the middle of the 20th century, by Wu Xiaolong

Figure: A girl figure generated with Midjourney, byMindAttackToys

Figure: Image generated with Midjourney, by Tu Matsuzawa Whether it's portrait photography or street photography, from composition to light and shadow to tone, AI photography can accurately grasp the emotions and details.

In fact, Midjourney’s drawing players should have a deep understanding. Using it to create photographic images is a mental model just like picking up a camera to take pictures. In addition to considering what is in the picture, you can even input the camera model, focal length, and depth of field. , style, environment, perspective, tone, etc., so that the picture can be more like a photographic work.

Such AI photography, it has no impact on the field of photography? The answer is yes.

AI photography is so big, do we still need studio photographers?

From June 15th to 16th, the Information and Communication Research Center of Fudan University is launching a two-day seminar on "AI and Camera Photography Education".

This is undoubtedly the highest-standard and most solemn seminar on "AI photography" in China. This is also a sign of this industry: the impact of AI photography on the industry is likely to be "destructive".

In fact, since Midjourney released the fifth-generation V5 model on March 15th, in various photography fields such as portraits and still lifes, the pictures produced by AIGC have surpassed others in terms of "realism", and AI painting has officially entered the era of "AI photography".

How will AI photography change the photography industry?

In March, around the same time as Midjourney V5 was launched, an overseas AI photography project called Deep Agency was launched. Just provide 10 face close-ups, 3 profiles, 5 half-length photos and 3 full-body photos. After about 30 minutes, based on these pictures, Deep Agency can generate an "AI model" that is consistent with the appearance of the person in the picture. By adjusting the description With the "prompt words" on the screen, the "AI model" can move and complete various "pose" shooting.

Figure: Deep Agency's "deformation" of characters

This is not the scariest thing yet. Deep Agency can complete commercial clothing product shooting by combining AI models with clothing pictures.

Unlike Midjourney, which allows ordinary people to draw, Postma, the founder of this Deep Agency, is more "business-minded". He calls his vision "Future Photo Gallery", and the purpose is to use AI photography to solve the problems of life in subdivided scenes. Figure requirements, for example, he has already launched Mememorph, which uses AI to generate personal emoticons, and Headshotpro, which focuses on AI-generated personal business-style photos.

Today, the main business of the photo studio is ID photos, children's family photos, and portrait photos, all of which can be realized by Deep Agency. Imagine, if you can create various images by uploading photos, do you still need a photo studio? no need. Deep Agency is only $29 per month. It can be said that it does not give photographers a living at all.

But some photographers are more dangerous than studios. For example, commercial photographers who shoot standardized product pictures for e-commerce platforms.

Figure: "Put on" clothes for the model

Today, there are too many products with the idea of Deep Agency. Everyone chooses to create easier-to-use AI photography products in specific scenarios in the vertical field. Meitu has an AI dress-up function, which can realize virtual model dress-up with one click. And Unbounded AI has a real-life model, which can realize real-life photo production with one click.

On a larger scale, in most fields of photography, it doesn't matter whether it is realistic or not. Instead of emphasizing the realistic field, AI photography must be "killing without mercy".

"For commercial photography, I think that apart from photography that focuses on process and service, such as wedding photography, landscape photography group, portrait travel photography, etc., as well as photography that pursues the authenticity of complex details, such as event photography, portraiture, and complex Objects such as car and architectural photography. Other types of commercial photography will be greatly impacted. After all, business is all about efficiency. For example, most food photography whose pictures are for reference only, such as stock photography that is only used to match pictures for customers, I think It will be greatly impacted by AI."

Professional landscape photographer, photography account Thomas Chu Weimin, director of the photography account Thomas, clearly summarized the impact of AI photography on the industry.

Figure: "Real Model" in Unbounded AI

AI photography is here, and the head photographer is actively embracing it

In Xiaohongshu and Douyin, we found that many photographers are not anxious at all. On the contrary, they are very active in AI photography.

"AI photography is too efficient." "Fatty Xu" said, he is the manager of a photography studio in Wuhan and an active sharer on Xiaohongshu. He said the AI photography tool has completely refactored his workflow.

Early stage: use chatGPT and AI photography application for shooting planning and picture conception. After confirmation, props and lighting will be arranged to complete the actual shooting. Provides a wealth of inspiration, and the efficiency is greatly improved.

Post-production: Use AI photography to make a background picture, and then PS with the product picture. The production cost is greatly saved.

"Existence is reasonable, it forces photographers to innovate and change, only to improve their own aesthetics and ability, and constantly strive to create better works." "Fatty Xu" said, "Knowing AI really makes people even more powerful, but it does make the industry more and more powerful. It's getting more and more curled up."

More than a hundred years ago, photography was born, which brought a huge impact to painters who made a living by painting life photos for clients. As a result, it is obvious that painters have not been eliminated, but the commercial function of painting to record life is gone forever.

Today, the most important value of photography is to record life. In the era of AI photography, is this function still needed? It will definitely exist, but the commercial function of using photography to present goods is likely to be gone forever.

"As for the impact and impact of new technology on photography, I think everyone may feel anxious, but I personally think that as a photographer, if you want to create, the most critical question is what you want to create, Then think about what technology and method to use to create. Whether the method is camera, PS, or AI photography, it is your choice.” Photography critic, curator, and photographer Jiang Rong made a presentation entitled "Exploring the Journey of Photography" Said so in sharing.

In the interview, we found that in the eyes of photographers who make a living from art, AI photography not only has no sense of "incompatibility", but is even very excited, because AI photography has given a road that thousands of people have never explored, a new art language.

Photographer Charlie Engman has been using AI photography to create. He created a series of very "strange" and artistic photos through Midijourney, such as the picture above of people and chairs embracing each other in the office.

"In addition to the impactful visual expression, we can't help but think and explore, with the advent of digitalization and artificial intelligence, whether the boundaries between the body and the virtual are becoming blurred." He said that AI has indeed changed a lot, but for The most important thing for an artist is actually creativity.