Artificial intelligence may start to replace needed technical skills for photography

People in general almost always start assuming about walking, talking, functional robots— thanks to our Sci-fi movies, whenever we talk about words like ‘AI’, ‘Machine Learning’. But in reality, AI is nothing of this sort and has been with us for quite a while now. It’s in our smartphones, GPS system in the cars and even in the social media we use. It is in nearly present in every field of creativity and photography is no exception.

The introduction of AI in photography has transformed the field from being accessed by a few professionals to being accessible for enthusiasts with varying skill levels. This is because AI in photography requires little training and know-how in photography and image processing. All optimizations are performed by smart algorithms in one click, minimising the need for manual adjustments, which otherwise requires photography knowledge. Thus, photography remained no longer just as a combination of a camera + lens + sensor, it transformed into a collection of algorithms that instantly manipulate images to create photographic results that would otherwise need hours of changes using traditional tools such as Photoshop, Picasa etc.

Among the hundreds of editing tools available today for creating images, the majority of them still demand a human presence to lead over the process. With more technological advancements in the future, AI tools may start to replace needed technical skills for photography, when we talk about advancement.

Only a few months ago we saw the first glimpse of AI entering our consumer world when Apple introduced A11 Bionic neural engine chip, which powers the current generation of iPhones. The A11 is important because the chip is specifically designed for tasks such as image–and face–recognition, AR applications, etc. In applications like this, it’s way more effective. Pretty soon the rest followed-

Google Pixel 2 featured a dedicated image enhancement chip to help with image processing on the fly. Google Clips is an AI-powered camera which can decide when the lighting or composition is aesthetically pleasing

Microsoft has created an artist out of AI called “drawing bot.”

Adobe has placed a lot of time and resources into developing their Adobe Sensei, which "helps you to work better, smarter and faster"

Another useful tool for many photographers is smart tags which in a matter of seconds give metadata for images, after reviewing the content in the photographs. Similar technology has been created by Excire. This tool acts as a Lightroom plugin to help you search for photographs in several ways

Luminar by Skylum gives us another alternative to commonly used editing programs with the additional focus on machine learning

Chinese smartphone maker Huawei presented smartphones with the P20 Pro, featuring 4 cameras — 1 in front and 3 in the back. In addition to achieving the highest DxO Mark score till date, the Huawei P20 Pro is loaded with AI features, such as real-time image scene recognition

The pace at which AI software is merging with our cameras is unimaginable. In fact, AI-generated images are coming at a time when we are still in the process of arming ourselves with the necessary information to brace for the challenges presented by the new age technologies. On an optimistic note, let us move forward guided by our innate values with the help of AI, together by sharing of knowledge amongst ourselves, to face a future we had always dreamed of.  

By Harsh Dalal, Director. JD Institute of Fashion Technology