Is It Still My Photo?

A couple of years ago, DW gave me new photo-editing software for Christmas. Ever since I've started using it, I've had some trepidation in using it on my photos.

I've also had some fun with it.

While it's true that it has saved some photos that were thought unusable, it has also become a crutch for when I don't like an element of an original photo, and I just replace that element or supplement it.

Sky enhanced with Luminar AI. The rest is real (though touched up with PaintShop Pro).

When I share an AI-enhanced photo on social media, I always include a disclaimer that the photo has been enhanced.

Is it still my photo or does it belong to the AI programming?

Am I simply a co-contributor to the final image?

When I shoot an image on my smartphone, the technology in the camera does enhance the resulting image to some extent. Often, I'll further manipulate the photo, through Snapseed, to bring the picture to what I had imagined that I saw before capturing it, or what I imagined it could be after I tapped the shutter button.

With my D-SLRs, I often have ideas of what I want to capture before I even set out. I know that the shots that I take may not quite match what I had envisioned, but I know that my go-to editing software can bring my vision to reality.

And I even have some old 35mm film images, which I have scanned and cleaned up, or have even reimagined with the help of various photo apps, like Prisma. In these cases, the only hand I had in the end result was my choice of filtered effect.

This 35mm print was originally so muted and dull before I ran it through Prisma.
Now, it's a personal favourite that hangs as a 24 x 36 canvas print on my wall.

Are these photos still mine?

I say yes, they are. AI didn't choose the subject, didn't get itself to that site at that time of day. AI didn't compose the shot, didn't wait for the right second to press that shutter button.

Artificial intelligence didn't choose the file that would be edited and which one would not (I take several shots to make sure I've captured what I wanted). And it's me who decides the edits are acceptable: I don't let AI say, "Here's your end result: take it or leave it."

I modify whatever AI offers and reject it if it doesn't satisfy my vision for that image.

AI is a tool, like a paint brush, that I can use to assist with the creation of what I want to show. I use it to create art, not to display what I saw through my viewfinder. It's an interpretation.

A year or so ago, I read an online article about AI photos and it had a challenge, whereby you were presented with a series of photos: some were AI-generated and some where not. You had to determine whether the photo was taken by an actual photographer or created by AI.

At the time, I was able to see subtle differences that allowed me to ace the challenge. But I don't know if I could do that again, now that AI has become smarter.

I, will, however, continue to let you know if the photo is solely mine (though, possibly improved through conventional editing software) or has been enhanced by my AI-assisted editing tools.

But no matter what, the end result will be mine. It will still be my photo.

Happy Friday!