AI in photography is an emerging topic – both at the software and hardware level. Whatever it is that the lenses can’t achieve, the image editing tools of today cover up for the same. They render results beyond expectations. While many are applauding this emergence, some are not so happy with the advent of AI. So, in this blog, we’ll try to see things from all perspectives.

How’s Artificial Intelligence In Photography A Help?

Let’s break it down into two parts. First, we’ll be analyzing the role of AI in applications ingrained in smartphones and cameras and how it has streamlined the photo management process. Then we’ll have a brief overview of the role of AI in photo-editing applications often used for the post-processing of images.

AI In Cameras And Smartphones Overpowers Hardware Shortcomings

Artificial intelligence in photography has enhanced the capabilities of digital cameras. This means what sensors and lenses can’t achieve, the inherent software definitely can. All the credit goes to computational photography where the computer processing technology enhances images, something beyond the reach of a camera’s or smartphone’s sensor and lenses. No more do you have to rely on bulky cameras because quite a lot of stuff like enhancement in HDR imaging, digital zoom, and digital refocusing can be done by a simple smartphone.

Photo Management Has Become All The More Simple

Quite recently, Google rolled out an update to its Photos app on Android. As per this update, you can help Google improve its object recognition algorithms by labeling your images. For instance, when you click on the search button, you are asked to describe the animations you prefer, identify which images belong to which events, and even identify the contents of images.

AI in Photography Has Streamlined Post Processing

Whether you are a seasoned photographer or someone who clicks photos to get several likes on Instagram, using one or the other photo editing software is a norm.  Let’s have a look at how AI has taken photo-editing applications on a whole new level. No more do you have to spend hours increasing or decreasing brightness or contrast levels, carefully selecting redundant elements, constantly changing background and foreground. AI in image editing software has reduced these tasks to a matter of seconds or at the maximum, a few minutes.

Movavi Picverse for instance is a flawless AI-powered Photo-Editing Software. Here are some of the key AI-based features of this software.

• Colour and contrast optimization
• Restoration of old scratched and stained photos
• Denoising
• Redundant background removal

Download Movavi Picverse Here

Let’s now have a look at some more areas where AI in photography has been of great help –

Noise Reduction

When you increase your camera’s ISO to deal with low light conditions, image noise occurs. To tackle the same during photo processing either with the help of a plugin or photo-editing software, you might risk losing the image quality. And, that’s where artificial intelligence in photography seems to be taking the plunge. Movavi Picverse for instance helps get rid of image noise using the goodness of artificial intelligence and that too in one click. Plus, it helps prevent image quality from getting damaged.

Enhancing Images

With the advent of AI in some of the major photo editing software such as Skylum Luminar, as soon as you throw in a photo inside the software, the application evaluates each photo and then suggests a template based on the needs of the image. For example, for a landscape image, the AI template can aptly target the contrast and appropriately tweak the background and foreground elements.

Restoration and Working With Difficult Workflows

Not so long ago, fiddling with old, scratched black and white or even monotonous images was not an easy task. Even with image editing software by your side, you had to sweat a lot to colorize such images, remove blemishes and scratches, and so on. But, now there are several AI-based tools, plugins, and standalone applications that can help you restore images in a matter of a few clicks. Applications, including Microsoft AI Photo Restore, Movavi Picverse, Skylum Luminar AI use state-of-the-art machine learning deep neural network technology with the help of which you can get rid of scratches, grains, stains, creases, lines and even add color to black and white images.

Another great example of AO tackling difficult workflows has been demonstrated by Adobe Photoshop’s latest neural filters which help improve images by generating contextual pixels which are absent in the original images. In the screenshot below, the neural filters have generated new pixels to adjust the subject’s smile.

(i) Original

(ii) After

Is AI Creating Disruption In The Photography Space?

We’ve broadly discussed how the applications already ingrained in cameras and smartphones and standalone photo-editing software are revolutionizing the digital photography domain. And, while we happily look forward to the upside, there are certain things that we need to ponder on the flipside.

Many purists believe that by using AI-based image editing software or AI-based applications ingrained in cameras and smartphones, you as a photographer are letting the application dictate your style. Also, perceiving the fact that AI is still in its nascent stage, the effects applied by software on your image might not be exactly what you want it to be.

Wrapping Up

While AI in photography is for sure a promising road ahead in the future but will it completely put an end to traditional photography techniques is something to be pondered upon. What’s your take on this? Do let us know in the comments section below. If you found the blog to be interesting, do upvote this blog and for more such interesting content, keep reading, Tweak Library.

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