An Old Edsel, Entropy, and a Question About AI; What Am I Supposed to See?
Even asking questions these days brings vitriol and hate... why is that?
While I am not what you would call a car guy, I do have some particular feelings for automobiles and motorcycles - the above Edsel, for instance. Damn, I would love to have one restored. Look at those lines, curves, and impeccable style. Aah, well - a 56 T-Bird or even a 57 Chevy would still float my boat. Yeah, I’m that old… heh.
Hi Y’all!
It is the start of a new and wonderful week. I hope you are having the best day ever.
I am late with this post by a day, but I have reasons.
This past weekend, I took 10 people on the discovery of how much fun and how creative we can be making websites.
They weren’t designers, but they were good photographers - and that is design as well, I really believe that.
I got rave reviews, and hope to be able to share their web creations with you in a few weeks.
A Simple Question That No One Will Answer.
Last week, I published an article on Medium that went on to be boosted there and got a wide viewership.
It was this same question, and nobody has yet answered me.
Here is the question:
You have made an image with AI; What is my expected response?
In other words, what am I supposed to be looking at?
Now, before we get off the rails here, I will address the strawman arguments first as I have a whole wall of them at Medium.
Asking about what one should be looking at when viewing an AI image does NOT make me afraid of AI, fearful of AI, “stuck in the past”, or some sort of bigot. It is a question, not a statement.
Before you come at me with, “You use AI in Photoshop, so why do you hate it so much”? Yep, I do use AI in Photoshop, Topaz, ON1, and a hundred other programs. As I said, I do not hate it. I am specifically talking about making an image from a prompt. Purely from a prompt. OK? Not noise reduction or generating a list of recipes, purely an image from a prompt. Whew.
I get that some of you like making an AI image, and I am not asking you why you do it or questioning your right to do it. I’m a libertarian, dudes and dudettes, do what makes you happy. Telling me you like it and it seems like photography to you is not an answer to the above question.
Yes, I‘m a boomer. I got it. Can we move on? My sciatica is acting up.
I guess prompting just confuses the hell out of me when it comes to crediting the creator of the work.
A magazine editor prompts her writers to do an article. If the article wins an award, who gets it, the writer or the editor/prompter?
An art director prompts a photographer with a brief (that actually LOOKS like a prompt) and the image wins an ADDY. Who gets the award, the photographer or the art director/prompter?
A director prompts her cinematographer to do a difficult shot. The movie goes on to win an award for cinematography. Who gets the cinematography award, the cinematographer or the director/prompter?
A book editor works behind the scenes, prompting his author to make changes and modifications in order for the book to sell well. Who gets the Nobel Prize in literature, the author or the editor/prompter?
I think there is a long-established system for recognizing the artist as separate from the prompter. This makes sense, this works within the world and creates powerful art, literature, music, and dance.
When I look at a painting, I know that I am looking at a creation made by a person; a human being like me, who created it from their minds with skill and craftsmanship and love and vision and… oh so much more.
Listening to Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings brings me close to tears some days. Not just for the music, but for the man, the orchestra members, the hearts and souls that bring that music to my ears.
I have been looking at art for my whole life.
Studied it, created it, critiqued it, explored it, taught it, fought with it, struggled to bring it to life, fell in love with it, hated it, and, finally won a peace with it that is personal and strong.
I understand the motivation of artists.
Pretty well, I think.
And I am having a real struggle with the designation of art as something that was prompted and then created by a machine.
I seriously do not know what to think about it, and if you can help me see what I am missing, I will be grateful as hell.
Look, I’m not going to argue with you, or try to change your mind. I would love to hear your thoughts on what I should see.
We cool?
Awesome.
BTW, the article was picked up at DIY.
Notice the first comment. You can almost see the spittle and red-faced anger. And that just keeps me wondering what is going on. Why is the answer so hard to come up with, and why is asking the question so damned anger-inducing.
Entropy Project.
I have been working on a book about Entropy.
Entropy is one of the constants of our world.
Everything falls into chaos, dies, or decays.
In the desert, it is everywhere you look. And it is there for a long time.
Things decay slowly in the desert.
Here are a few more photos from this past week.
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And last but not least, here are a few things you may find interesting and helpful.
Need a color palette? Want to find a color palette from an image?
Muzli has a very cool color palette generator.
Here is a really nice graphic tool. It is free to use, they give you 100 credits. If you get a friend to sign up, you get 200 credits. For me, that is a lot.
By the way, yes, it is AI, but it is AI as a tool.
And it can be a great idea generator.
Check Dora out.
See you all soon.
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Great commentary on AI. I am having a similar discussion with our Photo Club this coming Thursday. Anyway I have used AI to create an image of a golden Frying Pan reminiscent of the ones that circulated in the 50's around here to promote the Fry-Ark Water Diversion Project. The onlyone I could get my hands on was so dinged up, it was not photographable. I used Dali E and got a golden Frying Pan but Labeled it as AI Generated Not a Photograph.
I know an artist who is a printer. He does amazing, technical work. When people find out how he does it, they're impressed, and it makes them more likely to buy the work. But this isn't true of all people. Some say, "I don't care what went into it, it only matters whether I like the image." Speaking for myself, if I like an image, the only thing that would change for me, knowing it was AI, would be the price I'd be willing to pay.
Also, from what I've seen, it's not easy to get a really good, original image from an AI generator. Not the same kind of skill as spending years learning how to use a brush, but I'll still give them credit.
And yes, nice lines on the Edsel. I used to have one (a '59, like that one), and I think they were underrated.