The role of AI is being discussed more than ever in creative fields, even where we previously thought it had no application. Among the various thoughts and emotions that arise when discussing AI in the creative arena, there is one that sees it as a tool — one of many that an artist may call on. Today, we're looking at a video that approaches a graphical AI tool, Midjourney, with that mindset.
Midjourney is not like most other AI tools that photographers use and accept as part of their workflow; it does not use AI to reduce noise, replace a sky, or make skin retouching easier. It is a bit more fundamental in terms of image creation. It generates complete images with just a text prompt and allows anyone, no matter where they are, to create fantastical imagery by simply typing the text prompt into a chat application.
Alex Koloskov from Photigy is here to help you on this journey of learning and discovery. He begins by explaining how to set up your Midjourney account and then moves on to show you how to create otherworldly imagery using text prompts. He goes on to explain how Midjourney works via Discord and how the previews are refined into high-resolution output images. His example images demonstrate how Midjourney can be used for practical photography jobs other than creating artistic scenes like ethereal landscapes or imaginative anthropomorphic creatures.
Midjourney understands many photography terms, such as those used to describe lighting, lenses, apertures, field of view, and much more; consequently, your skill in crafting a predictable result will be determined by how well you can describe it to the AI. Imagine explaining the scene to a person who has lost their vision.
Alex explains why it's important to him, as a commercial photographer, that his exploration is private. He explains why he has decided to pay to keep his creations private. He does, nonetheless, promise to explore Midjourney further using the skills and perspectives of a photographer, in upcoming videos.
So, now that you have this information, what are your thoughts? Will AI tools like Midjourney be part of your photography toolkit? Tell us in the comments.
MidJourney is but one AI engine, if you want to roll your own use Stable Diffusion which a lot of these 'commercial' engines are based off, downside SD is that you need a decent GPU whereas the on-line portals offload to the cloud hence the costs to use.