Every year, I have to hear about how a new technology is killing the photography industry. I’ve ignored them all, until now.
Smartphones are killing the camera market. In 2007, more than 110 million digital cameras were sold, but by 2021, the world has only bought 8.4 million units. Phones are coming with multiple cameras capable of taking long exposure, macro, and different focal lengths, but of course, the real value lies in the software. Photography software is getting so good that it will soon be able to take any photo, of any quality, and make it look great. Mobile phones will always have a big advantage over dedicated cameras because they are connected to the internet. They have direct access and the processing power to run software that will change the industry in the future.
The scariest advancement in technology has happened in the past few weeks. Artificial intelligence art generators like MidJourney or Dall-E 2 have hit the market. These programs can instantly create world-class quality artwork for free just by typing a few keywords. You might think this would destroy the graphic design and illustration industry, but what does this have to do with photography? Well, new updates allow these programs to create realistic images.
All the pictures below are not real people. They are not taken with a camera. These images are created for free with a program in seconds.
Why should anyone have a hard time hiring photographers, models, makeup artists, stylists, and venue instructors, when they can create something that looks better, for free right away? ?
And I know what you’re thinking, it still takes a “photographer” to take pictures of real people, like a celebrity on a magazine cover or a shot for a website. Oh so? These programs allow you to upload pictures of faces and then create new artwork with those people in them.
This is obviously far from perfect, but I would never have guessed that this would be possible today. What if any person could scan their face with their phone and then have a “photo generator” that creates world-class pictures of themselves in any location, With any outfit, with any light, with any style? I never dreamed we would get here so quickly, but this is right around the corner.
You will soon have to rotate. You’ll have to embrace this new technology or, like all of my videographers who refuse to learn Photoshop, your work will eventually dry up.
Register our YouTube channel and keep watching Fstoppers.com because I’ll be keeping a close eye on this new technology next year. My goal is to figure out how to take advantage of it and share it with you.
