Fun with Photoshop AI

[Vaughn McMillan]

The latest beta version of Adobe Photoshop includes a new feature called "Generative Fill". You select an area of a photo, give it a short prompt (one or two words), and then it uses "artificial intelligence" to fill in the selected area of the photo with its best interpretation of the prompt. People have been using Photoshop to manipulate pictures for years, but this new feature makes it much faster and easier. I have mixed emotions about AI. I don't like the idea of it replacing writers and other creative folks, and really dislike that it could be used to manipulate people's emotions through social media and other advertising platforms. On the other hand, it's kind of fun to play around with for entertainment. We're still in the early stages of AI development, but I think it will eventually cause a major shift in people's perceptions of what is real and what isn't. And I don't necessarily think that's a good thing in the long run.

This beta version is still getting some bugs ironed out, but it will only improve as people use it and it "learns" from the experience. It's easier to show than explain, so here's a few photos...

This is the original photo I started with. It's a old shot I took of the Big Tujunga Wash, which is less than a quarter mile north of my last house in LA, right on the edge of the Angeles National Forest. This picture was taken after heavy rains, so the normally dry wash had some water running in it.


I drew a line around all of the riverbed itself, and gave Photoshop the word "mountains" as a prompt. Within 30 seconds or so, I was given three separate interpretations of the photo with some mountains merged into the shot. (You can prompt with the same word again and three more versions will be generated. This can be done repeatedly, with three new versions generated each time.) Here's the best of the three "mountains" versions:


Prompt: "swamp"


Prompt: "forest"


Prompt: "mountain meadow"


Prompt: "desert"


Prompt: "fall colors"


Prompt: "beach"


Prompt: "mountain stream"


And probably my favorite, "ocean"


Continued in next post...

 

[Vaughn McMillan]

Of course, there were some humorous failures. AI in general has a hard time creating living things, as well as other manmade objects.

Prompt: "pasture with cows"


Prompt: "city"


And saving the best/worst for last..."highway"

 

[Darren Wright]

That’s pretty cool! So what does “birthday cake” return.

 

[Vaughn McMillan]

That’s pretty cool! So what does “birthday cake” return.

Here are a couple of versions. This AI also doesn't handle words in the image very well, lol.

 

[Vaughn McMillan]

Or how about "polar bear birthday cake"?

 

[Mike Stafford]

That is just amazing. Most of those pictures would be interpreted as real landscape images if you hadn't told us that they were created by AI.

Seeing is believing doesn't hold much validity these days does it.

 

[Dave Hawksford]

It's amazing the deception that are out there. Nice work Vaughn.

 

[Rennie Heuer]

Incredible!

 

[Paul Douglass]

How can one ever trust anything you see anymore?

 

[Frank Fusco]

Interesting thread. Especially at this time for me. I believe photos are important memories and records. With the recent passing of my wife, understanding mortality and my own fragile condition, I want to leave a photo memory for my children. Sadly, I do not have a picture of my family of five of us. One son died in 1996 and photos since then, of course, do not include him. However, I have one picture of the five of us plus my daughter-in-law. Problem I'm having is wondering if it would disrespectful to photo shop her out of this pic leaving only my family of five. I'm conflicted on this.

 

[Ted Calver]

Amazing!! Huge potential for mischief lurking in this technology, but I love it.

 

[Vaughn McMillan]

Interesting thread. Especially at this time for me. I believe photos are important memories and records. With the recent passing of my wife, understanding mortality and my own fragile condition, I want to leave a photo memory for my children. Sadly, I do not have a picture of my family of five of us. One son died in 1996 and photos since then, of course, do not include him. However, I have one picture of the five of us plus my daughter-in-law. Problem I'm having is wondering if it would disrespectful to photo shop her out of this pic leaving only my family of five. I'm conflicted on this.

Personally, I don't think it would be disrespectful to edit your daughter-in-law out of the photo, because you're doing it with respect, not malice. Feel free to reach out if you need some help with the editing. I know a guy.

 

[Vaughn McMillan]

...Seeing is believing doesn't hold much validity these days does it.

It's amazing the deception that are out there...

How can one ever trust anything you see anymore?

...Huge potential for mischief lurking in this technology...

Yep, that's what worries me. Most people are already pretty easy to fool...look at all the folks who re-post hoaxes and scams on social media. It's even easier if you show them something that reinforces their biases. For example, if I post a picture of Political Candidate A punching an old lady, a whole bunch of Political Candidate B's supporters will be sharing and reposting the photo like wildfire, even though it's highly likely that ANY political candidate would go around punching old ladies.

 

[Rennie Heuer]

Soon it will not just be Sci-Fi and fantasy filmed entirely in front of green screens. "On location" will become a thing of the past.

 

[Leo Voisine]

I grew up in a family of artists. I did chalks, and pencil drawing. My sister was into watercolors. I love art.

As you know I am also into computer generated "art".

There is do denying that hand carved, or hand painted or scroll saw takes a special talent.

BUT

All the computer generated art also requires some level of talent.

Taking a photograph that looked like crap and using technology to create a beautiful scene is a form of art and is to be appreciated.

 

[glenn bradley]

I like the ones with water. Send us your water ;-)

 

[Rennie Heuer]

I like the ones with water. Send us your water ;-)

You could photoshop a lake in your back yard... even put your shop on an island!

 

[Robert Horky]

Just have to ask .... is this thread real or did someone just type in ... 'what would _______ have said about these pics? How would ____ have changed them? '
Who knows who is really talking/typing?? Scary for sure.

 

[Vaughn McMillan]

...Taking a photograph that looked like crap and using technology to create a beautiful scene is a form of art and is to be appreciated.

That's an argument that my wife and I have quite often. She thinks a photograph should be an exact duplicate of what the eye sees, especially a landscape shot. I see it simply as a component of an artistic statement. There's a time and place for both. I typically do very little tweaking to a landscape shot aside from cropping, but I'm not opposed to enhancing colors or changing the exposure/lighting slightly. And I think it's fun (and artistic) to go a little wild sometimes.

In my mind, a photograph is like a chunk of wood. I could just put the chunk of wood on a shelf and admire nature's work, or I could use tools to turn it into a bowl or platter and admire not only nature's work, but my own as well.

 

[Vaughn McMillan]

Continuing the silliness, I figured I'd see how the new Photoshop Beta handles pictures of people. Here's the original from a gig last month:


Prompt: "handsome"


Prompt: "woman"


If that doesn't make you laugh there's something wrong with your funny bone.