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The Beginning Of The End Of Fashion Photography As We Know It?

eeneryma
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · The Beginning Of The End Of Fashion Photography As We Know It?

In today's Petapixel:

https://petapixel.com/2023/03/24/levis-to-use-ai-generated-models-to-increase-diversity/

Curious what folks here think. There's been much written lately about the advent of AI and the positive/negative effects it will have on many aspects of our society.

Steve

Mar 25, 2023 at 03:02 PM

Abbott Schindl
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · The Beginning Of The End Of Fashion Photography As We Know It?

This sounds to me like marketing whitewash for Levi being tired of finding—and paying for—a lot of human models, photographers, and the other components that go into fashion photography. They may also not have sufficient numbers of each type of garment to successfully "increase diversity among its models" if using real humans. Of course, that raises the question of whether they'll really have all the sizes to fit all of the "diverse AI models" they'll be generating. I wonder if Levi (and others taking a similar approach) will have some sort of disclaimer on their AI ads, along the lines of [teensy small print] "models shown are for illustration purposes only and not necessarily indicative of the actual sizes or colors available."

Given that there are now agencies offering this type of service, I'm sure we'll see more of this (I think it's unfortunate). While I don't like or approve of the approach, I think the proverbial cat's out of the bag now and can't/won't be collared again. Fashion photography isn't the only field that's going to be impacted. For me, all of the AI image generation raises serious questions about how it's going to change peoples' perception of reality—and I don't see it resulting in anything getting better.

Now that this is happening, I'd really like to see an analysis (in, say 6-12 months) of whether it reduces garment returns and/or overall buyer satisfaction. If it does, then maybe the AI approach has accomplished something other than putting some models and photographers out of business and creating an illusion of a false reality.

Mar 26, 2023 at 03:15 AM

Dragonfire
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · The Beginning Of The End Of Fashion Photography As We Know It?

It sounds to me like someone in IT got the ear of the bean counters and they are trying to save a buck.

Running a "people business" without people is the ultimate irony.

Boycott Levi's

Mar 26, 2023 at 06:51 AM

Mads Bjerke
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · The Beginning Of The End Of Fashion Photography As We Know It?

No doubt the Ai revolution will have an impact on many photographers future work prospects.
This is probably inevitable.
We have already seen some of the impact from 3D renderings and now with the explosion of Ai generated images this will accelerate further at a fast pace.

No point fighting the change.
As with all technology advances we will have to adapt to stay relevant.

Mar 26, 2023 at 07:16 AM

nathanlake
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · The Beginning Of The End Of Fashion Photography As We Know It?

A lot of photographers are going to scream and holler that no AI will ever replace a good photographer. Unfortunately, I believe them to be wrong. I have been working in the field of AI since about 2005 and I can assure you that most commercial images will be computer generated (i.e. AI) within 5-10 years.

Over the past few months, even before the latest wave of publically available AI applications, I have been talking with fellow photographers and writers about where AI is headed. Writing is a wash and will eventually be 100% AI-generated. In photography, the only area that I believe will continue with minimal impact is the news. There will be a demand for photos/videos of an event that will accompany a written or spoken news story. Viewers will for quite some time expect true photos of the event rather than computer-generated images. But for things such as travel, stock, and fashion (and most other genres), there is no demand for such reality. An image that very closely approximates reality is quite sufficient. Editors will read a non-news story, visualize the image they want to go with it, and in a matter of a few minutes AI will give them exactly what they were visualizing.

If we look specifically at video, the future is still a bit further out. Even the best AI-generated video is usually recognizable as having been created by a computer. Give it 25 years and it will follow the path taken by commercial photography.

P.S. I have used the word "image" as opposed to photograph when talking about AI-generated products. At least during the upcoming transition, we will need to be able to differentiate between camera-generated photos and AI-generated images.

Mar 26, 2023 at 11:49 AM

friscoron
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · The Beginning Of The End Of Fashion Photography As We Know It?

I think eventually internet marketing will adjust the model to match the potential consumer, possibly using AI like this. Online advertising is already doing it in the sense of using the computer microphone to listen to what people are talking about, and coming up with ads related to that. Changing the model's skin color is not that hard, esp if they're using AI.

Mar 26, 2023 at 11:04 PM

EB-1
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · The Beginning Of The End Of Fashion Photography As We Know It?

eeneryma wrote:
In today's Petapixel:

https://petapixel.com/2023/03/24/levis-to-use-ai-generated-models-to-increase-diversity/

Curious what folks here think. There's been much written lately about the advent of AI and the positive/negative effects it will have on many aspects of our society.

Steve

I'm not sure that fashion photography was around all that long as a majority. Into the 1970s clothing illustrations were still common. It may be that model photography was just an intermediate stage between illustrations and the CG/AI. If it is cheaper than photography and shows the buyer the clothing, then why are models and photographers needed? I have no problem with the CG/AI so long as images are not misrepresented as being of real people.

EBH

Mar 26, 2023 at 11:50 PM

Peter Figen
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · The Beginning Of The End Of Fashion Photography As We Know It?

It will be quite interesting to see what happens. Impossibly inexpensive stock photography has replaced most assignment photography in the last twenty years already and clients don't seem to be able to tell the difference even when all of us photographers can. I would expect that Getty and all the other stock agencies will have to get into this field if they have any hope of staying in business and then all the stock photographers will be gone as well.

I also think there will always be a niche demand for photography that is dependent on how a particular person sees things and how that person relates (especially) to people they are photographing. Maybe more photographer will themselves be involved in creating AI images as software prices come down the same way they did at the start of the digital revolution over thirty years ago, and there will always be demand for individual and unique fine art imagery for a variety of purposes if not only to say that it's not artificial and it's not intelligence.

Reading the comments on the Petapixel article pretty much sums up what people on our side of the equation think of it. Unfortunately no one seems to be willing to acknowledge that it might put THEM out of business or what they are going to do to fight back.

Personally, I'm at the tail end of a forty plus year career and have seen a lot of changes in that time. The pandemic pretty much put a nail in the commercial side of the business and now I just do what I want anyway and only take on jobs that interest me and spend the rest of my time shooting for myself or making music. There are a couple of clients that beg me to do work for them and since they are also my friends who I enjoy working with, I still do those projects but not much else. Each succeeding generation of photographers has had it harder than the last and this will affect those who are wanting to get in the business and it will have a huge impact on the schools who have been churning out good little photographers every semester with little regard as to future job prospects. I would expect to see more schools drastically contract there programs, raise their prices and ultimately follow Brooks Institute into oblivion.

How's that for a cheery freaking outlook.

Mar 27, 2023 at 05:28 AM

nathanlake
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · The Beginning Of The End Of Fashion Photography As We Know It?

I suspect that Getty and most other stock image companies will embrace this immediately, even offering an AI image generation service. Why spend time searching through the Getty catalog when you can do the same search and have a computer create it for you on-demand.

"Getty AI, please create 100 images of a beautiful Asian couple with their 5-year-old son on vacation at the beach"

Mar 27, 2023 at 07:22 AM

James Markus
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · The Beginning Of The End Of Fashion Photography As We Know It?

Part of the reason I am responding to this topic is really evident in the very first paragraph.

Fashion brand Levi Strauss & Co has announced a partnership with digital fashion studio Lalaland.ai to make custom artificial intelligence (AI) generated avatars in what it says will increase diversity among its models.

Is hiring real models of diverse ethnic backgrounds really so arduous or a minefield? My cynical nature makes me think Levi's is lazy, or somehow got burned legally trying to meet this pretty much required metric in today's advertising world. "Good enough" is the standard for many - whereas "excellence" use to be the goal. It is like having an artist draw you a custom illustration, or just cutting a canned one out of a "Metro" clip-art illustration service book. Seems most don't see the difference.

Peter
I am doing pretty much the same - except the music bit. Clients that can discern the differences in photography are willing to pay for it. I was fortunate to meet, and work for some of these people. They do track me down and lure me to do occasional work for them, but my health is a limiting factor.
Jim

Peter Figen wrote:
Personally, I'm at the tail end of a forty plus year career and have seen a lot of changes in that time. The pandemic pretty much put a nail in the commercial side of the business and now I just do what I want anyway and only take on jobs that interest me and spend the rest of my time shooting for myself or making music. There are a couple of clients that beg me to do work for them and since they are also my friends who I enjoy working with, I still do those projects but not...Show more →

Mar 27, 2023 at 10:54 AM

Peter Figen
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · The Beginning Of The End Of Fashion Photography As We Know It?

It's been a while since I did a big shoot with models we chose from casting sessions but when we did there was never any problem with a diverse group of people as there were always hundreds of candidates. What I hated was being told that we HAD to have an Asian, an African American and a Caucasian, where all I wanted to do was cast the best person. Those jobs where it was cast like I just mentioned always felt contrived to me and I was embarrassed to even be associated with them, but there was never any problem finding any kind of model or actor you wanted. The problem was always that there were too many to choose from so that just makes Levi's to look even more like the penny pinching fools that I'm sure they are.

Mar 27, 2023 at 02:42 PM

ronchau
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · The Beginning Of The End Of Fashion Photography As We Know It?

James Markus wrote:
Part of the reason I am responding to this topic is really evident in the very first paragraph.

Fashion brand Levi Strauss & Co has announced a partnership with digital fashion studio Lalaland.ai to make custom artificial intelligence (AI) generated avatars in what it says will increase diversity among its models.

Is hiring real models of diverse ethnic backgrounds really so arduous or a minefield? My cynical nature makes me think Levi's is lazy, or somehow got burned legally trying to meet this pretty much required metric in today's advertising world. "Good enough" is the standard for many - whereas "excellence"...Show more →

Maybe Levi's decision is based on cost savings. Both time and $ transactions.

Mar 27, 2023 at 02:57 PM

KE_Photo
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · The Beginning Of The End Of Fashion Photography As We Know It?

It kind of only makes sense that cookie cutter generic models for generic fashion are easily generated by AI... and sought after to lower costs. And it eliminates having to deal with people/HR/legal/contractors etc. Least common denominator seems like the ultimate goal for some.

Mar 27, 2023 at 03:58 PM

Danpbphoto
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · The Beginning Of The End Of Fashion Photography As We Know It?

A.i. affects/effects jobs on all levels and that will eventually affect and effect our economy. "Distance Learning" has reduced the need for a teacher at every school.
I don't like it but I am told it is progress. As for photography, it will hurt but that will not prevent me from shooting.
I was reading many articles on the net about this. I am a "hands on person"...I like to create my own creativity, good or bad.
Good discussions going on here!!
Dan

Mar 29, 2023 at 10:55 AM

timn421
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · The Beginning Of The End Of Fashion Photography As We Know It?

I still can't get my head around how AI will effect some photographers (weddings, real estate, architecture) as much as others. As a commercial photographer, I am definitely worried about what's going to be happening in 5-10 years from now.

Mar 29, 2023 at 07:20 PM

Peter Figen
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · The Beginning Of The End Of Fashion Photography As We Know It?

timn421 wrote:
I still can't get my head around how AI will effect some photographers (weddings, real estate, architecture) as much as others. As a commercial photographer, I am definitely worried about what's going to be happening in 5-10 years from now.

I fully concur. There are a lot of types of imagery that simply can't be conjured up in an artificial intelligence program but there will be plenty of run of the mill images, especially product shots on white seamless that photographers will never learn how to do because that skill will be a distant memory. Hell, it already is for a large percentage of new photographers hitting the market today.

Mar 30, 2023 at 02:42 AM

tgrantster
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · The Beginning Of The End Of Fashion Photography As We Know It?

Soon you will just upload a photo of yourself and AI will generate an image of what you would look like in their jeans. Can’t get any more diverse than that! …course we’ll stop buying expensive jeans when it turns out they won’t fix our fat asses…bring back the models!

Mar 30, 2023 at 03:19 PM

eeneryma
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · The Beginning Of The End Of Fashion Photography As We Know It?

There’s been a lot of blowback on Levi’s recent press release that they’re going to solely use AI for their fashion photography. Here’s the latest where they’re realizing they stepped into a hornet’s nest:

https://petapixel.com/2023/03/29/levis-use-of-ai-to-increase-diversity-is-wildly-tone-deaf/

Mar 30, 2023 at 03:48 PM

Craig Gillette
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · The Beginning Of The End Of Fashion Photography As We Know It?

I don't see a problem with a more diverse range of models. It helps consumers put theselves in the picture, so to speak.

Levi's may be stuck. They are in a progressive bean counting world. Some will count all the different beans added, some will point out fewer beans are working.

Mar 30, 2023 at 04:22 PM

KE_Photo
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · The Beginning Of The End Of Fashion Photography As We Know It?

I don't think they have mentioned - the faux "diversity" is actually the total opposite - even more of a limited set of people who will actually get all the remaining work - elitist computer AI geek types need only apply. Completely unfair for the proletariat - waaaaahhhhhh.

Mar 30, 2023 at 04:37 PM

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