Photography will not live for more than twenty or thirty years, said the renowned and respected Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado in 2016. Really ? Partly thanks to cell phones, we have never seen so many photographs pass before our eyes. Billions of images every year. The fact remains that, on the advertising side, the future of photography is more than ever in question.
Advertising photographer for more than a quarter of a century, Montrealer Marc Montplaisir believes that everything risks changing within two or three years. The forceful arrival of artificial intelligence (AI) resources in the profession, he believes, risks causing the disappearance of a large part of the photographers dedicated to this profession. “What required stylists, makeup artists, decorators and a large technical team can now be done in your office, with almost no costs. It’s incredible. »
Professor at the UQAM School of Design, photographer and graphic designer Amandine Alessandra heads the Photography and Media Image axis in her department. She notes that agencies are indeed using AI, at least at the ideation and project development stage. In some cases, the production of advertisements is even already carried out in part thanks to AI, she observed. “Some projects use neural networks to generate entirely new advertising images, based on a brief description or idea. » One more source to inspire advertisers.
At Dawson College, in a course devoted to photography, Marc Montplaisir’s students quickly faced the development of AI. “The students first showed me fairly primitive versions [de ce qui se fait]. Then, I became very interested in it, to the point of doing some tests on my own. I spent quite a bit of time on this. It’s amazing what can be done… I fell out of my chair. So much so that I started doing more tests and now considering using it for my work. I’m there. It’s a taboo subject among photographers, but I’m convinced that everything will change in this direction. »
It’s a taboo subject among photographers, but I’m convinced that everything will change in this direction.
A fine connoisseur of old photographic processes, Mr. Montplaisir claims to have been almost amazed by false period images, made in the style of 19th century ambrotypes.e century. “I saw photographs that looked like they were taken in London, in the evening, near the opera house, 150 years ago. I couldn’t believe the quality! It was incredible. However, I knew that it was technically impossible for something like this to exist, since this type of photography requires a very strong source of light, in broad daylight. »
The song of the Swan ?
For a while to come, Marc Montplaisir believes, a true photographer has the means to separate fact from fiction. “I can ask the AI what type of lens and aperture I want to use. I know the vocabulary. I have a culture of photography. But will this advantage last? »
In advertising, classic photography will be finished within three years, repeats this experienced photographer. “When digital came into the picture, many photographers were in denial. Five years later, their studios were all closed… I think the same thing might happen. The more recalcitrant the photographers were, the more quickly they disappeared…”
The agency for which Mr. Montplaisir works obtained its first contracts by proposing concepts created by AI. “Others got involved too. It is not so simple. This requires a lot of learning. And for now, those who know photography have big advantages. » Over the years, he has signed campaigns for major clients, including Air Canada and Cirque du Soleil.
Someone who knows the secrets of an image and its calibration can navigate it and go even further. “The first tests I did were 80% viable, I would say. » One of his advertising projects for an aviation company shows a cabin where a slight thread of rust ensures a supreme degree of realism… “We all fell on our asses when we saw what we could do! »
Marc Montplaisir is not fooled by what is happening against his profession. One of the platforms where this new relationship with photography is deployed, Midjourney, “has siphoned more than five billion images from the Web to create a reference base. His references are those of a professional world against which he turns. For it to be of high quality, it would still need to be able to draw on real photo banks. Still, it’s the biggest Pandora’s box I’ve touched in my life in photography! “.
Are the demands to work in this direction becoming pressing? ” Yes ! Agents are moving in this direction. I discussed it with the creative director of Cirque [du Soleil]. It is certain that we have a lot of pressure to move in this direction. »
The Ogre
Passionate for years about the development of images in the digital age, Amandine Alessandra summarizes the image situation in one formula: “AI feeds on the work of those it will soon prevent from working. »
According to her, one of the main “biases” that AI generates in the context of advertising campaigns is that it easily generates illusions about social diversity. “It’s easy to show people from all walks of life. » People of different ages, genders or ethnicities can be easily represented. “It is possible to present people from groups or social classes who are not actually more integrated into the labor market,” explains Amandine Alessandra. “It doesn’t include anyone real!” » Images of people from marginalized communities but who are not real, is this a step forward? “It gives the illusion of being one… It certainly raises questions. »
For now, notes Amandine Alessandra, it is clear that AI can already “be used to automate and improve the photo editing process”. In advertising, as in the field of photography in general, “this allows you to save time and obtain more aesthetic and often spectacular images, without the budget which would normally have been allocated to the construction of sets, to the salary of a specialist in makeup, special effects, costumes. Which certainly has an economic interest, but also raises very concrete ethical questions in terms of employment.”
If AI can work better and better, it is because it has been trained by “trades that are impacted by the use of AI”! This development poses serious ethical questions for the photography of tomorrow.
For fun, Amandine Alessandra generated portraits of herself using artificial intelligence. “I notice that, in several, I have slightly Asian features. There is nothing Asian about me though! All this is probably explained because the bases on which AI was based are possibly largely Asian. » Can all this generate, through advertising, a view of the world that risks changing it in turn?
Amandine Alessandra emphasizes that a culture of design remains essential at a time when AI is making headway. “The development of a critical mind, if only to evaluate the results proposed by AI, whether aesthetically or ethically”, seems more necessary than ever to him. “Knowledge of references in art history and design history helps to develop this critical spirit”, but also gives the ability to place orders that stand out, for a result of conceptual and formal quality.