AI in photography: where it helps and where it can hinder the photographer's work.
Artificial intelligence is already part of the daily routine for those who work with images.
It selects photographs, creates masks, removes objects, corrects images, organizes information, generates text, and can even help with content planning.
But there's an important difference between using AI to make work more efficient and using AI to do exactly what you, as a photographer, were hired to do.
For me, this difference is fundamental.
Should the photographer use AI?
Yes! But not for everything.
Those who work with photography work daily with image, communication, color, composition, and, above all, creative decisions.
Therefore, I find it contradictory when a professional who sells precisely their vision and their ability to create images decides to outsource an important part of this process to artificial intelligence. The problem isn't using the tool, it's letting the tool take over the function that should be yours.
If a client hires a photographer for their vision, direction, and ability to make visual decisions, care must be taken to ensure that technology doesn't start doing what differentiates their work.
AI does not need to replace the creative process.
There are many tasks in a photographer's work that are important, but don't necessarily need to consume a large part of our creative energy.
That's where I see the greatest potential of artificial intelligence. It can act as a process accelerator.
Instead of replacing the photographer, it can reduce the time spent on operational tasks and allow the professional to focus more energy on what truly requires experience, expertise, and decision-making. Some examples are quite practical.
1. Initial selection of photographs
AI can help identify photographs with closed eyes, blurry images, duplicates, or other characteristics that facilitate an initial selection.
Of course, a photographer can also do this manually. And, depending on the job, this selection can be relatively quick.
But when we're talking about hundreds or thousands of photographs, any time saved starts to make a difference.The final decision on which images truly represent the work remains with the photographer.
2. Batch Edition
Another good use is in the technical standardization of a photoshoot or event.
Exposure, color, and white balance can be adjusted more quickly on a large set of images.
In fact, many of these tools have existed for quite some time in programs like Lightroom. Today, several functions that have come to be called "artificial intelligence" have simply made processes we already knew more accessible and automated.
The important thing is to understand that automating a technical step does not mean automating the eye.
3. Removing distractions
Wires, litter on the floor, stains, small objects, and other elements that spoil a composition can be quickly removed with current tools.
Photoshop has evolved a lot in this aspect.
It's a very practical application of AI because you're correcting an element that already exists in the photograph, instead of asking a tool to create an entire photograph in your place.
If I can fix a distraction in a few seconds, why not use technology?
4. Masks and technical touch-ups
Separating a person from the background, selecting clothing, skin, or specific areas of the image to make specific adjustments has also become much faster.
What previously required a series of manual steps can, in many cases, begin with a click.
Afterwards, the photographer can still refine the selection and make the necessary adjustments.
This is exactly the type of application I find interesting: technology reduces operational work without eliminating creative decision-making.
5. Transcription and organization
Here's one of the applications I consider most sensible.
Briefings, meetings, and audio recordings can be transformed into text and organized into notes, checklists, and tasks.
AI can also help structure information, name files, and transform a conversation into a more organized plan.
This doesn't replace the photographer.
It simply prevents you from having to spend energy on administrative tasks that a tool can accelerate.
6. Content planning
This is another area where AI can be quite useful.
It can help generate ideas for captions, scripts, schedules, and different content possibilities.
But there's an important step after that: adapting everything to your own voice.
A tool can suggest a text.
It doesn't have to be responsible for how you communicate.
You can use the suggestion as a starting point, correct, modify, and humanize the result until it truly feels like your own.
The same applies to spell checking and text adaptation.
7. Image recovery and processing
Noise reduction, increased resolution, and the restoration of old photographs can also benefit from current tools.
Again, I don't necessarily consider this a threat to the photographer's work.
These are technical resources.
The photographer continues to decide what needs to be preserved, corrected, or altered in the image.
8. Accessibility
AI can also help with a task that is often overlooked: creating alternative descriptions for images used on websites and social media.
This is a particularly interesting example because it doesn't interfere with the creative process of photography.
It simply helps to make the content more accessible.
Where is the problem?
In my opinion, the problem begins when the photographer stops using AI as a tool and starts using it to replace what should be their differentiating factor.
If you were hired to create an image, direct a person, choose a composition, work with light, and build a visual narrative, delivering an image completely generated by artificial intelligence can create a contradiction in the very purpose of your work.
There is also a question of positioning.
If you want a client to value your photography as a professional and original work, you need to demonstrate that there is knowledge and intention behind that image.
This doesn't mean rejecting technology.
It means knowing where to use it.
AI should increase your productivity, not replace your gaze.
I'm not against artificial intelligence. Quite the opposite.
I believe it should be used and that photographers can benefit greatly from it.
But there's a distinction I consider important:
Use AI to accelerate tasks that don't directly depend on your creativity.
Organization, transcription, planning, initial selection, masking, technical corrections, removal of distractions, and other operational tasks are good examples.
However, the gaze, direction, composition, lighting, aesthetic choices, and decisions that define the identity of a photograph remain the responsibility of the professional.
Ultimately, the question shouldn't be:
“How can I make AI work for me?”
Perhaps it would be more interesting to ask:
“How can I make AI work better for me?”
This difference completely changes the relationship between photographer and technology.
And, above all, it preserves what still gives value to photographic work: the ability of someone to look, decide, and create.
Want to see how I work?
Technology can speed up processes, but the final result still depends on vision, direction, and intention.
If you are looking for professional photography for architecture, gastronomy, portraits, events, or branding projects, check out my work and see some of the projects I've developed.
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