What Is Digital Photography 2.0?

 

For those wondering why I've chosen to subtitle this blog Digital Photography 2.0 an explanation is probably in order.

Whenever a new technology or mode of expression is first introduced it almost always begins by mimicking the older form that it is replacing.  Consider, for example, the earliest motion pictures.  The camera in these first attempts at cinema was stationary and placed at the exact spot where the audience would normally be seated.  The entire movie was then filmed from a single point of view as if it were a traditional stage play .  It was only with the arrival of such innovative directors as D.W. Griffith that the properties of the new medium were fully exploited in such devices as close-ups and montages.

The situation was much the same when digital photography was first introduced.  At first it was used to simply record whatever happened to be in front of the lens in the same manner as in analog photography.  And the cameras themselves were also essentially the same.  The only real difference between an SLR and a DSLR was that the film strip in the former had been replaced with a digital sensor.  It took camera manufacturers years to envision camera models in which an electronic viewfinder would render the DSLR's mirror obsolete and even longer to refine the technology to the point that mirrorless cameras became a practical choice for the professional photographer.  But even then camera manufacturers were unwilling to abandon the technology that had proven so successful for their businesses.  Nikon, the industry leader whose preeminence had been hard won in the 1960's with the introduction of the legendary Nikon F, lost a huge amount of market share due to its reluctance to fully commit its resources to producing a mirrorless model that would serve as its flagship camera.  It was only this year that the company was able to reverse its fortunes and astound photographers with the release of the revolutionary Nikon Z9 that has been hailed by many as simply the best camera now available.  One review I read in PetaPixel went so far as to term it "the comeback story of the decade."

It's really in the development of the newest software apps, however, that the differences between traditional and digital photography can most clearly been seen.  When I first began using Photoshop 3.0 in the early 1990's it was principally a tool with which to process photos so they would most closely approach what the photographer had seen through the viewfinder.  In other words, its function was basically to achieve a "correct" straight photograph through the use of tonal adjustments and other tools.  Although Adobe did eventually add several "artistic" filters after its acquisition of Aldus, these were never taken seriously or improved upon.

The real revolution in photography software, that which led me to add 2.0 to the blog's subtitle, has come with the advances made in only the last few years in artificial intelligence (AI).  And once again it was newer smaller companies that led the way while established giants like Adobe lagged behind and arrived fairly late at the party.  In regard to the newcomers, I'll only mention as one example Skylum Software, a company whose products I had never taken very seriously until its release of Luminar AI.  That app, and even more the newly released Neo, have freed me to fully reimagine my photographs to an extent I had never before thought possible.  (I also mention Skylum, a Ukrainian based company, for the tremendous job its employees are doing in continuing work under the most adverse circumstances even as their country bravely fights off Putin's monstrous invasion.)  And Skylum is not alone.  There are several other companies - such as DxO, Topaz Labs, On One, and Corel, to name only a few - that are also  making great progress incorporating AI into their software products.

As an example of what can be accomplished with AI, the above photograph was actually taken on a bright sunny afternoon in New York City's Greenwich Village.  Simply applying a template in Skylum's Luminar AI and then a sky replacement, I was able with only a few clicks to transform the scene into one seemingly photographed at twilight, a feat that only a few years ago would have been difficult or impossible to achieve.  Not that the photo is any masterpiece, but it does illustrate very well the ease with which substantive changes can be made with the assistance of AI.