Recently I came across a Facebook post from a “mom in Midwest” that had some fellow photographers both in head-scratch mode with others in the sky-is-falling responses. I thought about it for some time and decided that an article on AI family photos would be a topical subject to tackle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the post, this mom described how she uploaded photos of her family’s existing clothes to one of the AI Large Language Models (LLM), and asked it to help finish their outfits for family photos. The result: AI didn’t just<\/strong> suggest clothing links for her – it generated a complete AI family portrait of her family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her reaction? “Wait. Do we even need to take pictures anymore?!<\/em>” She listed the costs associated with the typical family portrait, the stress and the payoff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Part of her wanted to post the AI photo and call it done (her husband would love saving the money). Part of her felt something was\u2026off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She asked: “Are AI family photos the future or are we keeping the chaos + cookies + real photographers forever?<\/em>“<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let me answer that question because it seems to plague photographers, families and some of the general public lately. But before I tackle that I’d like to talk about what’s actually happening here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whether that FB post was genuine (or maybe it was AI-generated itself – who knows – the writing style of the post certainly suggested the latter – my friend, Claude the AI LLM, agrees)<\/em> the scenario is real. Most public-facing AI models can generate family photos that look *technically<\/em>* impressive. \u2022 The lighting? Chef’s kiss \u2022 The outfit coordination: most photographers dream of cute coordination on this level \u2022 Everyone smiling: \u2611<\/strong> \u2022 No chaos \u2611 \u2022 <\/strong> No need for “we’ll get ice cream after” bribes \u2611<\/strong> \u2022 No “JUST SMILE ONE MORE TIME” mom voice, no cajoling from the photographer (or crazy behind the camera antics like some of us (cough cough) like to engage in at times of desperation) \u2611<\/strong> & \u2611<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2026and the very best part? It costs you, the client family, basically nothing.<\/p>\n\n\nThe AI Photography Threat Is Real (And It’s Already Here)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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