Steve Heap at BackyardSilver published an excellent piece on the subject of whether Ai might bring about an end to stock photographers and conducted an interesting Turing-test type experiment on whether he could replicate some of his best-sellers using Leonardo.Ai:

“I’ve not written anything so far about AI, and as it is developing so quickly, I thought I might investigate and come up with my own thoughts. Firstly, I’m sure that the AI systems will have a big impact on many industries, and it is also clear that they are in their infancy at the moment. So, issues that I see today are not necessarily going to be there in the future. Will stock photographers be impacted – well, clearly, we will! You only need to look at the efforts of Adobe and Getty to train systems on images where they have access to the copyright through their agreements with people like me and you! Of course, it is easy to say that we didn’t think the agreements would permit them to train systems as they have, but I personally think that they have at least been transparent about it and have made some efforts to compensate the artists for using those images…

I have no crystal ball to see where this ends, but I thought I would try to educate myself a little by trying to create some of my best sellers using Leonardo AI and their PhotoReal system. I had already seen some attempts at creating stock images from a friend of mine.”

Steve Heap at BackyardSilver

In this blog post I’ve decided to also conduct an experiment of my own using this neat piece of evolving technology.

I also had a go at replicating my best-sellers

Example 1

My first “victim” is a popular concept that I created about 3 years ago and has been selling regularly, that of drones at airports causing delays/cancellations:

I tried to use as detailed as possible prompts and this is what the software dished out. Perhaps the one of left can sort of pass at first glance but still looks a bit cartoonish imo (perhaps I generated with the wrong setting?). The first plane looks good but then gets a bit messy towards the other ones. Also the drone doesn’t look too realistic upon close inspection.

Example 2

Next, a popular strong seller for me are notes between cracks in the Western (wailing) Wall in Jerusalem.

Despite various different prompts, the software kept giving me books when I wanted little pieces of paper. Perhaps the database isn’t large enough yet to include such specifics. This one is a clear fail for me.

Example 3

A super popular seller for me that has paid for that drink and many many more, let’s see how the algos performed.

Still strange-looking hands/fingers (lol at the 2nd to the left)but the colours look nice and the mountain shape in the background is getting close to the reality. I give the third one from the left a close pass.

Still not as bad as the BigBens, what’s this world coming to??!!

Is Ai getting closer to replacing stock photographers?

I don’t think so as it still has a long ways to go but making some large strides! There’s still a huge gap to fill but it is making progress. Human features still need a lot of training.

I agree with Steve in that the first types of assets to be made redundant are illustrations as those are the easiest to generate using Ai. Some results are quite impressive and realistic with many examples over at their Facebook Group page.

I’ve written at length about my views on Ai which I won’t replicate on here – check out the Ai special piece.

May 2023 Brutally Honest Earnings Report – Special AI Edition

Meanwhile, highly recommend to play around with leonardo.AI as they give you free credits.

Will be back in a few days with the September earnings report!

---

About Alex

I’m an eccentric guy, currently based in Lisbon, Portugal, on a quest to visit all corners of the world and capture stock images & footage. I’ve devoted eight years to making it as a travel photographer / videographer and freelance writer. I hope to inspire others by showing an unique insight into a fascinating business model.

Most recently I’ve gone all in on submitting book cover images to Arcangel Images. Oh and also recently purchased a DJI Mavic 2s drone and taking full advantage and perhaps an Air 3 soon.

I’m proud to have written a book about my adventures which includes tips on making it as a stock travel photographer – Brutally Honest Guide to Microstock Photography