NikonGear'23
Images => Life, the Universe & Everything Else => Topic started by: Michael Erlewine on August 17, 2022, 10:25:09
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Photography Surrogate with Midjourney AI
https://www.midjourney.com/showcase/
The iPhone and mobile phones have been eating professional photographer’s lunch for a long time. Then, when you least suspect it here comes what I consider an even a larger threat, in the form the Midjourney AI graphic engine and its marvelous power in create all kinds of images just as we like them… or close.
This Midjourney AI graphic tool is not just a window into the future, IMO, but rather a portal into the future through which we image-lovers will be travelling no matter how we feel now. What it does, aside from make interesting graphics, is loosen the bonds that bind us to this physical body and much as the confusion caused by politically ‘Fake News’ differs from actual news, Midjourney muddies the water between reality and our impressions of it, marking our drift toward the holographic and the ‘empty but real’ world as an active illusion.
I have sampled it enough to know what Midjourney is, how it may affect us, and possibly where it could take us. And Midjourney will plunge us toward this great ‘illusion’ we suffer from, the one where we cling to the idea that the phenomenal universe is somehow also real. It’s not, but we don’t believe that and never have.
And so, I see Midjourney AI as a steppingstone in a path to discovering that this world that we know is not real like we assume, but rather an elaborate illusion that at this point, like a straight-jacket, entertains and encapsulates us completely.
The function of portals like Midjourney, aside from their visual treats, is to loosen our mental moorings and make it easier for us to cast off from the dock of what we call reality (as we have known it) and learn to surf the sea of this illusion we call life as a new kind of reality.
If you notice, Midjourney does not reproduce purely realistic images, but images that ‘sound like’ or seem like the real thing. They have the feeling that we put into them. The comfort of familiarity is there and that, to me, tells me what Midjourney actually is, a blurring of the hard boundaries of reality in favor of feeling familiar, growing gossamer wings.
This seems to be the early Multiverse encapsulating us before we even know it.
No, this is not a replacement for photography, yet it is a giant step in terms of satisfying what many folks use photography for. Any of you trying Midjourney?
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Havenot tried or even heard of this program reminds me of that meta thing.
Of course this may be used creatively or as tool to fool peoples' perceptions and yet another
set of incarnations to live through.
Thanks for pointing out.
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Michael, as you would have already noticed, I feel that what had happened to the recording industry has truly arrived to the photography.
Nevertheless, I like the images posted here. They should work nicely for some album covers.
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Michael, as you would have already noticed, I feel that what had happened to the recording industry has truly arrived to the photography.
Nevertheless, I like the images posted here. They should work nicely for some album covers.
Indeed it has. Having been involved in the music world for many decades that is so true. I believe the Midjourney AI is just getting started. They say that video is next and pretty soon. I feel I can get the feeling I am trying for in close-up or landscape photography more easily than I can find a spot to photograph. Now, if they just up the technique a nit. LOL. This is just a Beta now.
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I guess I'm simple and stupid. I'm sitting and watching my friend's pet cockatoo play. The sun is coming up and soon it will be too hot for the bird here on the edge of the desert in inland Southern California.
Birds pant like dogs, they don't sweat. I have to keep an eye out for the signs the bird might be over-heating. A bird in a large cage thousands of miles from cooler Northern Australian forests could die from heat stroke. This bird frequently calls me by name and points to her head and says, "Scratch; scratch, scratch."
I'm here sitting in a chair. The bird is ten feet away enjoying herself preening and tearing up paper as cockatoos do. I can feel the infrared heat of the sun coming through improvised shade material covering a large out door cage "aviary" that's about (9.5 x 16 feet) 2.9 x 4.8 meters.
This is reality. The chair I'm sitting in is solid no matter that physicists say it isn't.
I, myself have no interest in creating AI Images.
Dave
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I guess I'm simple and stupid. I'm sitting and watching my friend's pet cockatoo play. The sun is coming up and soon it will be too hot for the bird here on the edge of the desert in inland Southern California.
Birds pant like dogs, they don't sweat. I have to keep an eye out for the signs the bird might be over-heating. A bird in a large cage thousands of miles from cooler Northern Australian forests could die from heat stroke. This bird frequently calls me by name and points to her head and says, "Scratch; scratch, scratch."
I'm here sitting in a chair. The bird is ten feet away enjoying herself preening and tearing up paper as cockatoos do. I can feel the infrared heat of the sun coming through improvised shade material covering a large out door cage "aviary" that's about (9.5 x 16 feet) 2.9 x 4.8 meters.
This is reality. The chair I'm sitting in is solid no matter that physicists say it isn't.
I, myself have no interest in creating AI Images.
Dave
And of course, you don't have to.
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Michael, as you would have already noticed, I feel that what had happened to the recording industry has truly arrived to the photography.
Nevertheless, I like the images posted here. They should work nicely for some album covers.
What about food? Is it AI(ed)?
My uncle used to tell me there is no oil in corn. After a synthetic process the "corn oil" has a foul, rancid taste. To get rid of the rancid taste they heat corn oil to 500°F (260°C) to make it palatable. Next time you are in a super market and you reach for "corn oil" (or any seed oil) think poison.
Dave
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I feel those of us who are photographers would like to know about MidJourney because it affects us. It is interesting and most important it is happening. I am looking into it because some of us should I believe. I don't expect most of us here have any use of it, yet we should at least be familiar with it.
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I feel those of us who are photographers would like to know about MidJourney because it affects us. It is interesting and most important it is happening. I am looking into it because some of us should I believe. I don't expect most of us here have any use of it, yet we should at least be familiar with it.
Thank you for sharing this with us, Michael. Technology always advances. It provides new ways of producing art and being creative. Yet people continue to enjoy the old ones too. The more options the merrier!
I recognise some of the ideas you presented having recently read The Quantum And The Lotus. My background is physics and I am a fan of the Copenhagen Interpretation of quantum mechanics. Have you encountered Roger Penrose's theory of conformal cyclic cosmology?
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Thank you for sharing this with us, Michael. Technology always advances. It provides new ways of producing art and being creative. Yet people continue to enjoy the old ones too. The more options the merrier!
I recognise some of the ideas you presented having recently read The Quantum And The Lotus. My background is physics and I am a fan of the Copenhagen Interpretation of quantum mechanics. Have you encountered Roger Penrose's theory of conformal cyclic cosmology?
I am familiar with Penrose as relates to gravitational theory, but have not read that particular book.
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What about food? Is it AI(ed)?
My uncle used to tell me there is no oil in corn. After a synthetic process the "corn oil" has a foul, rancid taste. To get rid of the rancid taste they heat corn oil to 500°F (260°C) to make it palatable. Next time you are in a super market and you reach for "corn oil" (or any seed oil) think poison.
Dave
I've heard that corn oil is not good for the health but didn't know the reason for that. I think mass-produced oil is in general synthetic. On the other hand, I might be able to live with the artificial meat made from soy beans...
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Michael, I'd like to thank you for sharing these two images. To me they seem to be an extension of the intent (here, perhaps human commonality is a better way of putting "intent") communicated by many of your photos that I have appreciated in the past.
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I have looked at Midjourney carefully for a number of days. And while I believe this approach is the future, this Beta is, IMO, not ready for prime time. It can do a number of things quite well, but on other (and most important things like the human or animal form) it is woefully not useful. For myself, I believe in seeing for myself, testing for myself, exploring either lenses or software. Midjourney has limited usefulness and should be kept on our radar against future improvements. Right now, while it can express many feelings very well, it falls short on the technical side of things. I don't have much use for it and will probably cancel my subscription.
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What amazes me, as one having appreciated Michael's stacked flower images for a number of years, is that the images posted here looks really like something you would actually capture with a real camera. Of course, you would have selected what made you satisfied so far, but still, they look very "familiar" to me.
In fact, I took it for granted that you posted the latest images you had shot. Seriously.
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What amazes me, as one having appreciated Michael's stacked flower images for a number of years, is that the images posted here looks really like something you would actually capture with a real camera. Of course, you would have selected what made you satisfied so far, but still, they look very "familiar" to me.
In fact, I took it for granted that you posted the latest images you had shot. Seriously.
Well, as mentioned, Midjourney gets certain 'feelings' or impressions very well, while failing in others almost totally, like the human form. I can see that it's 'mother' was fantasy and game players and they substitute ornate detail for substance, IMO. It is impressive, but for me its like the old saying "All dressed up and no place to go." And it does not take directions too well. I spent days trying to make it to show a human with their turned to a too-bright sun, and it finally gave me something I could use, yet I had to add the sun's rays shown here. Of course, it would be hard for me to take a photo of a scene like this. I use such photos to illustrate blogs that present various dharma concepts.
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I spent some time on a project with Refik Anadol who is an artist who works with AI. He characterizes his work as the dreams of machines. For photographers who think of photography as documentation or representation this is the opposite of what they want. But for those who see images as a way to unleash inner thoughts or to expand our perspective beyond what we normally see, it can be a powerful tool.
I fall into the second category (and of course there are dozens of other perspectives on what photography “is” so I’m simplifying greatly). These works resonate with us because they are based on what the machine has been exposed to, the images it has ingested and the stories it has been told.
Like Michael, I find it makes me think harder about the nature of life and illusion. And while for some it will just be a funny party trick, I think there will be continued serious work and thought coming out of this. It is worth considering how it relates to some earlier photographic efforts like those of Man Ray and others who took photography beyond the landscape and portrait.
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I find Midjourney AI graphics limited but useful. I blog to around 10,000 folks almost every day and most of my blogs are about concepts, mostly dharma or spiritually oriented. Midjourney is not good at figure illustrations, but can be made, with work, to obey. I often need illustrations to go with concepts, so that folks get a sense or some feeling for the ideas. For example, here is one illustration for monks and meditating that is useful for me done with Midjourney.
Here is another about a 'hall of mirrors' also a Midjourney piece. This is how I use this software.
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Thx Michael. Very interesting. Definitely on my watch list.