AI (Artificial Intelligence) is in the news constantly: Will it save or doom humanity? Can you believe any digital image, video or sound bite is real? Is the bird image real or AI generated? I posted a picture of an owl created by the author of 365 Days of Birds Richard Hoag about a year ago (CLICK HERE to read it). I said this at the conclusion of the post, “I doubt that I will use Artificial Intelligence to generate future emails/posts from GreatBirdPics because I enjoy the act of writing. Nor do I think I will be using AI to generate a picture and post it here because I enjoy going out and taking pictures of birds in the wild”.
I still haven’t used AI to generate the text for one of my posts here on GreatBirdPics, but I have used an AI module in Adobe Lightroom. GBP member Bajadreamer recently posted a picture in which the bird was not AI generated but used AI in Adobe Photoshop. Here’s his shot, with his description below:
“This is my first attempt at AI in Photoshop. In other words, a fake picture. Everything in this picture is real except for the branch at the right. This bird (an Evening Grosbeak) was trying to land on a bird feeder that was already overcrowded. I normally do not like to take pictures of flying birds like this that have no place to go; ie, no place to land. Photoshop is pretty remarkable; when I asked it to generate a pine branch it gave me dozens of choices. It further emphasizes the need to be really critical when you look at images on line, whether they be nature, political or whatever. If it does not look right, it probably isn’t.”
So does his image above “look right”? At first glance, yes. Upon closer examination I believe the color of the pine is too bright and it appears to be out of proportion to the bird (bigger). Still, unless I was told it was AI generated I probably would have missed it.
Bajadreamer’s shot replaced an element using AI (bird feeder for pine bough). I have been using Lightroom to remove/replace elements in some photos using the Develop module’s “Heal” and “Clone” functions for years. They have been a little touchy – sometime they’ll seamlessly remove an object and other times it is pretty obvious that the image has been altered. Not long ago Lightroom created a “Remove” button and when clicked you still have “Heal” and “Clone” but now a “Remove” button appears with them. “Remove” is tagged “Early Access” which means Adobe is still working on it and is soliciting feedback on the function. “Remove” has two features: “Generative AI” and “Object Aware” and both use AI to modify an image. I have used “Generative AI” several times – it works like a combination of “Heal” and “Clone” in that it removes the object highlighted and then puts something in place of it. Let me show you using one of my Northern Gannet pictures from Newfoundland. The first shot is the original (after cropping and tweaks to Tone and Presence and then denoise applied).
A pretty interesting picture, but I thought the Gannet in the bottom left was distracting and I was curious to see what “Generative AI” could do with it. After clicking “Remove” and selecting “Generative AI” I brushed over the unwanted Gannet (broad brushstrokes were fine – I didn’t have to outline the bird very closely). Clicking the “Apply” button resulted in the image below.
What impressed me was that the AI not only removed the unwanted Gannet, but it created a new top for the boulder the Gannet was sitting on. AI generated a portion of the rock without having “seen” it before. It just knew what the top of the rock should look like without a bird on it.
Recall that we are just in the infancy of AI’s use in images. I can image a time in the not-too-distant future when the computer will review a newly inputed set of images and then suggest how it would improve each one. A little fuzzy – AI will sharpen it. Backlit – AI will adjust the exposure and contrast just right. Can’t see all of the head – AI will generate one based on what it knows about that particular species. Bajadreamer states above that AI generated images won’t “look right.” I’m pretty certain we won’t be able to tell the difference at all.
If you enjoy seeing beautiful pictures of birds from around the world and reading about them Click Here to sign up for our mailing list. Members can post their own GreatBirdPics and learn more about bird photography techniques.
Interesting, I think I like the original better though.