You cannot mention AI and photography these days without someone expressing their opinion on how it’s ‘destroying the industry‘. However, before we make up our minds, we really should consider all aspects of it. Is it really that different from digital compositing and mixed media CGI work? Is it really going to spell the end of multitudes of jobs? Or could it, in fact, just change the way the industry operates whilst also reducing the carbon footprints and gigantic travel costs of commercial photo shoots?
DIYP spoke to award-winning commercial photographer Stefanie Löwenstein about her recent work for major brands and how she has successfully incorporated AI into her workflow. And she does it beautifully and convincingly, whilst still empowering other creatives. Stefanie’s work pushes the boundaries of conventional photography, adding a futuristic dimension to her work, that arguably would be difficult to achieve without the use of AI technology.
DIYP: What’s your background as a photographer, and how did you get started in commercial and fashion photography?
Stefanie: I have a long background in advertising. I started in the early 90s as an apprentice copywriter at BBDO and worked in the business ever since. First as a junior copywriter and later as a Creative Director. I worked both freelance and employed with big brands such as Mercedes Benz, NIVEA, Audi, Fiat, Mars Corporation and many, many others.
After moving from Germany to Sweden in 2006 I started documenting my experiences with my camera and got hooked. As a creative person, I realised that it was just another way to express my creativity and decided at age 42 to go back to school and study photography. I knew that if I wanted to continue working on a professional level, I had to learn the trade. After studying, I got my first assignments right away, and it’s been that way ever since.
DIYP: What first drew you to experiment with using AI-generated images? When did you realise this could be interesting as part of your work?
Stefanie: I’m not exactly sure about the year, but I got interested in Midjourney pretty early. The first versions were kind of wacky and the output was really crazy. I played with it for a few weeks but decided it wasn’t anything that was useful for me yet, so I didn’t look at it for a few months. But then things started happening quickly; the newer versions were giving me more photography-like images, and I went back to exploring it. In the beginning, it was pretty frustrating, but I’m a terrible nerd, and I really dove deeply into it and taught myself how to get results that were useful for my workflow.
DIYP: Have you always worked with composites in your photography, or is this relatively new?
Stefanie: Composites have always been an essential part of my work. Even when I was doing more ”artsy” projects, I always had an image in my mind before I even picked up my camera. I used to build gigantic props (I still have an over-dimensional anatomically correct heart in paper-maché in my office that I can’t bring myself to throw out), and I used to occupy our garage at home by painting backdrops sized 3 by 3 meters, which sometimes took me weeks, shoot the models in the studio and make composites.
I remember an assignment for a theatre where I needed an over-dimensional fish underwater and stood in an aquarium shop for hours and tried to lure a random goldfish into the right position for hours! Later I shot the actor in the studio and mounted her onto a huge waterlily leaf! Good times!
DIYP: Can you describe your process of how you combine the AI backgrounds with your studio photos from shoot to post processing?
Stefanie: Nowadays, I often use AI to generate certain backgrounds instead of making them by hand or shooting them separately. As always, it starts with an image in my head. I think through every detail: the setting, the light, the pose, the colours, the image itself.
If it’s a commercial job I work closely with the creative team. It’s not so different from a photo shoot, actually. We put together a mood board, decide on the looks, the feeling, the light, the location etc.
Then I start prompting. If it’s a fashion shoot and I only prompt the backgrounds, I usually send the client a few different examples to choose from. When we have decided on all the backgrounds, the model is shot in the studio.
We set the light so it matches the background and have a close look at all the details. Then we make a quick selection on set and take a look if it all matches and that’s pretty much it.
In retouching we finetune everything, paint the shadows and do the overall colour and contrast adjustments for the image – just as with any other photo.
DIYP: Has working with AI changed your creative process or helped you grow as a photographer? If so, how?
Stefanie: For me, it has changed a lot. It has given me the opportunity to do crazy stuff I have in my head that I otherwise wouldn’t have been able to shoot. AI is a very democratic tool in many ways: you don’t need an unlimited budget anymore to fly to the Sahara for a shoot or need to hire a rare, tame white tiger to dance on a skateboard – you can just do it in the comfort of your home.
I am also an extreme introvert who is mostly deep into another world inside my head, and I am very comfortable with working by myself. So, for me, it’s a real treat to be able to create things exactly the way I want without having to try and explain to someone else what I see inside of my brain.
DIYP: What has the reception to your work with AI been like?
Stefanie: It’s been great! Advertising agencies love it and they are happy that they found someone who understands their needs and delivers images that otherwise would be a lot more expensive and difficult to shoot. With my background in advertising, I have a very unique understanding of the processes between agency and client, how long things take and what they need to be able to make their own visions come true. I see myself as a tool for the agencies and a part of the team, which is very well-received.
DIYP: What do you feel are the positives of using generative AI in this way?
Stefanie: For the clients: efficiency. Both time and money are two main factors today and AI helps to save both. I can create pretty much any location or setting from my home, and there is basically no production cost involved: no location scout, no travel costs, no weather risks, no insurance, no one that can be sick, no pilots on strike, no natural disasters… there are so many factors that are both expensive and difficult to predict. So if they can do it easier and cheaper with AI – it would be economically very stupid not to.
DIYP: Where do you see the future of commercial photography going in the next 5 years? Do you think photography as we know it today will still exist? What major changes are you anticipating?
Stefanie: Photography will change, for sure. But we will still need photographers to document events, to bear witness. For staged images AI will take over more and more for sure.
DIYP: What advice do you have for anyone interested in exploring the world of AI who hasn’t done so yet?
Stefanie: Just be a nerd! Dive into it! If you like it, play with it. Make crazy stuff. Let your brain take over; don’t think – create. Test the different tools, find out which aesthetic you like and just make images. You will eventually find out what suits you, just like everything else in life.
And don’t forget to have fun. That’s the most important thing – if you don’t enjoy what you do, don’t do it!
You can see more of Stefanie’s work on her website.
link