928 One Minute Six Hundred Pics

TFOP 245 discusses a new camera purchase and a conversation about historical photos and gold-plating photography on glass || Neurapix is a German startup that has developed AI-based software that can learn from previously edited images and apply the same edits to new photos at a fast rate || Two lawsuits against AI || xkcd has a comic about the simple answers to questions about new technology || RAILs (Responsible AI Licenses) is a new category of open-source licenses that are specifically designed for AI and machine learning projects || DGSpitzer is a digital artist based in New York who has trained an AI model with his own digital paintings & game concept art. He’s giving away this model || A Blog post on AI-generated portraits used in self portrait photography.

Topics:

  • [PHOTO] The Future of Photography : The Future of Photography episode 245 is out: We discuss Adrian’s first camera purchase of the year. What is it? Why? How is it? Also, a wide ranging conversation about historical photos and Jeremiah’s gold-plating photography on glass.
  • [AI, PHOTO, TOOL] Lightroom AI Edits : Neurapix is a German startup that has developed AI-based software that can learn from previously edited images and apply the same edits to new photos at a fast rate, using a Lightroom plug-in. The company’s pricing is more competitive than ImagenAI’s, which charges more per photo.
  • [KI] Two Lawsuits against AI
  • [OTHER] xkcd simple answers to new tech : There’s ALWAYS an xkcd. This time about the simple answers to to the questions that get asked about every new technology.
  • [AI, OTHER] : RAILs (Responsible AI Licenses) is a new category of open-source licenses that are specifically designed for AI and machine learning projects. They include clauses that address ethical concerns around the use of AI, such as ensuring that the AI is not used for harmful purposes or in ways that discriminate against certain groups of people, require developers to provide detailed documentation about the AI system, and allows third-party organizations to audit the AI system to ensure that it is being used responsibly.
  • [KI] DGSpizer : DGSpitzer is a game developer, music composer and digital artist based in New York who has been working on AI-related projects, specifically colorizing old black & white footage, and has trained an AI model with his own digital paintings & game concept art as the dataset. The model, called DGSpitzer-Art-Diffusion, supports multiple keywords as different styles and is available for free use and fine-tuning, under an Open RAIL-M license.
  • [OTHER] Rate the show : I have a favor to task of you: TFTTF has just been moved to a new podcast backend on Apple’s servers, which resulted in losing all reviews. At least that’s what I assume happened. If you use Apple Podcasts, leave a review for the show, give it a rating, give it a review… that’ll help bring it up in the search results, especially nowadays as the podcast landscape has changed quite a bit. That would be awesome, thank you!
  • [PHOTO, AI] The Other Chris’ Blog Post About AI : (The other) Chris used a combination of AI-generated portraits and real photography to come up with a unique self portrait. Read his blog post about it and check out his pictures.

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927 Resolution: 14k

Today we’ll look at social media, massive full-resolution space imagery, weird lenses and the cautionary tale of big corporations vacuuming up massive amounts of imagery and what we can do about that (or if we even should). Also Steve has a fun film question: how to distinguish exposed (but not developed) film?

Topics:

  • [OTHER] Reminder: Find me on Mastodon : FYI: Just in case you’re looking for me on social media other than Twitter, you also find me on Mastodon. I’ve been active there since the 2018 exodus, which not many people remember. My official handle on Mastodon is [email protected] – hit me up, I enjoy the level of discussion and engagement on Mastodon a lot more than on Twitter anyway.
  • [COOL] SPACE: JWST In Full Resolution : Download James Webb images in full resolution. They are in the public domain and you can use them any way you like.
  • [THEMA] Adobe und das Machine Learning : Adobe and others need data. Lots of data. Machine learning scales really well with more data and more computer. Is it true that Adobe uses all your photography in their creative cloud to train their AI? Is there anything you can do about that? Should you even?
  • [COOL] The Weird Lens Museum : What a nice find. Mathieu Stern collects interesting and, yes, weird lenses and puts them to the test on his YouTube channel. Check out some of the really odd ones, like the home-made one or the eyeball.

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926 Digitizing 88-Year-Old Photos, AI Protests, Relaunches

On this episode: JUST RELEASED: the third edition of The Film Photography Handbook. JUST RELAUNCHED: chrismarquardt.com (now offers information about my services in training, consulting, production, and photography as well as some references to past work). COMING UP: The 10-day Eastern Europe photo road trip in Sep 2023 for amateur and professional photographers to visit iconic landmarks and hidden gems in Berlin, Dresden, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, and Transylvania. OLD PHOTOS: A personal project to digitize and restore a collection of 88-year-old photos of my family on glass plate negatives and celluloid film. DRAMA: The debate over the use of AI in art is ongoing, with some people excited about its potential and others concerned about negative effects on artists and the industry.

Topics:

  • [PHOTO, ANALOG] New Release: The Film Phtography Handbook 3rd Edition
  • [OTHER] Relaunch: chrismarquardt.com : My new website answers the three important questions: A) What has Chris done? B) What can Chris offer (hint: a lot) and C) What is Chris up to right now? Check it out to learn about my services (training, consulting, production, photography) and to answer the general question: “what is it you’re doing anyway?”
  • [TRAVEL, PHOTO] Travel and Learn: Eastern Europe Photo Road Trip : Join me in September 2023 on this 10-day photo tour through Eastern Europe, visiting Berlin, Dresden, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, and Transylvania. Discover iconic landmarks and hidden gems as you capture stunning images of the region. Perfect for both amateur and professional photographers.
  • [PHOTO, PROJECT] Glass Negatives from 1933: The Between-The-Years Project : Over the holidays, I took on a personal project to digitize and restore a collection of up to 88-year-old old photos of a part of my family. These pictures are on glass plate negatives and celluloid film, kept in a wooden box, showing family and others from the towns of Rottweil and Horb am Neckar in Germany.

    I spent a lot of time working on this project, carefully digitizing and restoring the negatives as needed. It was a labor of love, as these photographs are part of my family history and I’m excited to share them.

    Overall, it was a rewarding and meaningful project for me to take on over the holidays. I am proud to have preserved and shared these glimpses into my family’s past.

  • [PHOTO, CREATIVITY, AI] What’s Up With the AI Discussion? : Artists on platforms such as artstation.com are protesting the use of AI in art, claiming that it is theft. While some people are excited about the potential of AI in art, others are worried about the potential negative effects on artists and the art industry. The use of AI in art is here to stay, but there is a question of where to draw the line in terms of what is considered art and what is not. This debate is not limited to art, as similar debates have arisen in other fields such as music, film, and photography. The potential for AI to increase productivity and efficiency is undeniable, but it is important to also consider the ethical implications of its use.
  • [NEWS] Drama in AI Land : An anti-AI group of artists has been rallying support against the use of AI in art, leading to the cancellation of the Unstable Diffusion project on Kickstarter and the suspension of the Unstable Diffusion account on Patreon. The group has raised over $150,000 in a GoFundMe campaign to lobby governments to make AI art illegal. The backlash has had a chilling effect on the entire AI art community, with some creators considering stopping their work or removing their association with it due to the potential career and personal implications. Unstable Diffusion has updated their website and moved to a direct payment system in response.

    Kickstarter suspends Unstable Diffusion / Unstable Diffusion answers / Patreon suspends Unstable Diffusion / Pro-AI videos:
    YT-Video The Most Common Arguments For & AI / YT-Video Stop the Lies!

  • [AI, PHOTO] Opting Out: Have I Been Trained? : Some (many?) AI art models have been trained using the LAION dataset of 5.8 billion images. If you want your art to be excluded in the future, here’s a site to register an account and opt-out your images from being included in the Stable Diffusion V3 model.

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