AI Series

exercise prompts for bridging one practice to the other

Applying technical and practical knowledge from digital Photography to prompt writing in the context of creating AI photography, often referred to as ‘synthography,’ can be incredibly useful for several reasons. This synergy allows individuals with photography experience to harness the power of AI platforms more effectively to produce visually stunning and emotionally resonant images. Here’s why this combination of skills is beneficial:

1. Understanding Photography Fundamentals: A foundation in digital photography equips you with a deep understanding of essential concepts like composition, lighting, framing, and perspective. This knowledge is directly transferable when crafting prompts for AI-powered photography, ensuring that the AI model receives clear and relevant instructions to generate compelling images.
2. Visual Aesthetics: Experienced photographers have a trained eye for visual aesthetics. They can draw upon their knowledge of what makes an image visually appealing, allowing them to create prompts that guide AI models toward producing images with the right balance of elements, colors, and emotions.
3. Technical Control: Digital photographers are well-versed in camera settings, post-processing techniques, and tools. This technical know-how is valuable when providing precise instructions to AI models. For example, you can specify details like aperture settings, focal lengths, or the application of particular filters, thereby fine-tuning the AI-generated photographs to meet your creative vision.
4. Artistic Direction: Knowledge of photographic genres and styles helps you articulate specific artistic directions in your prompts. Whether you want to create a vintage look, simulate the effects of different film types, or mimic the styles of famous photographers, your expertise in photography allows you to convey these nuances effectively in your instructions.
5. Emotion and Storytelling: Photography is often about conveying emotion and telling a story through images. Experienced photographers can use their skills to craft prompts that elicit specific emotions or narratives, ensuring that AI-generated photos are not just technically impressive but also resonate with viewers on a deeper level.
6. Quality Control: Understanding image quality and the nuances of post-processing enables photographers to assess the AI-generated images for issues like noise, color balance, and sharpness. They can provide feedback to the AI model or adjust their prompts to improve the final results.
7. Ethical Considerations: Ethical concerns in AI photography, such as privacy, consent, and authenticity, are important. Photographers with a background in ethics can incorporate these considerations into their prompts, ensuring that the AI-generated images respect these principles.
8. Iterative Improvement: Like any creative process, synthography often involves iterative improvements. Photographers can apply their knowledge to refine prompts and results, progressively honing the AI’s ability to produce better images over time.

The application of technical and practical knowledge from Digital Photography to prompt writing in synthography enables creators to bridge the gap between human artistry and AI technology. By leveraging their photographic expertise, individuals can not only produce remarkable AI-generated photography but also contribute to the evolution and advancement of the field.

Example Prompts

Below, I will explore prompt writing which draws directly on general knowledge of digital photography practices, to convey how one can incorporate into AI synthography practices skills and knowledge from digital photography. The images were produced in PhotoSonic, which is part of the WriteSonic suite of AI tools.

portrait of a Rastafarian in shallow focus

city street highly detailed photorealistic documentary style in deep focus f-stop 22 Lecia lens

underexposed photo of chocolates

overexposed photo of chocolates

black and white street photography of stray dogs in a big city

postmodern artistic studio portrait of an elderly woman

out of focus photo of a train station in Prague

photograph of Olympic Korean figure skaters with motion blur from a long exposure

photograph of glass shattering taken with a very fast shutter speed

classic photograph of a stuffed animal shot with rule of thirds composition

Awwww, so cute, so here’s another one, with disturbing extra button eyes:

Documentary style photograph Indian elephant inside of a 1950s diner with moody side lighting from the windows Leica 50mm lens

Bright colorful photograph of Star Trek children wearing athleisure shot with glamor butterfly lighting

photograph of suburban trash cans at the curb in diffuse lighting from an overcast sky in the early morning

photograph of a security guard wearing a uniform of primary complementary colors

photograph of a beach house in analogous colors

photograph of a taxi driver at night in the style of Weegee

photography portrait of Indira Gandhi in the deadpan style of August Sanders

interior photograph of a crowded fish tank shot with spatial compression of a telephoto lens

exterior photograph of a political protest shot with the spatial distortion of a wide angle fish eye lens

Minimalist style photograph of a rural landscape

All of the images above are prompt-implementations of core digital photography concepts which include historical, aesthetic and compositional ideas, going beyond technical aspects of camera-based practices. This prompt and image set should give you ideas of how you can directly apply any concept or technique from general photographic practices to your own synthography.

From Digital Photography to AI Synthography was originally published in Sound & Design on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.