PS: All AI-generated results shown in this post are not 100% AI creations. Every final image still requires blending with the original photograph. At this stage, AI still cannot perfectly create exactly what we want from a photo without human guidance and editing.
A few years ago, I wrote about my photography journey and how cameras evolved from bulky DSLRs to today’s lightweight and powerful mirrorless systems. The technology inside modern cameras is incredible compared to what we had in 2011. Autofocus is faster, image quality is better, and many things that once seemed impossible are now normal.
But today, another technology is changing photography even faster than cameras themselves: Artificial Intelligence (AI).
The big question is: How will AI affect photography today, and what will it mean for photographers in the future?
AI Is Learning Fast
There is no doubt that AI is improving at an astonishing pace. Every month, new tools appear with better image generation, smarter editing features, and more realistic results. What looked obviously fake a year ago can now look surprisingly convincing.
However, AI is still far from perfect. Many people think AI works like magic. You type a sentence, click a button, and instantly receive the perfect image. In reality, things are often more complicated.
Writing a prompt is becoming a skill of its own. Sometimes the AI understands your request. Sometimes it completely misunderstands it. Other times, it gives you something close, but not quite right. This often means rewriting prompts, adjusting instructions, and generating the image multiple times until you get a usable result. And yes, every regeneration usually consumes AI credits, so experimentation is not free.
AI Still Makes Funny Mistakes
One thing I’ve learned while experimenting with AI is that it can be incredibly impressive… right until you look a little closer.
The first time I generated a realistic portrait, I was genuinely amazed. The lighting looked beautiful, the atmosphere felt natural, and at first glance it seemed almost impossible to tell that AI was involved.
Then I zoomed in. Suddenly, the magic started to fall apart. A hand had six fingers. Another image showed a couple holding hands, but somehow their fingers had melted into each other. In another photo, a smile looked slightly unnatural, and a person’s arm seemed just a little too long. The funny thing is that AI often gets the big picture right while struggling with the small details that humans instantly recognize.
This is why AI is still far from a one-click solution. Many people imagine typing a prompt, pressing a button, and receiving the perfect image within seconds. In reality, it often involves multiple attempts, careful inspection, and plenty of corrections afterward.
Sometimes I spend more time fixing AI mistakes than I would editing the original photograph itself. AI is getting better every day, but for now it still needs a lot of supervision from the person behind the screen.
The Photographer Is Still Important
This is also why I don’t believe AI will replace photographers anytime soon.
A camera can capture an image. AI can modify an image. But neither can replace the experience, judgment, and creativity of the photographer standing there in the moment. When a couple shares a genuine laugh during a pre-wedding session, no AI can create that exact emotion.
When beautiful light suddenly appears for just a few seconds before disappearing behind the clouds, it still takes a photographer to recognize the moment and press the shutter at the right time. Composition matters, lighting matters, timing matters, and most importantly, emotion matters.
In fact, the better the original photograph is, the better AI tends to perform. A strong image gives AI a solid foundation to work from. Without good lighting, composition, and posing, even the most advanced AI struggles to produce convincing results.
That’s why I see AI as an assistant rather than a replacement. It can help enhance a photograph, but it still relies heavily on the photographer’s work.
When AI Becomes a Hero
Of course, AI isn’t all about fixing fingers and strange facial expressions.
Sometimes it can be a real lifesaver. Imagine planning a sunrise pre-wedding session for months. The couple wakes up before dawn, gets ready in the dark, and travels to a beautiful location with high hopes of witnessing a spectacular sunrise.
Everything is perfect. Except the weather. Instead of golden sunlight, thick clouds cover the entire sky. As photographers, we’ve all experienced that feeling. You know the location is beautiful. You know the couple looks amazing. Yet nature decides not to cooperate.
This is where AI can become a useful creative tool. The photographs shown below were taken during cloudy conditions. The original images were already strong, with good composition, natural expressions, and beautiful scenery. Using AI together with Photoshop, I was able to introduce warmer sunlight, improve the atmosphere, and create a result that felt closer to what we had originally envisioned.
Was it perfect? Not at all.
Could AI completely recreate a real sunrise? Not yet.
Could Photoshop achieve a similar result? Absolutely. However, it would require far more complex masking, compositing, and layering work.
And yes, AI helped rescue photographs that might otherwise have felt disappointing. For couples who worry about bad weather affecting their pre-wedding session, AI opens up possibilities that simply didn’t exist a few years ago.
The key is that AI works best when there is already a strong photograph underneath. It cannot magically save every image, but it can help transform a good photograph into something even more memorable.
For me, that’s where AI is most exciting, not as a replacement for photography, but as another creative tool that helps photographers overcome challenges and deliver better results for their clients.
While Bali’s weather can be unpredictable, there are always creative solutions available. Feel free to contact me for detailed information about Bali pre-wedding packages, locations, routes, and personalized recommendations.
