Something Different - GenAi for Tour Portrait

[jimlosaltos]

As Monty Python famously said, "And now for something completely different."

January is traditionally used by publications for forward-looking articles, so we went with something different, a collection of tennis images created with Generative Ai. I view this as similar to Tour Portraits we've done comprising abstract images, just with different tools. This collection endeavors to show the variety of tools and different types of image output. For those concerned with GenAi's impact as "photography" (which is not what I'm sharing here}, I included a link to a NYT article at the end of this post.

All the images in this tour portrait were created with three GenAi systems: DALLE-E, which is from the highly-publicized OpenAI corporation that created ChatGPT and is partnered with Microsoft; Midjourney, an independent company with a more complex system giving the user more control over its output, and Firefly, Adobe's approach, which is quite different from anyone else's I'm aware of, integrating GenAi into its current photo editing software, including Photoshop. All of these images were created last July, so each of the tools has since evolved on in subsequent releases.

Please click here to see the January TPN Tour Portrait:

https://www.tennisplayer.net/members/tourportraits/jim_fawcette/ai_tennis/

Here are a couple of samples to illustrate potential uses. I'll post a few more with explanations in the next couple of days.

This image was generated by Firefly using a text prompt starting with "1920's female tennis player, art deco style, block colors".

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For contrast, this DALLE-E generation imagines tennis as part of a mythical, medieval knight's joust, making sudden death take on a different meaning. Other text parameters set style, level of detail, armour and the output results from numerous iterations.

For discussion of GenAI photography impact:
NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/26/opinion/ai-future-photography.html?unlocked_article_code=1.I00.vlNG. YJXolEWuj5CC&smid=url-share

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[jimlosaltos]

This technology gets controversial when used to create more realistic images to mislead people. I won't go there, but these samples hint at where the technology is headed. None of my attempts for this set aim to "look like a real photograph of an actual event".

Here, I've directed Midjourney to "imagine" (which is the literal opening instruction in Midjourney) Roger Federer as a Renaissance artist in his studio. Seems apt both because Fed has an artistic game, the demeanor of a creative genius, and I can see him painting in retirement <g>. The broad-brimmed hat was called "a wide-awake hat". The headline was generated separately in Firefly.

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This combines a real photo I took of Rafa with an imaginary background to depict Rafa literally sailing into the sunset of retirement. Rafa's Babolat from my photo is replaced with a sailor's tiller. Adobe Firefly, its GenAI, is integrated into Photoshop. Here I gave it a series of text instructions to remove the background, then create the sunset over an ocean. I repeatedly generated that over and over until I got one that was close enough. Then I re-generated the sailing ship ropes, then integrated the two versions in Photoshop, and finally generated the birds. Whew. What's impressive to Photoshop users is that Firefly creates new content that matches the direction of lighting, shadows and tone in the original photo, something that would take hours to match by hand, even if you have the skills and the patience.

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P.S. I preferred this earlier one of an old, retired Fed, but I was told he was less recognizable with the beard <g>

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[jimlosaltos]

Finally, I couldn't resist expressing what I saw when McEnroe screamed his way through matches.

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[jimlosaltos]

Two more samples, showing quite different types of results, with different prompts.

A futuristic tennis player, as a Japanese Manga neon line drawing done on Discord with Midjourney V4 {Instruction: Imagine **Futuristic pro tennis player Manga style colorful highly detailed uhd Player is running and swinging tennis racket. Shown full body, feet moving --v 4** - Upscaled by JimF (fast)}

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Here, I told Midjourney to create an image of Roger Federer leaping in the style of a photographer known for using strobe-lights to capture athletes' motion in the studio. The text described the type of camera, the lens, and various other terms to define the style image I wanted to create. {Photographer Neil Leifer Camera Canon ESO-1D X Mark II universal lighting }

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[stotty]

I find AI very worrying. Someone I know was creating images of couples holding hands who weren't actually together in real life! A person's reputation can be completely soiled by this stuff. AI is moving so quickly that people are largely still unaware of what it is capable of, so are vulnerable to it.

[jimlosaltos]

I find AI very worrying. Someone I know was creating images of couples holding hands who weren't actually together in real life! A person's reputation can be completely soiled by this stuff. AI is moving so quickly that people are largely still unaware of what it is capable of, so are vulnerable to it.

Valid and very important concerns, but the same was said about digital editing of images, Photoshop being the prime brand associated with that, but many tools. As with an image modified in Photoshop there are ways to figure out if something is fake.

I'm even more worried about video than still images. The viral impact of video on social media is so fast and potent that by the time people have figured out something is fake, the damage is done. And many people on social media only remember their initial impression. The fake video gets distributed to millions, the correct to a fraction, I'm afraid.

[jimlosaltos]

While press is focused on creating realistic images from scratch using GenAI, a promising commercial area is combining real photos with generated content. These tools can replace a background (putting in a more attractive sky, replacing junk with a plant, say), a create an office background for a executive portrait taken on the fly.

Here, generated backgrounds for real photos of tennis players to illustrate actual quotes of theirs.

"Like a Cow On Ice" brings Maria Sharapova's famously self-derisive quote to life by using Adobe Firefly to replace the background in my real photo of Masha, turning her service toss into a pas-de-deux with a graceful if imaginary, giant bovine partner, a cow skating across a clay court.

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Novak Djokovic's enthusiasm for mystical powers and pseudoscience is exemplified by his investment in and support of "the Bosnian pyramids" that archaeologists call a hoax.

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[stotty]

The viral impact of video on social media is so fast and potent that by the time people have figured out something is fake, the damage is done.

My fears exactly.

[jimlosaltos]

{ I posted this earlier, but when the site wouldn't let me edit an error, I deleted and will now retry to post again)

These don't always work. Here's an amusing failure. The secret to Novak Djokovic's great backhand is, apparently, that he has two forehands due to an, ah, unusual shoulder joint &amp; interesting backhand grip. Since the GenAi is creating something that doesn't exist in the real world, these are called "hallucinations". When it is an image such as this it is good for a laugh. When the hallucinations are court decisions that never existed they can lead to fines for lawyers that put them in court briefs {Not theoretical. There are multiple, actual such cases.}

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[jimlosaltos]

Bonus content, and I promise my last post here! - text generated from most anything, is a unique skill of Adobe's Firefly. For coverage I wrote elsewhere I created headlines where the word "Wimbledon" changed with the courts -- starting as lush grass then by the finals, the letters were made of runs and dirt divots, just like the courts ! <g>

This close up shows how the characters are constructed of grass and daisies.
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The actual headlines varied from the first rounds' lush grass, followed at the end by scarred dirt courts for the later days of that event where the Lawn is gone from ALTEC <g>
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To show the variety, here is a close up a headline "Happy Holidays" generated from tennis balls.

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[jimlosaltos]

My fears exactly.

Well, that didn't take long <g>

NYT article: No, That’s Not Taylor Swift Peddling Le Creuset Cookware
The singer did not promote a giveaway of the popular cookware, but an artificially generated version of her voice suggested otherwise.

Excerpt:
The ads are among the many celebrity-focused scams made far more convincing by artificial intelligence. Within a single week in October, the actor Tom Hanks, the journalist Gayle King and the YouTube personality MrBeast all said that A.I. versions of themselves had been used, without permission, for deceptive dental plan promotions, iPhone giveaway offers and other ads.

In Ms. Swift’s case, experts said, artificial intelligence technology helped create a synthetic version of the singer’s voice, which was cobbled together with footage of her alongside clips showing Le Creuset Dutch ovens. In several ads, Ms. Swift’s cloned voice addressed “Swifties” — her fans — and said she was “thrilled” to be handing out free cookware sets. All people had to do was click on a button and answer a few questions before the end of the day.



https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/09/t...1.MU0.mTtZ.dCY S9x44IUFa&smid=url-share

[stotty]

It happened to Martin Lewis over here. Martin is a champion of the people in terms of fighting for rights and giving honest financial advice. He is highly trusted among the public. AI has exploited that trust ruthlessly to lure people into dodgy scams, etc. Needless to say Martin is dismayed. Good people can easily be soiled by AI and that is so depressing.

[johnyandell]

Think all the money spent on AI should go to carbon capture...

[jimlosaltos]

Think all the money spent on AI should go to carbon capture...

Good point!

Global warming would certainly be a great place for that level of investment (although I'm not confident on carbon capture itself).

[stotty]

Good point!

Global warming would certainly be a great place for that level of investment (although I'm not confident on carbon capture itself).

Not sure there is a silver bullet for the climate catastrophe other than employ every means possible: carbon capture, curb deforestation, reduce carbon emissions, increase home insulation...you name it...everything...all hands to the deck!