Is this the final nail in the coffin for professional photography?

[arthurking83]

CGI!!

via Peta Pixel (http://www.petapixel.com/2012/08/24/ikea-slowly-shedding-photography-in-favor-of-computer-renders/) and Wall Street Journal (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444508504577595414031195148.html?mod=WSJEUROPE_business_LeadStoryCollection)

How long before the ability to create CGI images becomes something that the mum's and dad's can easily do with their P&C(point and click) computer interface?(remembering that Windows(Win 8) is most certainly going to migrate to a touchscreen interface.

I remember the old days .. as a courier the vast majority of my workload in the old days was to shuttle goods and services from props supply depot to shoot to studio to ad agency and back again in all manner of directions.

Software(see Blender.org) is making it easier and easier to do CGI, and hence why many companies will end up going for it as opposed to photographing real sets with real products.

So then the next negative generational transition will be that of the current of the CGI master renderer.
Every noob and wannabe CGI weekend warrior will eventually ditch their entry level DSLR and kit lens for a newer faster PC.
This newer faster PC will allow them the ability to keep up with the established pros in the field, of course! ;)

Two good things will come of this:
1. a swath of cheap DSLRs will enter the classifieds market, so bargains a plenty to be had for those eagle eyed merchants waiting in the wings.
2. there's suddenly going to be a dearth of hopelessly inadequate weekend warrior phauxtogs, resulting in higher prices for those of you that stuck it out!


.. watch this space :p

[Ollé]

That article raises an interesting point, however, I don't think the pros have anything to worry about.

The simple fact is that photography has been used for decades as a documentary tool - look at all the photos from wars, protests, and other 'current world events' both past and present. I'm sure that they wouldn't have the same impact if they were CG.

I think that we are going to see a big shift, like you eluded to, in films being shot almost purely on blue-screen sets with everything dropped in at a later stage a-la Star Wars Episode III.

[zollo]

Is this the final nail in the coffin for professional photography?

yep, for sure

[Lance B]

The problem is, you will still need someone to take the photos at the wedding (or whatever event) and that someone needs to be paid as who does this stuff for free? I mean, does the father of the bride, or the brother/sister/cousin/best mate do it? I am sure that these people aren't going to want to be lumbered into doing it, nor will most have the time and then even if they do, do they want to spend time post processing them and then there is the presentational aspect of it all. Are they any good at compositional aspects? ideas for poses? where to go to get the staged shots? what about insurance if their photos are crap or are lost? professional passes for areas that are for this sort of thing?

I have been asked to do weddings for people many a time, but why are they asking me rather than a pro photog? One reason mainly, and that is they think they can get it done cheaper. The time it takes me to take the photos, then spend hours post processing the photos and then also look for suitable presentational material is just not worth it for me. The other major issue is insurance if something goes wrong and you lose the photos or whatever. What happens if the photos are rubbish? The problem is, that that good friend that you had then becomes an enemy because you fouled up the most important day of their lives!

What I find with new technology is that all it does is raise the bar higher, and higher than what the average Joe can do and therefore keeps it within the realms of professionalism. This happens with pretty much everything.

I liken it to the thought that we would have a paperless office once computers got a foothold - remember way back when this new technology of computers first came onto the market? The trouble is, once we got computers, then there were all these unbelievably great reoprts that could be generated for us all to mull over, reports that could be generated that we would never have had before computers, and find where we weren't selling something and why. Now all these reports are printed every month for us to peruse over creating not less, but more paperwork!

So, whilst all these new fangled programs will help the average Joe, there will be even more sophisticated versions that will keep it within the realms of professionalism as well as the fact that most of us don't really want to waste our Saturday at cousin Bobby's or your best mate's wedding taking their wedding photos and then spend hours post processing them.

[pmack]

Without reading the article, surely this will only be a major benefit for products where you want can get infinite combinations of products, colours etc etc? I don't know how large the product type photography sector is, but it's hardly what I think of when i think of photography - so by all means go to CGI.

With just about everything else, to lay down all that ground work would take a lot of time just for a random image. Using a camera you are making use of what you already have. Although perhaps the line between photography and CGI will become further blurred... (i mean half the time when you think about a lot of the HDR work out here, it might as well be CGI...)

[Wayne]

Not anytime soon...

[jjphoto]

CGI is easy for some companies if they already have the engineering drawings, hence the preponderance of CGI in still and TV car advertising, for many years now.

[zollo]

http://www.petapixel.com/2012/08/24/ikea-slowly-shedding-photography-in-favor-of-computer-renders/

It's happening😭


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[Kym]

If someone has an online relationship, they could have a CGI generated online wedding?
:lol:

[Ollé]

You might be onto a winner there, Kym :p

I can see how it would make things different for the photographers pitching themselves at advertising and product photography for sure, but documentary and photojournalists aren't going to be out of a job anytime soon.

[arthurking83]

The problem with answers such as ..... 'you will still need someone to take the photos at the wedding' and for other such genres heavily reliant on photography such as news, sport and other life sciences .. how many opportunities exist in these arenas anyhow?

That is, image a day some point in the future where there is no work for the professional studio to do product and catalogue shoots due to the ease and cost effectiveness of CGI.
All those photographers will then turn to people news and animal based work, which by all accounts is an already flooded market.
And as CGI has no bounds, it's not implausible for CGI to break into the people market anyhow with advances in the next few incarnations of CS.
It already has the ability to paste people that were not at the event into images of the event!
Why not take it to the next logical stage and paste images of bride and groom into an event they were never at too! :p

If it hasn't already happened, then it's only a matter of time before it does, and someone does it well enough for the effect to 'become all the rage'.

Of the forms of photography based on human subject matter , I believe stock photography will be the first to fall, where it's easy to CGI plastic people(that don't really matter in life) into an advertisement or whatever.
It's far cheaper, hence more cost effective for the company paying for the product... so in my mind it's basically a foregone conclusion.
I don't think it's a matter of if CGI will replace many, if not all, forms of photography ..... but when, and by whom .. using which software!