Photography, Art, and AI
CS180: Intro to Computer Vision and Comp. Photo
Alexei Efros, UC Berkeley, Fall 2024
The hype
The Hype
Slide by Aaron Hertzmann
We’ve been here before…
Slide by Aaron Hertzmann
“From today, painting is dead”�— Paul Delaroche, 1839
Slide by Aaron Hertzmann
“This is the end of Art. �I am glad I have had my day.”�J.M.W. Turner, 1839
Slide by Aaron Hertzmann
Portraiture in 1838
Slide by Aaron Hertzmann
1851: Jabez Hogg Making a Portrait in Robert Beard’s Studio
Slide by Aaron Hertzmann
“One knows that photography has harmed painting considerably, and has killed portraiture especially, once the livelihood of the artist.”�- Henry Le Secq, painter-photographer, 1863
Hosemann, 1843
Slide by Aaron Hertzmann
“The imitator is a poor kind of creature. If the man who paints only the surface he sees before him were an artist, the king of artists would be the photographer. It is for the artist to do something beyond this…”
– J.M. Whistler, 1878 (paraphrased)
Slide by Aaron Hertzmann
“Accurate drawing is not the essential thing to aim at, because the reflection of reality in a mirror, would not be a picture at all, no more than a photograph.”��– Vincent Van Gogh, 1888 (paraphrased)
Slide by Aaron Hertzmann
Photography: Summary
At first, it looked like photography automated art
Many artists feared and disparaged it
Actual outcomes:
These trends often repeat with each new art technology
Slide by Aaron Hertzmann
“In those early days, animators were frightened of the computer. They felt it was going to take their jobs away. We spent a lot of time telling people, `No, it’s just a tool—it doesn’t do the creativity!’”�
— Alvy Ray Smith, on the very early days at NYIT and Lucasfilm Graphics Group
Slide by Aaron Hertzmann
Read Aaron Hertzmann to learn more…
How to take a Good Photo?�&�How to not be scared in �a Modern Art Museum?
CS180: Intro to Computer Vision and Comp. Photo
Alexei Efros, UC Berkeley, Fall 2023
What Makes a Great Picture?
© Robert Doisneau, 1955
With many slides from Yan Ke and Fredo Durand,
as annotated by Tamara Berg
CS180: Intro to Computer Vision and Comp. Photo
Alexei Efros, UC Berkeley, Fall 2024
Framing
“Photography is all about framing. We see a subject -- and we put a frame around it. Essentially, that is photography when all is said and done.”
-- from photo.blorge.com
Frame serves several purposes:
1. It gives the image depth
2. If used correctly, framing can draw the eye of the viewer of an interest to a particular part of the scene.
3. Framing can bring a sense of organization or containment to an image.
4. Framing can add context to a shot.
Examples of nice framing
Rules of Thirds
http://www.photo96.com/blog/?p=371
Other examples
Don’t center, especially for motion
By Fredo Durand
Don’t center, especially for motion
By Fredo Durand
... or do center
By Fredo Durand
By Fredo Durand
More examples
Prof - Obvious what one should be looking at ie easy to separate subject from the background. Snap – unstructured, busy, filled with clutter.
B&W for Simplicity
B&W for Simplicity
Photo by A. A. Efros
…but not always
Photo by A. A. Efros
…but not always
Crop for Simplicity
By Fredo Durand
If your pictures aren't good enough, �you're not close enough" — Robert Capa
By Fredo Durand
Simplicity for Portraits – just move
Get low
Try to be at eye level
Bad
Better
By Fredo Durand
By Fredo Durand
Bad angles
By Fredo Durand
Eye level
By Fredo Durand
Or really get high
As usual, follow a rule �or really break it.
By Fredo Durand
Complementary colors (of opposite hue on color wheel)
Go in the shade
Light is more diffuse
Bad
Better
By Fredo Durand
Overcast days are the best
Just don’t put the sky in the frame
The weather conditions
The pictures
Other overcast-day pictures
By Fredo Durand
Bottom line
Don't get married on a sunny day!
By Fredo Durand
Cloudy day
By Fredo Durand
Best time of day: sunset & sunrise
+/- 1 hour
“Golden hours”
Night photography: always near sunset/sunrise
Mid day: �often not great
During sunset or�sunrise
After sunset
less than 1 hour�after sunrise/ �before sunset
By Fredo Durand
“Golden Hour”
During sunset/sunrise
After sunset
less than 1 hour�after sunrise
By Fredo Durand
After sunset: blue hour
By Fredo Durand
Blue Hour (Russian River)
Photo by A. A. Efros
I am a sucky photographer…
…but I am a pretty good photo critic!
# of my Paris photos on Flickr: 32
Total # of my Paris photos: ~1250
~2%
The Postmodern Photographer
The Old Days: a pre-process
The New Digital Days: a post-process
Simplicity to Complexity
Enjoying your next trip to (SF)-MOMA
CS180: Intro to Computer Vision and Comp. Photo
Alexei Efros, UC Berkeley, Fall 2024
Pablo Picasso
The Guitar Player (1911)
Simplistic Art PCA
Some “Principal Components” of Art:
Cute Ideas / Illusions / Clever Tricks
Salvador Dali
“Gala Contemplating the Mediterranean Sea,
which at 30 meters becomes the portrait
of Abraham Lincoln”, 1976
M.C. Escher
Rene Maritte
Direct Visceral Pleasure
Jan van Eyck, The Arnolfini Marriage (c.1434)
Olafur Eliasson, The Weather Project
Mark Rothko
Mark Rothko
Familiarity / Nostalgia
© Michael Galinsky, 1989
(from “Malls Across America”)
Edward Hopper
Alberto Giacometti
Art-Historical “Context”
Cultural Context
Cultural Context
Cultural Context
Cultural Context
Édouard Manet, “Olympia” (1865)
Titian, “Reclining Venus“ (1532)
Édouard Manet, “Olympia” (1865)
Shepherd Fairey
Shepherd Fairey
Banksy
Damien Hirst, Spot Paintings (1968--)
Zlotnikov, “Signals” (1965)
Damien Hirst, Spot Paintings (1968--)
Damien Hirst
Direction of change
Malevich, “Black Square” (1915)
Malevich
“Black Square” as exhibited (1915)
THANK YOU!
But wait… “one more thing!”
Everyone gets 0.5 cookie,
if we get to 70%...