AI in photography and video: what is changing for your next project?

Separate editing assistance from generated content

Editing assistance starts with an existing photograph or clip. Depending on the software, it may help select an area, isolate a subject or apply a correction. Generation creates or reconstructs content: a background, an object, an atmosphere or an entire sequence. One image can therefore contain both photographed and invented elements.

That distinction belongs in the brief. Making a portrait easier to read and changing someone’s body shape are different requests. Similarly, removing a small distraction from a property photograph does not justify changing the size of a swimming pool or the view from a bedroom. Decide what the image needs to communicate before choosing the tool.

Photography: review every edit against the original

A concrete example is Generative Remove in Adobe Lightroom. It can remove a selected element and generate content to fill the area. This may help deal with a distraction in the frame, but the replacement is a reconstruction. Review it beside the original, especially around patterns, reflections and edges.

For cosmetics or an online catalogue, keep a faithful reference of the product. An unreadable label, an altered texture or an attractive but inaccurate colour can make an image less useful. For portraits, agree the level of retouching and the person’s features that must remain intact. A consistent set of photographs matters as much as an impressive individual image.

Video: support the edit and explore creative shots

AI also has a role within an edit. Adobe Premiere’s Generative Extend, for example, can add frames to the beginning or end of a clip, or extend certain ambient sounds. That can help an editor adjust a transition. The additional frames are generated; they are not a real recording of a moment the camera missed.

Generated video can also help explore an advertising concept, animate a still or develop a transition. Before approval, check movement, hands, faces, objects and product consistency across shots. A striking clip still needs to fit the lighting, pace and story of the finished film. The final sequence needs to work as a whole, rather than as a collection of effects.

Match the use of AI to the purpose of the shoot

For weddings and events, the value of a documentary record comes from the people, gestures and moments that actually happened. An invented scene does not replace that memory. For a villa or riad, images should help a visitor understand the property on offer. Any virtual staging should be distinguished from a photograph of its actual condition.

Creative campaigns leave more room for imagination. A hybrid production might photograph a real product and generate part of the world around it. Even then, allow for detail checks, references, revisions and delivery formats. AI does not guarantee an instant result or a lower price: the work depends on the precision the project requires.

Questions to ask before starting your project

Explain what must stay documentary and what can be interpreted creatively. Agree which files may be sent to an external tool and which conditions need reviewing first. A convincing image or a visual resemblance alone does not establish that the result is suitable for every intended use.

When discussing a project with iPhotoo, share references and describe the goal: a faithful record, an imaginative campaign or a combination. This gives the conversation a basis for art direction and feasibility, without assuming a tool can produce anything on demand. Observation, lighting, sound and editing decisions remain central to a finished photograph or film.

• Which elements must remain strictly faithful to reality?
• What will be photographed, filmed or generated?
• How will faces, text and product details be checked?
• Which files may be shared with the chosen tools?
• Which formats, approvals and deadlines should be planned?