This is the image that sort of brought life to the mad scientist in me. I can't remember if it was the first snowflake image I tried to digitally alter, but it definitely sent me down the most frozen rabbit hole to date.
The first image (at the top of this blog post) is a stacked image, compiled via 11 nearly identical shots I merged in Photoshop to bring out the most accurate focus in each image. (The second image is one of the original 11 images.) Astrophotographers have been stacking images for years, perhaps even decades, to create the stunning stellar photos we've all enjoyed and probably drooled over.
The image directly above this paragraph is the Photoshop-sharpened and cleaned-up version of my stacked image. I began using the image stacking capabilities of Photoshop about last year because I never really mastered my standalone image-stacking software in about 2015. The image-stacking technology probably has elements in common with what we now know as AI. Although I initially (pre-2005) was extremely anti-Photoshop because I came from the pre-digital news environment and didn't want any of my images ever to be considered "manipulated", Photoshop has been my favorite computer tool for at least a decade. My first version of Photoshop was gifted to me by my dad; he thought I might enjoy playing with it when his job required him to update his software. I quickly learned how much faster it is to remove dust spots and to brighten shadowed faces, plus, I no longer had easy access to a darkroom. My favorite plug-in was a kaleidoscope generator rendered unusable when I bought the laptop before this one, and I've never been able to find a replacement, darn it. I could create amazing "snowflakes" with my real images using that old plug-in!!!
It still is incredibly important to me that my actual photographs are never confused with AI, but Photoshop now is my friend. I enjoy working with Photoshop, learning how to make best of most of its tools, and cherish its manual ability to fix old photos. I still have not experimented with Photoshop's AI tools more than a handful of times, but I have used other AI programs. I always label the images I produce via AI as AI. I will never try to pull the superwash sock wool over anyone's eyes. I prompted one of my AI programs to sharpen and clarify my original stacked snowflake image to create the image directly above this paragraph.
One of my AI programs gives me the ability to add motion. So, of course, I had to make my altered snowflake image dance. Or, at least, twirl...
After hiking with a couple of friends over the weekend, I was treated to the equivalent of an old-fashioned slide show of their recent overseas trip. (We swiped left on their tablet.) One has recently become fascinated by what AI can do to his photos, and boy, did he play! He showed me watercolor- and oil-type renditions of some of his most prized photos. They were truly really awesome. I was drawn to what he called his "psychedelic 60s poster" effect on photos. I never would have thought to manipulate my photos in such a way. (Although I have had fun with Photoshop color and overlay filters!) So, of course, I had to try it as soon as I got home. And what better subject than snowflakes??? I fed my AI-enhanced real snowflake photo into MidJourney, which I have used to illustrate my blog when I was unable to take photos. That image is shown above.
My first attempt wasn't bad. But I became curious what other AI programs could do with my snowflake. My second attempt, shown above, is rendered via Nano Banana.
Next, I tried ChatGPT, shown above.
My friend uses a program I didn't even know existed, Meta AI, shown above. Wow. I see why he likes this program. I decided to test it with the crocheted version of my real snowflake photo, shown below.
I often wondered if I spent too much time generating kaleidoscopes more than a decade ago. I really don't think I needed to find something new to steal away time I should be spending elsewhere!!!
