A.I. is all the hots right now in every industry. As a creative, I have been innately resistant about it for various reasons, but while editing my photos this time round, the disappointment while culling through 1000+ photos only to find the majority of them being in terrible lighting conditions was real. 

When it comes to underwater photography, I’m not gonna lie, I am still experimenting with execution of the various techniques under different dive conditions. From finding the light, to maintaining buoyancy and stability while shooting, to finding the best angle to working out your swim path to get to the angle you want while taking into consideration the condition of the currents, these are skills that one can never get enough practice of. 

I was trained to take photos underwater with only natural light, but 50 dives and more than 1000 terrible photos later, I’ve come to accept that shooting only with natural light is not going to be possible all the time with the different depths, lighting conditions and visibility each dive site had to offer. Not all the creatures are willing to wait for you while you frame, light, check your white balance, adjust your buoyancy before finally firing the shot. Sometimes, a manta ray just casually glides past while you are busy with your settings. So as a photographer, I gotta make the tough decision of prioritizing my subject over perfection. 

In the film industry, we have a saying for when we can’t seem to find a practical solution on set – fix it in post. Now we know that no amount of presets will turn a bad picture into a good one; what it really takes is wizardry and mad artistic skills. Or does it?  

I thought, why not see how much I can fix in this terrible set of photos by using A.I., without sacrificing too much of the creative and natural integrity of the actual photo. I decided to explore the Generative Fill function in Photoshop. 

My biggest issue with the original photos was the visibility and lighting condition. Because these are wide shots, it would have been really hard to light it yourself. You will have to rely on natural lighting. But being deep underwater, we definitely lost a lot of light and details.

With a little prompt and colour grading, what was initially a dead flat and off-focused photo suddenly became a lot more dynamic and true to what we saw in our actual dive. What Generative Fill did for me, was to compensate for the bad lighting and murky environment and allowed me to highlight the magnificence of the subject better. Personally, as a creative, I think this is the maximum I would go without sacrificing the integrity of the original photo, ie, adding things that were not there to begin with. 

I would view the use of AI as a complement, not a substitute to creating a good picture. A good understanding of photography principles, diving and shooting techniques and a genuine curiosity for your subject supersede any form of editing. The underwater world is meant to be experienced, not created. 

Then, the question is: Is this actually an ethical move? Would you consider using AI to touch up your photos and how far would you push it?

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