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I blogged on the evolution of digital photography under the pressure of AI. First the use of AI in post processing, then in facial recognition, more recently making tripods smarter.
Now I stepped onto another Kickstarter project to industrialise a digital camera add on (it may fit onto the flash socket) to take care of all the camera parameters. You would just need to point the camera in the direction you want to shoot (framing the scene) and the AI will take over analysing the frame and setting the best compromise among the different camera controls (aperture, speed, ISO, white balance, HDR, stacking and so on).
The add on, a smart camera assistant, has been designed by Arsenal, that has managed to raise over 2,650,000$ on Kickstarter. This is clearly an indication that many people “like” the idea of a smart assistant. I would say it takes away the fun of shooting but clearly many other people think differently.
What amazes me is the capability of a software to “understand” an image and apply an aesthetic evaluation. As an example looking at a landscape it can tell the landscape is the high point in the image but in order to have it pop up in the photo the boulder in the forefront has to be in sharp focus, hence the smart assistant close the aperture half way and execute a focus stacking to get everything in focus with minimal diffraction. On the other hand, if that same landscape has a person sitting on the boulder it will direct the camera to open up the diaphragm and will not activate any photo stacking to get a nice background bokeh.
This comes natural to a photographer but it is quite surprising that a software can get this kind of subleties.
More than that. It is amazing that such capabilities may be so affordable!
