Cat verses Dog
This picture has been 10 months in the making. Let me explain....
At the tail end of 2023 Flickr had its annual "Best of the year" photography contest, with a new - and perhaps controversial! - category of A.I. generated images making an entry. I'm neither here or there when it comes to A.I. as long as it is marked so for full disclosure. Actually I recently had a family over for a Christmas photoshoot and after I had edited one of the images I wondered if I could add a nice framed picture on the wall behind the family. Let's say my dipping of the toes into A.I. generated content was a disaster with some quite funny results! In my mind I had the perfect picture but on my screen I had chopped heads and other horrors at the opposite end of the Christmas spectrum. I won't be dipping my toes again any time soon. Anyway, I digress...
The winning entry into the newly formed A.I. category was of a cat and dog playing chess. They were, if memory serves me correctly, seated in a café-like environment with bookcases in the background. I seem to recall they might have be dressed and possibly smoking but I'm unsure of that last detail. And after my A.I. Christmas horror show I only have great admiration for people who can produce stunning A.I. art which it certainly was. Sadly a small minority didn't whole-heartedly welcome it on here but like I said I wasn't fussed. As I saw how people were reaching for their virtual pitchforks, ready to storm Flickr's headquarters to purge this A.I. evil that had befallen us I thought to myself "Could I take a photo that was based on an A.I. image - reversing it so to speak?" I didn't have a dog just then but we do own three cats. One evening I got the two brothers and set everything up in the living room in front of the bookcase. The results were disappointing to say the least with the background being far too messy and distracting for my liking. By this time, Petra and I knew we were going to get a puppy so the idea was put on hold. Until today.
I've waited until Sherlock is a bit bigger (he's 7 months old now) as I liked the idea of him using his height and weight advantage to "tower" over his opponent, who today was Rikku (10 years old, bless) as she was the only cat around at the time. As it was (and has been for days!) rather grey outside I decided that today was the day to give my A.I. deconstructed idea a go. I ditched the bookcase background in favour of using my favourite wall - just makes things a bit less "messy" and didn't bother trying to get them dressed. Or smoking for that matter. To make things easier for me this is actually two photos. Firstly I had Sherlock "pose" and then after placing out some chess pieces, grabbed Rikku and plonked her down on the other side for the next photo. I held up some sweets for her to "look" in Sherlock's direction and was very happy that in two images both their eyes are facing each other. Both images were quickly blended in photoshop.
I've quite enjoyed taking this picture even if it was so long in the making. So when it comes to A.I. images I'll accept them and if I like what I see I'll do my best to reconstruct them with my own interpretation when I get a chance. Call it my new long term photography project.
Strobist info: Two Godox (PixaPro in the UK) AD200 were used to light up the scene. Both placed either side of the camera and pointing upwards and backwards to use the ceiling as a light source. Both triggered by wireless remote.
Cat verses Dog
This picture has been 10 months in the making. Let me explain....
At the tail end of 2023 Flickr had its annual "Best of the year" photography contest, with a new - and perhaps controversial! - category of A.I. generated images making an entry. I'm neither here or there when it comes to A.I. as long as it is marked so for full disclosure. Actually I recently had a family over for a Christmas photoshoot and after I had edited one of the images I wondered if I could add a nice framed picture on the wall behind the family. Let's say my dipping of the toes into A.I. generated content was a disaster with some quite funny results! In my mind I had the perfect picture but on my screen I had chopped heads and other horrors at the opposite end of the Christmas spectrum. I won't be dipping my toes again any time soon. Anyway, I digress...
The winning entry into the newly formed A.I. category was of a cat and dog playing chess. They were, if memory serves me correctly, seated in a café-like environment with bookcases in the background. I seem to recall they might have be dressed and possibly smoking but I'm unsure of that last detail. And after my A.I. Christmas horror show I only have great admiration for people who can produce stunning A.I. art which it certainly was. Sadly a small minority didn't whole-heartedly welcome it on here but like I said I wasn't fussed. As I saw how people were reaching for their virtual pitchforks, ready to storm Flickr's headquarters to purge this A.I. evil that had befallen us I thought to myself "Could I take a photo that was based on an A.I. image - reversing it so to speak?" I didn't have a dog just then but we do own three cats. One evening I got the two brothers and set everything up in the living room in front of the bookcase. The results were disappointing to say the least with the background being far too messy and distracting for my liking. By this time, Petra and I knew we were going to get a puppy so the idea was put on hold. Until today.
I've waited until Sherlock is a bit bigger (he's 7 months old now) as I liked the idea of him using his height and weight advantage to "tower" over his opponent, who today was Rikku (10 years old, bless) as she was the only cat around at the time. As it was (and has been for days!) rather grey outside I decided that today was the day to give my A.I. deconstructed idea a go. I ditched the bookcase background in favour of using my favourite wall - just makes things a bit less "messy" and didn't bother trying to get them dressed. Or smoking for that matter. To make things easier for me this is actually two photos. Firstly I had Sherlock "pose" and then after placing out some chess pieces, grabbed Rikku and plonked her down on the other side for the next photo. I held up some sweets for her to "look" in Sherlock's direction and was very happy that in two images both their eyes are facing each other. Both images were quickly blended in photoshop.
I've quite enjoyed taking this picture even if it was so long in the making. So when it comes to A.I. images I'll accept them and if I like what I see I'll do my best to reconstruct them with my own interpretation when I get a chance. Call it my new long term photography project.
Strobist info: Two Godox (PixaPro in the UK) AD200 were used to light up the scene. Both placed either side of the camera and pointing upwards and backwards to use the ceiling as a light source. Both triggered by wireless remote.