Using Midjourney AI to create a Product Photo for my Client!

The video discusses the integration of AI into product photography, emphasizing that AI is a tool that can enhance creativity rather than replace human photographers. The speaker shares their experience using Midjourney AI to create a unique product photo for a client, following a tutorial by Martin Butvidson. They explain the process of generating an AI Dreamscape background, using prompts and JPEG images for inspiration, and then photographing the actual product to composite it seamlessly into the AI-generated scene. The video encourages embracing AI as a creative tool, highlighting that understanding lighting and photo editing skills are still crucial for creating realistic and compelling images. The speaker concludes by expressing their excitement to continue exploring AI in their work and staying ahead in the rapidly evolving field.

Takeaways

• 📸 **AI as a Tool**: AI is seen as an innovative tool for product photographers to create unique and original work, rather than a job replacement.
• 🚀 **Innovation**: The speaker believes AI will help product photographers innovate and stand out in a market with many similar products.
• 📈 **Incorporating AI**: The speaker has started to use AI in their work, specifically mentioning a tutorial by Martin Butvidson that they followed.
• 🌐 **Midjourney AI**: The AI tool Midjourney was used to generate the majority of a product photo, showcasing its capabilities.
• 💡 **Creative Process**: The client's request for a specific theme led to the exploration of AI as a solution to create a difficult-to-achieve scene in real life.
• 🔗 **Inspiration from URLs**: Midjourney can take inspiration from URL links to JPEG photos, aiding in the creative process.
• 📝 **Prompting AI**: The importance of using the right prompts with AI to generate desired outcomes is highlighted.
• 🎨 **Photoshop Skills**: Strong Photoshop skills are still necessary to composite the real product into the AI-generated image seamlessly.
• 📷 **Real-life Product Photography**: The actual product needs to be photographed in real life to maintain authenticity in the final image.
• ⏱️ **Time Investment**: Despite using AI, the process still requires a significant time investment to ensure a natural and high-quality result.
• 🤖 **Embracing AI**: The speaker encourages embracing AI, learning its use, and having fun with it, rather than fearing it as a job threat.

Q & A

What is the speaker's perspective on the role of AI in product photography?

The speaker views AI as an incredible tool that will help product photographers innovate their work and stand out. They believe AI will not take over jobs but rather become another tool in the creative process.

How does the speaker feel about the current state of product photography?

The speaker feels that there is a lot of sameness in product photography and that AI can provide a way to create more unique and original work.

What was the client's request for the product photo that the speaker created?

The client requested a lavender Dreamscape theme for the product photo, which was quite thematic and challenging to create in real life.

How did the speaker use Midjourney AI to create the product photo?

The speaker used Midjourney AI to generate the background of the photo, inputting specific prompts to create the desired Dreamscape. They then shot the product in real life and composited it onto the AI-generated background.

What was the speaker's first step in using Midjourney AI?

The first step was to generate the background on Midjourney by using specific prompts that described the client's desired theme.

How did the speaker ensure the product matched the AI-generated background?

The speaker shot the product in real life, then used photo editing software to match the lighting and angle of the product with the AI-generated background, and composited the product into the AI photo.

What was the speaker's approach to using prompts in Midjourney?

The speaker used detailed prompts that included descriptions of the product, the desired background, and specific lighting conditions to guide the AI in generating the image.

How did the speaker incorporate images from Pinterest into the AI generation process?

The speaker input the URLs of JPEG images from Pinterest into Midjourney to take inspiration from, helping to communicate the desired visual outcome.

What was the speaker's final verdict on whether AI will take over product photography jobs?

The speaker concluded that AI will not take over product photography jobs because the creative concept still needs to be generated by a human, and photography and photo editing skills are essential to make the final product look natural and cohesive.

What advice does the speaker give to other product photographers regarding AI?

The speaker advises other photographers not to be afraid of AI but to embrace it, learn how to use it as a creative tool, and have fun with it to stay at the forefront of the industry.

How long did it take the speaker to create the final AI-generated product photo?

The process of creating the final AI-generated product photo took the speaker hours, with the need to take breaks and revisit the image over a week to ensure proper blending and realism.

Outlines

00:00

🤖 Embracing AI in Product Photography

The speaker discusses the impact of AI on the product photography industry, expressing optimism that AI will become a valuable tool for creating unique and original work. They share their experience of using AI to generate a 'lavender Dreamscape' for a client, which was difficult to achieve in real life. The process involved using a tool called Mid Journey, which can generate images based on text prompts and take inspiration from JPEG photos. The speaker emphasizes that despite the use of AI, skills in photography and photo editing are still crucial to match the lighting and blend the real product into the AI-generated image seamlessly.

05:00

🎨 AI and the Creative Process in Photography

The speaker continues to describe their creative process with AI, mentioning how they used Mid Journey to generate a background and then composited a real-life product into the AI-generated image. They highlight the importance of understanding lighting and having strong Photoshop skills to ensure a natural look in the final product. The speaker dispels fears that AI will replace product photographers, arguing that the creative concept still needs a human touch, and technical skills are essential to execute that vision. They encourage embracing AI as a creative tool, positioning photographers who do so to stand out and increase their value in a rapidly evolving field.

Keywords

AI

Artificial Intelligence (AI) refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think like humans and mimic their actions. In the context of the video, AI is used to generate a unique product photo for a client. It is portrayed as a tool that can help product photographers innovate and stand out in a field where many images are starting to look similar.

Product Photography

Product photography is a genre of commercial photography that focuses on capturing images of products for advertising or marketing purposes. In the video, the speaker discusses how AI can be incorporated into product photography to create more original and thematic images, thus enhancing the photographer's work rather than replacing it.

Midjourney AI

Midjourney AI is a tool used in the video to generate the background of the product photo. It is used through Discord and allows users to input prompts to create images. The video demonstrates how Midjourney AI can be used to create a 'lavender Dreamscape' that would be difficult to produce in real life.

Photorealism

Photorealism is a style of art where the artwork resembles a high-resolution photograph. In the video, the term is used in the context of generating a photorealistic background using AI, which is essential for making the final composite image look natural and seamless.

Studio Lighting

Studio lighting refers to the use of artificial light sources in a controlled environment to illuminate the subject of a photograph. The video mentions 'studio lighting' in the context of creating a realistic setting for the product within the AI-generated image, emphasizing the importance of understanding lighting to match the AI background with the real product.

Octane Render

Octane Render is a GPU-accelerated rendering software used for creating high-quality 3D graphics. Although not explicitly mentioned in the video, it is implied as a tool that might be used in conjunction with AI to render the final product image with realistic materials and lighting.

Discord

Discord is a communication platform that the speaker uses to operate Midjourney AI. It allows users to communicate via text, voice, and video, and in this case, serves as the interface for generating AI images through commands and prompts.

JPEG

JPEG is a commonly used method of lossy compression for digital images, which reduces the file size to something more manageable without completely degrading the image quality. In the video, the speaker inputs JPEG photos into Midjourney AI for it to take inspiration from, which helps in generating a more desired outcome.

Composite

To composite in photography means to combine multiple images into one to create a single, cohesive image. The video describes the process of cutting out the real product and compositing it onto the AI-generated background to ensure a natural and realistic look in the final product photo.

Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop is a widely used software for image editing and manipulation. In the context of the video, it is essential for blending the real product shot with the AI-generated background, requiring advanced Photoshop skills to ensure a seamless and realistic final image.

Creative Concept

A creative concept refers to the original idea or theme that guides the creation of a work of art or design. In the video, the speaker emphasizes the importance of the photographer's role in generating the creative concept using AI and then bringing it to life through photography and image editing skills.

Highlights

AI is seen as a tool that can help product photographers innovate and stand out in a saturated market.

The use of AI in product photography can help create unique and thematic images that might be difficult to achieve in real life.

Midjourney AI was used to generate the majority of a product photo for a client, with the exception of the actual product.

A YouTube tutorial by Martin Butvidson was followed to incorporate AI into the product photography process.

Midjourney allows users to input URL links to JPEG photos for the AI to take inspiration from.

The speaker used Discord to operate Midjourney and had a private channel with the Midjourney bot.

Creative prompts were used to guide the AI in generating the desired Dreamscape background.

The speaker used a Pinterest image as inspiration for the AI to create a more accurate representation.

Different variations of the AI-generated image were explored before selecting the final one.

The actual product was photographed separately and then composited onto the AI-generated background.

Photoshop skills were essential for blending the real product into the AI-generated image seamlessly.

The final product was a result of hours of work, showing that AI does not eliminate the need for human creativity and skill.

AI is not a threat to product photographers but rather an opportunity to learn and create more valuable work.

The speaker encourages others to embrace AI and use it as a creative tool to enhance their photography.

Staying at the forefront of learning AI tools is crucial for photographers to stand out in the industry.

The speaker is satisfied with their first attempt at AI-generated product photography and is willing to share their work publicly.

The client was happy with the AI-generated product photo, indicating a positive reception from clients for this new technique.