Spaceman
I Am Using Adobe Firefly To Create Photo Backgrounds
Okay so this is how I have been using AI Art. I was spending a lot of money licensing stock photos and not getting what I really wanted. Then I spent a lot of money building and buying what folks call “practical effects.” These are actual physical mini movie sets and backgrounds that take up a lot of space. I tried using a computer monitor as a background and a TV as background but I get tired of dealing with the glare.
Now, I do one of two things. I make an AI Art background and just photograph my toy subjects against a blue screen, cut them out and composite them into the digital file. Or I print the background at Printique.com and then shoot against it in real time and save the compositing step.
The great thing about toy photography is nobody can legit complain about the computer generated part since there is no reality at all here. It’s not like I could book passage to planet Hoff and then make a REAL photo to use :)
Obviously it gets expensive to make large prints and mount them on foam core so I prefer the AI Art backgrounds because I can actually create them “in the flow” while I am working an idea.
For this image I have a small, cheap, toy spaceman that is about four inches tall. I photographed him against a blue screen. Then I took that image and increased its size and resolution in Topaz Gigapixel. I did the same with the Adobe Firefly background.
But I don’t stop there. I do individual additional enhancement in Photoshop to both images before I composite them. Then I add Boris FX Optics to insert things like flare, atmosphere, color grade, etc.
I have to say it’s lots of fun. I am looking forward to Adobe Firefly coming out of Beta so I can use it exclusively. For now I am experimenting with it but I actually have received some commissioned works so I can’t use Firefly for those due to their restricted license during BETA which says no commercial use allowed. I am using a combination of DALL-E, Jasper AI, Midjourney and a home brew AI Art generator and then mashing those up to create my commercial pieces. I like Adobe Firefly better than any of the other choices but like I said, it’s limiting because no commercial license and also VERY small file size during BETA.
I hope it won’t be too long a wait. This stuff has changed my life. I am having almost as much fun as I would if I went out into the field.
Remember, toys are joy.
For a list of my toy photo gear and props go to:
bit.ly/toyphotogear
Follow me on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/bourne.scott/
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