Shutter Safari (Kevin Read) - In the Frame - August 2026 [PDF]

Language: English | Pages: 38 | Size: 18.1 MB | Format: PDF | Year: 2026

Author site: https://www.shuttersafari.com/in-the-frame




Welcome to the August edition of In The Frame.
Over the last month, I’ve noticed a lot more AI-generated photography products
appearing in my online feeds and have found myself getting increasingly
frustrated with them. The adverts are often easy to spot, combining cluttered text
with collections of small icons beside every listed feature. Following the adverts
usually leads to strange accounts with a handful of posts, all published fairly
recently. There is never a face or real name behind the accounts or websites
selling these products and, while I’d never give them money, I strongly suspect
that anything you buy would be entirely generated by AI.
A few months ago, I encountered a more serious case involving a photographer
who recognised his work on another feed. The images had been altered to
include different skies or aurora displays over the original scenes. The
photographs had been reposted by an account whose owner claimed to have
created them, convincing many followers that the altered images were genuine.
AI is changing photography and the internet in lots of different ways, but the
uses that bother me most all have this element of dishonesty. Generating words
or images and then presenting them as your own original work often feels like an
attempt to deceive the audience, and it’s telling how many of the AI-generated
photography courses try to give the impression that the teaching comes from a
real photographer, who is always mysteriously absent and unnamed.
That said, AI can be very useful for some tasks. It helps me test ideas, catch
grammar errors and identify poor phrasing, although the experiences and
original writing always come from me. I use AI tools to reduce noise and
remove small distractions from photographs, but not to add things that
weren’t really there. Many people have chosen to avoid generative AI
wherever possible, and I can see the appeal of that position. For those of us
who do use it, the challenge is finding a line that feels comfortable and honest.
It’s disappointing to see so much shallow photography material being churned
out with AI when so much good teaching and so many useful ideas already
exist, shared by photographers whose knowledge comes from years of
experience. I hope that the positive result will be that more people want to
engage directly with real photographers, and I always appreciate it when
people take the time to read In The Frame, which is my way of getting
around all the algorithms and computer-generated material.
This month, we start on location at Derryclare Lough in Ireland, famous for
its beautiful pine-covered island just off the shore. We explore the
development of a street scene in Porto, returning to an image from the
archives to discover what I could learn from an earlier period in my
photography. Finally, we discuss sharpness in photography and the techniques
you can use to capture more detail in your images.

Hidden Content:

**Hidden Content: You must click 'Like' before you can see the hidden data contained here.**