AI-Powered Wedding Photography Workflows, with Sam Hurd & Justin Benson

Photographers often react instinctively against artificial intelligence, typically focusing on controversial generative AI. Meanwhile, a different branch of AI technology—machine learning systems—has been making remarkable progress helping photographers manage overwhelming image workflows under tight deadlines.
 
In today's show, we explore this trending topic in a discussion with Justin Benson and Sam Hurd, both accomplished wedding photographers and tech entrepreneurs.
 
Justin begins by clarifying the distinction between machine learning and generative AI before taking us behind the scenes of Aftershoot, the workflow tool he co-founded. He highlights the key advantages of culling and editing images locally rather than using cloud-based alternatives.
 
We also explore the question of trusting automated workflows and discuss how aesthetics factor in, particularly since machine learning systems adapt to a photographer's culling and editing preferences over time.
 
Our conversation naturally addresses the ethical concerns surrounding AI. Sam's posing tool, Insight, uses generative AI to offer photographers fresh creative suggestions, but importantly, it trains exclusively on images from his own extensive collection. You'll hear about his journey developing this tool initially for personal use before scaling it as a service for others.
 
By the end, you'll have gained fresh perspective on how these AI-powered tools can enhance your current workflow, along with hearing some thought-provoking predictions about what the future may hold.

Guests: Sam Hurd & Justin Benson
Episode Timeline:

3:34: Sam’s background in the creative arts complimented his love of technology in developing his photography career. 

7:26: Justin’s busy wedding workload and how his photography knowledge became an asset in developing an AI-powered culling & editing software.

9:35: Differentiating between machine learning and Generative AI, plus ethical concerns related to companies using cloud-based systems.

12:49: The influence of AI-related processes to a photographer’s creative output, plus the significance of the human element in generating new creative content.  

18:43: Factoring for aesthetics when it comes to AI-powered culling and editing software, plus how much to trust the process.

30:34: Implementing an AI-powered software program in a photographer’s overall workflow process, and reallocating time to details that really matter.

42:00: Episode Break

42:50: The backstory to Sam Hurd’s AI-powered posing tool Insight, plus why posing people is so hard.

54:59: Staying ahead of the curve with various AI-powered workflow tools, plus essential differences to Insight as a text-based service instead of an app.

1:02:57: How the increasing use of generative AI is causing a shift in assumptions about posting portrait pictures to the Internet.

1:07:30: Debating future advancements to AI technology, image generation at the pixel level, and comparing this to the shift from analog to digital.

1:12:23: The importance of the user community in making further advances to AI-powered software tools.

1:17:34: What’s next with AI, a real-world comparison to the original Blade Runner movie, plus the dynamic of scary vs cool.  

Guest Bios:

After starting as a political news and celebrity portraitist in Washington, DC., Sam Hurd was quickly drawn to wedding photography as a way to explore more inventive ideas. He focuses on deceptively simple photographic techniques with the potential to transform difficult or uninspiring environments into unique creative visions. 
A hallmark of his work are several in-camera techniques he developed such as Prisming, Lens Chimping, Color Spreading, and his Ring of Fire effect for in-camera flare.

In addition to his long-held passion for photography and creative reinvention, Sam is equally skilled in information technology and computer science since majoring in this field during college. That background, combined with a belief that modern AI tools can offer new avenues for creative exploration when thoughtfully leveraged, has led Sam to build several services to assist and inspire photographers. These include Insight, which analyses images in real time, returning visual pose ideas based on the actual environment and subjects in front of the lens - an entirely new process for breaking through creative blocks while working. 

Justin Benson started out photographing sets and location scouting for film and TV. But in 2011 his life changed after he answered a last-minute call from a family friend in need of a wedding photographer. Justin quickly discovered wedding photography was his true calling and he’s been at it ever since, with his wife joining him as a second shooter in 2016. Based in Connecticut, Justin works in a modern traditional style, combining a hint of candid moments with posed scenes. 

In 2019, just before COVID started shutting things down, Justin learned about an enterprising developer who was seeking photographer input to incorporate in an AI-powered image culling app he was cooking up. After much discussion and advice about how to improve this product, Justin signed on and became a co-founder of the AI-based software company Aftershoot. 

Stay Connected:
Sam Hurd Website: https://samhurdphotography.com/
Sam Hurd Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamthesam/
Sam Hurd Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/samhurdphotography
Sam Hurd Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@iamsamhurdphotography
Sam Hurd Linktr.ee: https://linktr.ee/iamthesam
Sam Hurd Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/samhurd
Insight Photo Website: https://www.insight.photo/ 
Sam Hurd on the B&H Photography Podcast: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/podcasts/photography/photographic-craft-connections-sam-hurd-dixie-dixon
Blade Runner movie clip: https://youtu.be/IbzlX43ykxQ?si=g9NG8TPkRskGsvW6’

Justin Benson Website: https://jbensonphotography.com/
Justin Benson Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Jbensonphotography/
Justin Benson Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jbensonphotography
Aftershoot Website: https://aftershoot.com/
Justin Benson & Aftershoot on the B&H Explora blog: