The Future of Food Styling & Food Photography: How AI May Change the Industry
How AI will impact the food photography, food styling, & prop styling industries?
It’s the question on everyone's mind, not just in our industry but worldwide. Recently, I tested out chat GPT to see what it was all about, and it was rather alarming. Having a culinary background before starting food styling has allowed me to widen my business and offer recipe writing services in addition to styling. I decided to start exploring how AI can affect recipe writing.
CAN AI CREATE DELICIOUS BROWNIES? WE PUT IT TO THE TEST.
After playing around with chat GPT, I wondered if it understands baking chemistry or just regurgitates information scraped from the internet quickly. To test it, I asked it to write an original recipe for brownies using espresso powder. In typical AI fashion, watch it blow my mind.
THE REAL QUESTIONS ARE, DOES THE RECIPE WORK AND WERE THEY GOOD?
Remarkably, the answer leans towards a resounding "yes". Every bite of the AI-crafted brownie was a dichotomy of emotions – amazing in taste, yet unsettling in its perfection. It raises inevitable questions. Will the art of recipe development, once considered deeply personal, face a tech-induced overhaul? And what does this mean for the closely-knit realms of food photography and styling?
Discussing this with industry peers led to a wide array of opinions. Some drew parallels between AI's rise and the seismic shift photography experienced transitioning from film to digital. In today's age, photographers juggle both still shots and videos, a testament to technological evolution. There's an underlying belief that this could be the opportune moment to embrace AI and weave it into our workflows otherwise, we might get left behind.
OTHERS BELIEVE THAT IT WILL TAKE A REALLY LONG TIME TO AFFECT CREATIVE JOBS.
AI can only create what we prompt it to; it cannot come up with original concepts on its own...yet. Being a creative person and creating unique art will hopefully never die. My personal opinion is a hybrid of all of these thoughts. I see AI is a new tool in our tool kit and it shouldn't be ignored. We can still do our work the way we feel comfortable, but not knowing or even exploring this new technology might be a mistake.
Here’s the Chat GPT Brownie Recipe:
Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp espresso powder
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 350°F and grease a 9x13-inch baking pan.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the melted butter and sugars until well combined.
Add the eggs to the mixture, one at a time, whisking well after each addition.
In a separate mixing bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, and espresso powder.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, stirring until just combined.
Stir in the chocolate chips.
Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and smooth the top with a spatula.
Bake the brownies for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Allow the brownies to cool completely in the pan before cutting and serving.
Fake food & the law: how AI may impact truth in advertising.
Pivoting to the realms of food, prop styling, and food photography, things might get interesting. Some photographers have been actively working with AI to create scenes for photoshoots. As trailblazing photographer Teri Campbell puts it in his interview with wonderful machine:
Teri Campbell’s picture-perfect AI pie.
“If I ran a magazine and I needed a picture of CEO John, I would hire a photographer to take a picture of John – AI can’t replace that. But if I need a picture of pumpkin pie for an article about Thanksgiving, I can create that with MidJourney”.
This is fascinating and will definitely impact the food styling and photography industry in an interesting way. However, as of now this kind of technology is expensive and has a steep learning curve.
EVENTUALLY, IT WILL MAKE IT EASIER TO CREATE SOME FOOD IMAGES WITHOUT REAL FOOD, WHICH COULD CHANGE THE WAY LIFESTYLE IMAGES ARE CREATED.
However, because of current US laws on truth in advertising, it requires food brands and stylists to use the actual food products for product packaging. If the law still stands, we are still needed to create these images.
It's worth noting that there are a ton of lawsuits flying around right now about the legality of AI and its scraping of the internet to compile new art and whether it's considered stealing. Only time and the courts will tell. Until then, I'll be trying to figure out how to use AI to my advantage and treat it like a tool to help me rather than fight against change.