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Description

As you’ve probably read in my bio, my big thing is photo manipulation, and with tools like Stable Diffusion’s inpainting (and a bit of touch up in GIMP), the opportunities have grown exponentially.

Take, for example, the above photo of journalist Jordan Kisner with some guy. Jordan is interesting because she wrote (IMO) one of the best articles about her experience being dosed in a bar , both from her perspective and from a friend who was with her. She also did some informal research among friends, acquaintances, and others who have been drugged, dispelling a lot of myths about the subject. Worth a read, but I digress.

Back to the original picture. I wanted to remove three things:

the watermark,
the man, and
the dress.
I made a mask with GIMP to cover the watermark in less than 10 minutes, then used SD’s inpaint mask feature to remove it completely.

Removing the man was a simple inpaint, but it took several tries before I had a decent background where the people weren’t nightmare fuel. Even after that, I did a few inpaints of the blonde in the white dress until I got a head that was acceptable.

Finally, it was time to get Jordan out of her dress. For the inpaint, I described the outfit as a two-piece with a short skirt, off-the-shoulder top, and midriff peak. Again, it took several renders until I found one I was happy with, but eventually I did.

The last step was to upscale the result to add sharpness and detail. If you zoom into her face, you can see the difference. And there you have it.

Remember, AI tools are simply tools, nothing more. They don’t replace the artist; they change him and his workflow. True, people will be displaced, but that’s been true of technological change since textile workers in the 1800s were replaced by machines or the radio DJ was replaced by the vtuber or the twitch streamer. The “AI revolution,” at least in the arts, is nothing more than history repeating itself. Learn the tools; find your niche.

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AI gallery

Description

As you’ve probably read in my bio, my big thing is photo manipulation, and with tools like Stable Diffusion’s inpainting (and a bit of touch up in GIMP), the opportunities have grown exponentially.

Take, for example, the above photo of journalist Jordan Kisner with some guy. Jordan is interesting because she wrote (IMO) one of the best articles about her experience being dosed in a bar , both from her perspective and from a friend who was with her. She also did some informal research among friends, acquaintances, and others who have been drugged, dispelling a lot of myths about the subject. Worth a read, but I digress.

Back to the original picture. I wanted to remove three things:

the watermark,
the man, and
the dress.
I made a mask with GIMP to cover the watermark in less than 10 minutes, then used SD’s inpaint mask feature to remove it completely.

Removing the man was a simple inpaint, but it took several tries before I had a decent background where the people weren’t nightmare fuel. Even after that, I did a few inpaints of the blonde in the white dress until I got a head that was acceptable.

Finally, it was time to get Jordan out of her dress. For the inpaint, I described the outfit as a two-piece with a short skirt, off-the-shoulder top, and midriff peak. Again, it took several renders until I found one I was happy with, but eventually I did.

The last step was to upscale the result to add sharpness and detail. If you zoom into her face, you can see the difference. And there you have it.

Remember, AI tools are simply tools, nothing more. They don’t replace the artist; they change him and his workflow. True, people will be displaced, but that’s been true of technological change since textile workers in the 1800s were replaced by machines or the radio DJ was replaced by the vtuber or the twitch streamer. The “AI revolution,” at least in the arts, is nothing more than history repeating itself. Learn the tools; find your niche.

--

AI gallery