Last weekend The New Yorker published an essay by Kyle Chayka that immediately caught my eye: “Have iPhone Cameras Become Too Intelligent?” (March 18, 2022).
Betteridge’s Law of Headlines comes to play here as this headline reinforces the belief that computational photography poses a threat to photographers or is somehow ruining photography itself. Apple’s latest smartphone models employ machine learning algorithms that make all images appear professionally taken – but this doesn’t guarantee good photos.”
The article suggests that machine learning is producing poor images. This sentiment embodies nostalgic fear contagion that’s intensified as more computational photography technologies assist in producing images: machines are taking more control, algorithms are making decisions we used to make ourselves, and my iPhone 7/DSLR/film SLR/Brownie took better photos than my old fashioned cameras and film SLRs; all wrapped up into an illusion that only “real photographers”, professional photographers, would experiment with such sorcery.
