AI Could Make Photography More Competitive for Everyone

Artificial intelligence might be coming for your photography job, but Luke Cleland thinks you have a bigger problem first: everyone else can now learn how to do it too.

In a recent YouTube video, the wedding photographer discussed how AI could change the business, from automated editing and easy access to education to the more extreme possibility of actual robots photographing weddings. His conclusion was less about fighting technology and more about figuring out what a photographer can offer that technology cannot easily copy.

When the robots get a camera

Cleland jokes about a future where physical robots could photograph weddings, pointing to small camera equipped robots that can follow people around and move autonomously.

It sounds far fetched, but he sees a more immediate version of the problem in AI tools. Software can already make photo editing, business planning, education, branding and other parts of running a photography business faster and cheaper.

That also means getting started as a wedding photographer is easier than it used to be. Cleland says that when he began, there was far less photography education available online. Today, a new photographer can learn from YouTube, use AI tools for advice, build a website quickly and find clients through social media.

For photographers already in the industry, that creates a more crowded market.

Technical skills are becoming the baseline

Cleland does not see easier access to technology as entirely negative. He argues that it can push photographers to improve because simply being competent with a camera is no longer enough to stand out.

Learning exposure, editing and other technical skills has become increasingly accessible. AI can accelerate that process even further.

His argument is that this raises the baseline for wedding photographers. Clients can find plenty of people who know how to produce technically polished images, so photographers need to offer something beyond the images themselves.

Cleland points to a recent wedding as an example. A bride messaged him the day after the event to say how comfortable he had made her and her guests feel. She wanted to leave a review before she had even seen the photographs. That experience, he argues, is harder to automate.

What happens when everyone can take good photos?

Cleland’s answer is the photographer’s personality, perspective, and ability to work with people.

Wedding photography involves photographing people during an unusually personal and often stressful day. Directing a couple, calming nervous clients, making guests comfortable, and understanding how someone wants to be photographed all involve interactions that cannot be reduced to camera settings.

AI can help photographers edit images or build a business. A robot could eventually carry a camera around a wedding. But Cleland argues that a photographer’s individual perspective and the experience they create for clients become more important as the technical barriers continue to fall.

If AI makes it easier for everyone to produce a good photograph, the interesting question may be what makes someone want you there to take it.

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