Next Level AI
I’ve described situations in the past when I was sent to building developments which were nowhere near completion, and being under pressure to “Photoshop” the images to produce a set of polished images for marketing purposes. It became a burden, as over the years I did more and more work for less and less compensation, to the point where I was giving estate agents thousands of pounds worth of retouching for zero payment as it slowly became the expected norm (“can you just Photoshop these shots for me please?”)
The following image is an untouched raw conversion of a partially completed barn conversion on a literal building site - complete with detritus, and piles of gravel. I was actually dodging a JCB, and standing in ankle-deep clay which consequently took a jet washer to remove. The client wanted something to use for future marketing, and my heart just sank when I got there. (as well as my rigger boots into the thick clay where I was standing)
I considered just sending this to the client, but my sense of responsibility caused me to cave in and consider having a go. I’m an Adobe subscriber, so have access to all the latest generative AI tools within Photoshop. I’d seen a lot of Youtube clips about the latest developments, and specifically the collaboration with Google Gemini and it’s “Nano Banana” image generator. I’ve mentioned it before in a previous post, and the “dull to sunny” example was done using the first version of that service. Since then, the AI engine has been updated to version 3 Pro, so I thought I’d give it a bash.
The AI prompt was something along the lines of “Remove all the building materials and detritus, fencing and wood, create a black garage door in the appropriate aperture, and a driveway leading up to the garage. Make a neat garden and a path leading to the front door. Ensure all details of the building fascia are maintained.” The first result was as follows:
As a proof of concept image, that is frankly incredible - just incredible. I added a sky using the sky replacement feature as I normally do. This took less than a minute to achieve and used 10 of the 250 monthly allowance of generative AI credits given in Adobe’s photography subscription plan.
The original side view of the house, and the subsequent Nano Banana remodel were as follows:
The driveway that the AI created was somewhat different this time, but as these were only conceptual images, it didn’t matter. What mattered was I got a task done that would have been impossible, or at least extremely difficult this time last year. The agencies that create CGI mockups for developers don’t have much time left to bill clients thousands of pounds for their services, as doing a decent AI prompt can replicate their results in seconds.
