As I write this, I await Imagen AI to edit last night’s photos. It’s going to finish its work before I finish this article. Anyway, what is Imagen AI, and how do I use it for my event photography?
What’s Imagen AI?
Imagen AI is a piece of software that edits your photos for you. First, you train it on your previous editing. It’s, of course, best to feed it your consistent style. Not your experimental edits.
How it works
You train the AI by feeding it your Lightroom catalog. Next, after 3000 photos, it trains itself on your specific editing style and preferences. Then, you can start using it on your new photos.
It looks at them, compares them to your previous photos, and makes the appropriate editing. Of course, it doesn’t get your photos 100% there, but it does the 95% for you. Then you just need to tweak and export. Tadaam.
Pricing of Imagen AI
And it’s all for a reasonably cheap price of 5 cents per photo. To give you a concrete idea, a recent badge of 172 photos cost me 10.32 euros to be edited and straightened by Imagen AI.
It did that in less than 30 minutes. It spared me a lot of time and helped me to deliver my event photos faster.
Imagen AI for (corporate) events
I do events, portraits, and branding shoots as a corporate photographer. But I only use Imagen AI for the events. The other two niches require a specific editing style I don’t like to outsource yet.
For events, it’s okay. It’s often reasonably standard editing. It also usually requires fewer local adjustments, something Imagen can’t do (yet).
Events often also require a more speedy delivery—usually, even the day after already. Imagen AI helps me to get that result a lot easier.
My event photography workflow with Imagen AI
I keep the same routine for events. Of course, that works for 95% of all events. There are still some exceptions.
I usually come home and upload the photos to my storage. No matter when I arrive home, this is what I do first. I could be hungry for dinner or eager to go to bed past midnight. I make sure to copy my photos to storage.
This way, I have doubles (on the hard drive and the memory cards).
Depending on the time of day, my need for speed, and my energy, I instantly select the photos. It’s usually reasonably rough. Giving the photos I think are okay three stars.
Then, I upload that selection to Imagen AI. I allow it to do its work while I sleep, eat, or just do other stuff that comes along when you do photography professionally (so many emails, so much admin).
Next, I download the edits, review them, and work for myself. Tweaking some adjustments here and there and refining my end selection. I do some local adjustments here and there, too.
Then, when it’s ready, I hit export and send the photos to the client.
Instead of working five hours editing for one event, it now takes me less than two hours. Saving me and the client plenty of time.
Of course, here and there, it needs extra refining. I haven’t taught the AI about my shutter drag photos yet.
Benefits of useing Imagen AI
I can sum up the benefits pretty quickly, actually:
- Faster delivery: as the time to edit takes less (usually)
- Fewer hours spent at the computer copy
- Relatively cheap: cheaper than other editing solutions
Have you used Imagen AI already? Let me know your experiences in the comments below!
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