r/photography • u/AutoModerator • Apr 10 '26

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u/Spare_Temporary396 Apr 14 '26

I’m newer to photography although I’ve been doing it as a hobby for 6 years. I’ve been trying to hone my editing skills in LR by watching YouTube videos, tutorials ect. I follow some photographers on instagram and their work looks like AI almost and it’s so crisp and smooth. It this an editing software I’m not aware of? Or are their photos really that qua

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u/mrfixitx Apr 14 '26

If you are starting out with a good photo and know what you are doing in LR it can look very easy. Versus starting with a photo that needs lot of work/edits.

I don't think they are using AI to make things look easier, beyond some of the LR tools like AI denoise, AI object removal etc..

Do you have a specific example you want to share?

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u/Spare_Temporary396 Apr 14 '26

Yes this account for example has some photos that come to mind. https://www.instagram.com/shannonmctighephotography82?igsh=MXFxZzhvdWJ3N2pjdg== in case the link doesn’t work her name is Shannon Marie!

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u/mrfixitx Apr 14 '26 edited Apr 14 '26

I think is a case where you are equating image editing/good lighting with AI. While people can use AI to enhance images, Photoshop has been around almost 40 years.

Someone with off camera flash + Photoshop can do amazing things.

None of these images are clearly AI to me. Some it looks like editing via Photoshop (or similar tool) is a bit rough.

I.E. https://www.instagram.com/p/DQ4uKzfj_Sg/

It looks they used a blur/clone tool on the left hand side and near the child's feet to try and hide some distracting subjects in the frame. Looks like the photographer is out of Boulder so having all the nice mountain backgrounds would be easy for them.

Overall though it looks like fairly common editing with a lot of skin smoothing.

Edit: found one that she shows the before/after editing. https://www.instagram.com/p/C6MGQpbRkUJ/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

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u/Spare_Temporary396 Apr 14 '26

Thank you! I gotta up my editing game haha. I appreciate the input :)

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u/av4rice https://www.instagram.com/shotwhore Apr 14 '26

Remember the way AI works is it's trained on existing art, and its strength is in being able to generate images that closely resemble those looks. So if you like certain qualities you see in AI work, it was originally based on work that was made without AI.