AI for Photographers – How Does It Impact Our Industry?

The conversation around artificial intelligence (AI) has exploded in recent years. From the rise of tools like ChatGPT to AI-powered culling and editing software, we’re seeing it, literally, everywhere.

As photographers, we’re not just observing these changes – we’re standing in the middle of them. Somedays, they feel hugely impactful in a good way…and other days, it feels just the opposite (like it’s going to come and wipe everything out). If you feel similar, we see you 🙂

So in this blog, we’re going to dig deep into the world of AI for photographers.

What is it? How is it affecting our industry? What should we embrace, and what should we avoid?

And most importantly, how do we thrive in the midst of all this change?

What Is AI, anyways?

AI stands for “artificial intelligence.”

That’s definitely new information, right?!

If we break it down, it refers to machines and computer systems that mimic human intelligence to perform tasks like problem-solving, learning, or communication. Popular tools like ChatGPT (built by OpenAI) use AI to write emails, answer questions, and even generate entire documents (and a whole lot more).

For people who are more tech-inclined (like myself), it’s super interesting and sometimes a bit of fun to work with. For those who aren’t, it can actually be seen as a little lame and annoying (and I get that).

But…AI isn’t just in simple chatbots anymore.

It’s being baked into the software and tools we use every day – from photo editing platforms to CRMS to content creation tools. Sometimes, it’s even being baked into products pretty needlessly (and annoyingly). Artificial intelligence is a buzzword of the moment, and entire businesses are being built on it as a selling point (for better and for worse).

Whether you realize it or not, AI has likely already influenced how you work – if you have been active as a photographer at all in the past few years. From smart filters in Lightroom to autocorrect suggestions in your emails, AI is woven into the way we interact with technology. My recent iMac iOS update also came with a whole host of AI tools…something that’s showing the way of the future is now.

As photographers, this reality suggests that the question isn’t “Will AI affect me?” but rather “How will I adapt to it?”

Understanding what AI is and what it isn’t can help you use it more intentionally in your business.

To share a quick little experience of my own, I remember the first time I used AI to help with writing a simple email.

It felt strange – like outsourcing a part of my voice to a robot. But after a few adjustments and a couple of rounds of editing, I realized I was still the one in control, and that the end result was pretty decent at that. In this case, the AI certainly wasn’t replacing me, it was giving me a head start.

I’ll admit, this is definitely more of a positive spin. I’ve also experience some of the AI existential dread, too, where I’ve realized it has such impactful capabilities that it could sweep through many industries (like blog writers and copywriters) and potentially have devastating effects on everything from business to society and individual purpose (but more on that later…).

The Rise of AI in Popular Culture and Business

As I’ve said earlier, AI has quickly become a buzzword…and that is obvious the moment you open the news and social media these days.

AI makes headlines, constantly (to a degree that is nauseating, actually).

Companies across nearly every industry are scrambling to include some form of AI in their products and services. And many are rebranding existing features as “AI” to get a piece of the hype.

At first, it was a little fun. Now, unless the additions are actually useful, it leads to a level of eye rolling that’s hard to ignore.

Ready for the next photography “coach” that someone is selling for $70 bucks, but it’s just ChatGPT wrapped up in nice packaging? Yeah, that sort of thing is lame. And it’s part of the zeitgeist, the spirit of the times.

We’ve seen this before with the rise of the internet. Initially, there was a boom – the dot-com bubble – followed by a bust, and then consolidation as big players like Google, Microsoft, and Apple emerged essentially as “winners” (and most other companies folded and went out of business). We’re in a similar moment now with AI.

Some companies will come out ahead. Others will disappear. As photographers and small business owners, it’s crucial we pay attention so we’re not left behind…and if there is any light in all this, I do believe most photographers are in a unique position to be needed for a long time to come.

Even in photography-specific spaces, we’re seeing the AI gold rush. Some companies are innovating with genuine machine learning tools that save time and money. Others, however, are simply using the term to sell something that barely qualifies. This makes it more important than ever to be discerning.

I’ve had conversations with other photographers who’ve felt tricked – signing up for a tool that claimed to use AI for editing, only to find it was more of a fancy preset with a slick interface. On the flip side, I’ve also seen photographers completely transform their workflows by finding tools that actually deliver what they promise. The gap between genuine AI and marketing fluff is wide, and in a future where AI as a buzzword starts to fade, we’ll be left with a handful of companies that created something truly valuable as a consequence (and I look forward to the day).

How AI Is Impacting the Photography Industry

AI is disrupting industries across the board, and photography is no exception.

Just stop into any Facebook group and you’ll find countless photographers talking about their struggles getting bookings, “bookings are down” – though, to be fair I’ve been seeing posts like these for over a decade where every year some people have a tough go of it, and others are doing just fine.

Anyways, let’s break down AI impacts by photography niche to have a more useful conversation around this topic…

AI and Wedding Photography

My thoughts on the industry’s impact by AI:

AI isn’t going to replace someone capturing authentic, emotional wedding day moments anytime soon. Couples are still seeking genuine documentation of their big day – photos that reflect the real emotions and events that happened, not AI-generated versions of what “could have” happened.

What I do see changing rapidly is everything behind the scenes.

As an active wedding photographer (full time with a business!), I use AI to help me out pretty regularly.

Supporting my blogging efforts, helping expedite communication with clients, editing my images, and the like. When used well, these tools let us focus more energy on creative work and human connection, and reduce friction and time spent on more tedious tasks on the to-do list.

Budget clients, however, may start experimenting with AI-generated images or cheap apps that mimic pro photography. With that said, for many photographers out there, bottom budget clients are not typically their primary audience, and it’s why we teach that having strong branding and consistent quality in work, client experience, and the like becomes even more important if you want to stand out and serve clients who value real documentation of their wedding.

Because wedding days are such complex events to document, and clients are so emotionally connected to the end result – seeing themselves beautifully, seeing friends & family they love connected together, seeing a range of things from landscape shots of the environment to intimate details, and an ongoing love of candid/documentary style images…they are virtually impossible to recreate well by AI, even with the best prompting in the world.

In fact, the easiest part of the day to replicate would be a couple quick portraits – which ironically tends to be photographers favorites, but the biggest value wedding photographers can offer is documentation of the entire event in all it’s beauty and detail.

AI and Elopement Photography

My thoughts on the industry’s impact by AI:

Elopement photographers are generally in a safe zone, especially those focused on personalized, immersive experiences. If your work is about authenticity, human emotion, and storytelling, you’re naturally positioned to survive the AI shift.

The elopement industry is fundamentally one that overlaps with weddings (some of you might even argue they’re one in the same, but I’ll disagree), but we can dig into them for more insight.

I break elopements down into three broad types:

1. Budget-friendly elopements, where AI might appeal to clients looking to skip professional help altogether in the name of being more affordable (or hardly cost a thing). These are generally (but not always) people who come in the door looking for 30 minutes or an hour of coverage.
2. Micro weddings, which vary in size and complexity and may use AI tools selectively, particularly those that are put together for more budget conscious reasons (vs. just a couple that wants a smaller guest count).
3. Experience-driven elopements, where clients invest more for authentic moments and storytelling. These are the least impacted and offer the most potential for long-term growth.

My thoughts on elopement photography and how it will be impacted by AI is largely the same as my thoughts on the impacts on wedding photography as a whole, but let me leave you with some additional perspective.

Photographers have a tendency to treat elopements in one of two ways:

• Something cheap they can offer to fill in a few extra dates (especially nice for week days)
• Something they can offer with great detail, complexity, and at similar rates as more traditional wedding coverage

For those who offer elopements essentially as a third rate service – show up, take a few ceremony pics, then it leads into a more glorified couple’s portrait session…these are often the types of elopements that are most at risk of being highly budget conscious, and most likely to be impacted by AI in some way in the future.

In the other camp, when photographers prioritize their elopement service and do things to elevate it (and make it more valuable), this is much more difficult to replace.

For example, in my business I prioritize full day elopement experiences (which includes things like planning assistance, coverage of course, and more) – and this service is priced similarly to the traditional “big weddings” I also document. The types of clients this appeals to are not even considering AI as a substitute, as there is nothing that could stand in for the authenticity and reality they are looking forward to.

If you’re unfamiliar with this type of elopement format, let me share a quick story…A memorable elopement I photographed was one in Shenandoah National Park, where the couple spent the entire day together (with a small group of family and friends) at an AirBNB, hiking, laughing, doing little activities, and reading vows, and more. There’s simply no way to replicate that day with AI. Every tiny detail – the breeze, the unplanned laughter, the tear in the groom’s eye during their private ceremony, the unexpected moments (like flash freezing roads and hiking up a snowy mountain in micro-spiked boots), time spent making breakfast together – mattered.

Those are the moments clients pay for, and it allows us to elevate photography beyond just something easily replicable by AI tools.

AI and Portrait Photography

My thoughts on the industry’s impact by AI:

This is one area I believe will be impacted the most. Commercial headshots, especially, are already facing tough competition from AI tools that generate professional-looking portraits from phone selfies. These services are cheap, fast, and increasingly convincing.

But not all portraits are the same.

If you’re a newborn photographer, a family photographer capturing laughter and chaos, or someone documenting maternity journeys – your work has a depth that AI can’t replicate.

I truly believe that AI has less of an impact on photography work that is rooted in more emotion.

AI, as useful as it can sometimes be, is pretty often sterile. It’s corporate. It’s bland. It lacks the emotional weight and feel that comes from real, lived experiences. It can emulate, but it cannot replicate real life experiences.

Ask yourself: do my clients care about the experience? Are the moments I’m capturing tied to emotional memory? If so, AI becomes a tool (at worst), not a threat.

I feel this significantly even within my own photography business, where we do family, newborn and maternity sessions for clients. And having recently had a child of my own, it would be impossible to capture those memories of being with my newborn (or now toddler) in a way I would care to reflect on in the future without it being real, raw and actually properly documented by someone…human.

A fellow photographer also shared with me how her family sessions are almost like therapy for her clients. She helps parents slow down and actually enjoy time with their kids. That kind of connection? There’s no algorithm for it.

The Bigger Picture: AI’s Impact on Society

We can’t (really) talk about AI in photography without taking some time and zooming out from our industry and looking at the world at large. AI is (truly) affecting how we communicate, work, and live.

AI is streamlining communication through auto-summaries, email writers, and chatbots. But this also strips out a lot of the nuance and warmth from human interaction. In my own inbox, I now see summaries of long emails before I ever read them (and pretty often they’re also inaccurate lol). While that saves time, it also risks overlooking emotion and intent…which is something to be careful of when using AI tools, especially if you view yourself (and brand yourself) as a photographer focused on authenticity, emotion, and realness.

Professionally, entire industries are being reshaped. From copywriters and developers, to teacher being replaced by screens, to even some medical and legal professionals, job security is less guaranteed and while many people may not see immediate impacts on their careers, the future does hold some uncertainty as we don’t fully know what the next evolution of AI looks like (and how quickly it’ll come).

Corporate executives are making (what I’d consider dumb) decisions and laying off staff, replacing them with AI tools and less staff that monitors them. That (potentially) affects us as photographers because many of our clients come from these very professions. When their jobs are threatened, so is their disposable income.

I see this on a personal level – as many of my clients over the years have been lawyers, engineers, teachers, and the like. I also know from my past career working at a corporation, just how finicky and profit driven these entities can be (often to their detriment in the long run).

Let’s also not forget environmental impact. The data centers running AI tools use massive amounts of electricity and water. Choosing when and how we use AI becomes not just a business decision, but an ethical one that further complicates things.

Ultimately, the social impacts from AI are massive, and some of them are still unknown and yet to be seen. While I’m in no way qualified to see the future (if I was, that would definitely be a career path to explore, right?!) – but it’s important to keep a pulse on society at large and how it’s reacting to shifts from AI, to help inform things we may do to adapt ourselves.

Pros and Cons of AI in Photography

There’s a lot to love, and a lot to be cautious about, when it comes to AI in photography.

Pros:

• Streamlines repetitive tasks like culling and editing of images
• Helps with admin tasks like copywriting and scheduling
• Makes editing more accessible for newer photographers
• Can serve as a personal assistant for blog writing, SEO, and business planning
• Can help you schedule out your daily tasks and prioritize
• Can support building your marketing strategy and some materials (like Instagram captions)

Can you think of any good uses of AI in your photography and/or business?

Cons:

• Can reduce the human touch in communications and make it harder to “build hype” (as we like to call it)
• Raises ethical and legal questions (such as around copyright infringement and more)
• May cause job loss in related fields, indirectly impacting our clients (and potentially impacting photographer business performance as a consequence)
• Increases energy consumption and contributes to environmental concerns
• Make photographers lazier during weddings and other client shoots – shooting things knowing they can fix something in post production, instead of making changes in the moment

Any other downsides to AI use you are seeing?

Personally, I am seeing AI solutions as something to use in moderation to support my life…in ways similar to how using a spreadsheet can save me time and effort when compared to older days of doing things with pen, paper and a basic calculator.

As a result, I’ve saved dozens of hours using AI for things like culling and editing. What used to take 30 hours now takes four. I also use tools to help support my marketing efforts, organization, and the like.

But, it’s important to really highlight here, that time isn’t spent just checking out – I use that extra time to work, just on other things…like refining my client experience, deepen my brand voice, create new blog content, or just rest and spend time with my family. That balance has made all the difference.

Is Your Photography Niche AI-Proof?

Our focus here at Shoot and Thrive are primarily on helping to teach photographers focused on those emotional connections found in weddings, elopements and most types of portraits (families, couples, newborns, maternity, boudoir, etc.). With that said, we know there are countless other photography genres out there and while we’re not covering everyone in great detail, we are also still thinking about you – real estate, landscape, stock, corporate headshot, product, etc. photographers!

So – ask yourself these questions as you try to evaluate if your current line of work runs any risks for being impacted by AI solutions –

• Is my work rooted in authentic moments?
• Do my clients value the experience, not just the final product?
• Am I serving a market that understands the value of what I offer?

If you answered yes to all (or most) of these, you’re already on the right path.

AI can’t replace empathy, intuition, or the human connection that lives inside a great photo. If you double down on that, you’ll be one of the businesses that not only survives – but grows.

Lean into your strengths. Build a brand that feels deeply personal. Create an experience your clients will never forget. Those things aren’t AI-proof because they’re emotion-proof.

If you feel your photography career is in jeopardy, it may we worth considering a pivot to establish yourself on a stronger footing for the future.

AI Tools Photographers Are Using Right Now

Some tools I’ve found valuable (and hear others talk about) include:

• AfterShoot and Imagen AI for culling and editing. We wrote an article highlighting AI photo editing tools if you want more options.
• Jasper or ChatGPT for brainstorming content and email drafts

The goal isn’t to rely on these tools blindly. Instead, they should help you show up better, faster, and with more clarity. Your creativity and strategy are still the most valuable part of the equation.

One tip: test different tools with the same task. I used two AI editors on the same gallery and got very different results. One matched my style nearly perfectly. The other? Total mess. It reminded me that AI isn’t magic – it’s really just a tool. You still have to teach it.

Are there any AI tools you’re using and think we should check out? Let us know by sharing in our Facebook Group!

When Not to Use AI as a Photography Business

Some things just aren’t worth outsourcing to AI.

Legal contracts should never be drafted solely with AI. While tools can provide a rough draft or inspiration, you should always run things by a real attorney. The risk is too high otherwise.

Blogs and copywriting should be refined and tailored to sound like you. If you copy-paste an AI-written article without editing, you’ll lose authenticity and might even hurt your SEO. This isn’t to say you can’t use AI tools at all for this type of thing (I mean, I do it!), but you need to be particularly mindful to make sure you are editing the content to sound like you and not just accepting what it outputs as gospel.

Client communication should never be fully automated. This is something I believe wholeheartedly. You can use email templates or AI-generated drafts, but always add a personal touch. People hire photographers they connect with – and that connection can’t be outsourced.

Generally speaking, AI tools are best used to help brainstorm or get things into a solid “draft” state (blogs, marketing materials, etc.). It can also be valuable for things that are really “behind the scenes” and not impactful to a client’s experience (at least without a careful eye from you) – things like photo editing. With that said, most other things in your business will not benefit a ton from AI, and if they do, will still need some hands on support from you to have done effectively.

A Note on Copyright, Ethics, and Ownership

Many AI systems were trained using content that wasn’t ethically sourced. This includes copyrighted images, articles, and videos. We can sit and debate this (and frankly news outlets do this enough), but the simple reality is that most AI tools (like ChatGPT) would not exist if not for their ability to scrape content others have created – written articles, media content, books, photographs, etc.

Cases continue to work (slowly) through the court systems of the world asking the question of whether or not this is legal usage. The New York Times suing OpenAI is one example of this in practice.

As a photographer, I take issue with my images being used without my permission or compensation.

My clients sign model releases for specific purposes. That doesn’t include letting large tech companies profit from their likenesses. This space is still legally gray, and lawsuits are already in motion (as I mentioned), but until regulations catch up, it’s on us to stay informed and vocal.

I often think about the unintended consequences. If enough people stop hiring photographers and start relying on AI-generated images, how long before the datasets stop being built on consent at all? It’s a slippery slope we need to be really be considerate of as the AI tools we use to support our businesses could also end up being the ones that uproot them in the future.

Final Thoughts: Moving Forward with Intention

No one really knows how far AI will go in its impacts (both good and bad) on photographers and business owners. But we know enough to act with intention.

Use AI where it helps. Avoid it where it hurts. Keep learning, adjusting, and investing in the parts of your business that are rooted in connection, value, and service.

My hope is that the next generation – including my own kids – will still have access to creative careers. That photography remains a meaningful, valued profession…even if it means it has to undergo some changes in the process. And that we, as creatives and small businesses, help shape what the future of AI looks like – not just accept what it becomes as it’s handed to us.

Christian Romans

Chris is a business strategist at Shoot and Thrive and co‑owner of Hand and Arrow Photography alongside his wife. With over a decade of professional shooting experience (and a passion for photography since high school), he helps creatives grow through smart websites & SEO, blogging, branding, and sales strategies. When he’s not behind the lens or refining a marketing funnel, you’ll find him playing guitar, skateboarding, or planning his next adventure—his favorite so far was campervanning around Iceland. Chris holds degrees in Psychology and Philosophy, which inform his human‑centered approach to both art and business.

www.shootandthrive.com