The AI Photographer at the next Olympic Games?

My photographer friend sent me the YouTube link to the extended version of 'One Shot' Photographing the Olympic Games. This story sparked my interest to write this blog. I'll share my thoughts on sports photography.

Let's reminisce about the 35mm film era when we could snap 36 pictures - or 40 if we pushed our luck by stuffing the film canister into an old-school camera. Some folks even used a bulk film drive like the 250 Film Back to get 250 shots. Back then, we had to develop the films, pick out the best photos, write up articles, and lay everything out. That was just how things worked.

Now, with digital cameras, we can take thousands of pictures without worrying about running out of film. Digital cameras give us instant feedback, so we can check and tweak our shots right away. This means we're less likely to miss those key moments. But here's the catch: we end up with so many photos that editing them all becomes a huge task. We need to know our way around complex software and set aside a lot of time to deal with all those images.

At the 2024 Olympic Games, photographers will click their shots using a human finger or a digital remote trigger. Photo editors worldwide receive the shots through wireless transmission. Photo editors look at the photos on the digital screen and pick the best ones. Writers then create captions and reports for these chosen photos. Photo editors in today's workflow play a key part to make sure they choose the top-quality images from the many shots taken. They check thousands of photos, make needed changes, and put together a set of images that tell a story alongside the written text. They use advanced software to improve images and speed up the selection process. This ensures that the most striking and powerful photos end up in print.

Photo editors play a crucial role in this process. Their trained eyes can spot fine details that others might miss. They know how to make pictures look better while keeping them real. This means the end result is both beautiful and honest to what was photographed. If these skilled people didn't choose the best photos, we might lose the chance to tell the most interesting and true stories of the Olympic Games. There are so many digital photos these days, it's easy to get overwhelmed. Photo editors work with still images. They focus on how the picture is arranged, the way it's lit, and capturing the right moment.

As AI gets better and these LLM data-hungry beasts join the still photography process how will that shake up the way sports photographers work? Using AI in the still photography process could bring a few headaches. One big downside is we might lose the human touch and artistic flair that seasoned photo editors add to the mix. Additionally, over-reliance on AI might lead to homogenised images, reducing the unique, subjective interpretations that make each photographer's work distinctive.

What do I think?

I believe AI will make some parts of the job easier, but people's artistic skills will still be crucial. We'll see AI doing the basic stuff and initial organizing, which will let photo editors spend more time on the creative and personal touches that machines can't do. In the end how well advanced tech and human know-how work together will shape what's next for sports photography. For me? I was a TV Director and during the coverage of sports event the only editing done was my Director's cues on selecting the images from the multi-cameras set-ups and my TD punch the shots to broadcast live.