Is Every Good Photo Now “AI”?
By Jeff Walsh – Photographer, Educator, Adventurer.
Why the Conversation Matters More Than Ever
Behind every photograph is a story, a place, a moment, a feeling. But lately, it seems that behind every great photo shared online comes the same question:
“Is this AI?” or “That has to be AI.”
As a Central Coast landscape photographer, I’ve noticed the shift more and more.
A beautifully captured sunrise over The Entrance, a rare burst of colour along the NSW coastline, a perfectly balanced drone shot - it doesn’t matter. Someone, without fail, will ask if it’s fake.
Not out of malice, but because AI has blurred the edges of trust.
And that’s exactly why we need to talk about this.
Not shut the conversation down.
Not pretend AI doesn’t exist.
And definitely not assume that every strong image is artificially generated.
This is a discussion worth having. Openly, honestly, and with respect for the craft.
The Circle: AI Learning From Real Creatives
The irony is almost poetic.
AI doesn’t learn from thin air, it learns from us.
Behind every AI-generated image lies an enormous pool of training material, and that material comes from the real world of photography.
AI models are trained by analysing:
vast online photo libraries
image databases
stock collections
websites full of professional and amateur photography
galleries and exhibition archives
digitised photography books and catalogues
In other words, AI learns by scrolling through the hard work, creativity, and lived experience of real photographers. The people who wake up before dawn to capture the true light of the Central Coast, Sydney, and beyond.
So when a real image gets questioned as “AI”, there’s a strange full-circle moment happening:
AI learns from real photographers,
AI recreates styles and compositions it found in our work,
And then our authentic photographs are doubted because they now look “too good” to be real.
That’s the part many people don’t see; AI’s “intelligence” is built from human artistry and the human experience.
Where I Stand: AI Has a Place, But Not Every Place
I’m not anti-AI. Far from it.
AI has a place in modern photography, and I use it at times (have you seen Cartoon Jeff yet?). With my photography however, AI gets used in limited and extremely intentional ways. Things like:
removing dust spots
tidying up tiny distractions
smoothing digital noise
enhancing clarity
gentle colour balancing
These are tools that refine a real image without altering the truth of what I captured.
That’s very different from using AI to fabricate entire scenes, skies, foregrounds, or “moments” that never existed.
One is editing.
The other is inventing.
And those lines matter, especially for photographers who still value the honesty of a moment earned.
The Split Image Experiment
To spark this conversation, I recently created a side-by-side visual:
Left side: The real photograph I captured. Authentic boats, genuine light, shot with my drone exactly as I saw them.
Right side: An AI-generated recreation, built from the original - cleaner, smoother, perfectly neat, and lacking the subtle imperfections of reality.
The purpose wasn’t to trick anyone.
It was to ask:
Can we see the difference? And why does it matter?
The process was deliberate. I fed my original image into an AI engine and asked it to recreate the scene. The output was impressive; consistent, polished, and undeniably artificial. Perfect in the way only something non-human can be.
The exercise wasn’t about dismissing AI.
It was about demonstrating why this conversation is important for every real photographer - especially those capturing coastal and landscape photography across NSW.
Why Are We So Quick To Assume “AI”?
Because trust has been shaken.
AI can now produce images that look like drone shots, long exposures, portraits, landscapes, even entire galleries without ever touching a camera or visiting a location.
The result?
Every good photograph becomes guilty until proven innocent.
The truth?
Photographers are still out there earning their images.
We’re up before dawn, lugging gear, battling the wind, wading into rock pools, timing the tide, waiting for colour, adjusting filters, reading weather, and pushing our creativity with every shot.
AI doesn’t feel sea spray, cold wind, muddy shoes, or the heart-racing moment when everything aligns.
AI doesn’t chase light, it predicts it.
AI Shouldn’t Be Feared; But It Shouldn’t Be Assumed
This is where the balanced, grown-up conversation matters.
AI shouldn’t be shunned or ridiculed.
It’s an incredible tool.
It’s creative, clever, and can genuinely help photographers evolve.
But it also shouldn’t be broadly accepted that every image is AI because that undermines the respect, craft, and skill behind authentic landscape and drone photography.
We can appreciate AI and still celebrate human-made art.
Both can exist.
Both can inspire.
Both have value.
But they are not the same thing.
See the Difference in Person
If you’ve ever stood in front of a high-quality print in a gallery, you know instantly.
Real images have texture, depth, character, and soul.
They feel lived in.
They feel earned.
📍 Come visit me at the Scapes of Art Gallery,
Shop 1, 26 The Entrance Rd, The Entrance, Central Coast NSW
and see the real thing up close. The true colours, the detail, the life within the image.
These are moments that no algorithm can replicate.
Whether you’re visiting the Central Coast, exploring NSW coastal landscapes, or looking for local fine art photography, you’ll see exactly what authentic photography feels like.
💬 What Do You Think?
Is AI helping creativity?
Making things confusing?
Shifting expectations?
Or simply changing the landscape of photography?
This is a conversation worth having and I’d love to hear your thoughts.
👉 Share your view and let’s keep the discussion going.
