While advancements in technology have helped photographers a great deal, are these advancements putting their jobs at risk? With the rise of robots and artificial intelligence leaving many people jobless at an alarming rate is there any industry that is safe from being replaced? While many jobs can be easily automated like telemarketing and factory jobs most creative or artistic careers are safer. As a photographer, you might be breathing a sigh of relief, but the truth is many areas of the photography industry have already seen machines taking over jobs.

Robots in the Photography Industry

Machines are already and have been a fixture in the photography industry. From camera and equipment repair to taking images and printing, for years robots have already left many jobless in or related to the photography industry. It shouldn’t be a surprise that many jobs in the photography industry can easily be replaced by robots as most jobs can be computerized. Even photographers themselves rely on the more convenient automation of most of their workload. They use special equipment to measure light, the program devices properly expose a scene and even set timers to take images. Even in the editing phase photographers have reduced their work hours but set up parameters to batch edit their images.

Even when it comes to taking images, things like photo booths have been a highly favorable addition to events big and small. Photo booths have been around for decades but over the recent years, they have been used to add more fun, entertainment, and a personal touch to many events from birthdays to business meetings. But, can a stationary photo booth really take the place of a human photographer? Are human photographer’s able to be easily replaced by artificial intelligence?

Will Robots Replace Photographers?

You can say that photo booths can perform the same job as a photographer but there are certain factors that a photo booth or any machine will not be able to replicate. Unlike robots and other advanced technology that needs to be programmed, humans naturally capture the emotions and mood in each frame. While artificial intelligence can be programmed to perform a number task, jobs and with plenty of information, they cannot be programmed to read emotions.

Photographs, like books and movies, are meant to capture the attention of a viewer an ignite an emotional response to that image. There’s a creative process that the photographer goes through which is a process that can not be duplicated by a machine, no matter how advanced it may be. Photographers are also able to better adapt to changes in plans. They can arrive at a location and see what can make the shoot better and make adjustments as they go. With a robot, everything is programmed beforehand, it is not able to easily adapt to changes or look at things with a creative perspective. While photo booths can take images that is all they do. They can’t give direction to make sure the people being photographed look their best, they can’t form a connection with what they are capturing to really bring attention to the emotions, and they can not look around the scene to capture a more unique perspective. There is no way to duplicate the human thought process or emotional connection that comes naturally to photographers.

Being able to solve problems creatively is a skill many photographers have work on perfecting. It is not something that can just be programmed. It is a process that relies on the emotional responses to a situation. It is the reason many photographers are able to capture images of a variety of subject matter and evoke an emotional response or connection with the viewers.

While technology may be able to make a photographer’s job easier and cut back on some of the workload, it is highly unlikely that robot will be taking the place of an actual person behind the camera. Robots may accompany many photographers on shoots or in their studios they aren’t going to replace the photographer completely.  Unless human emotions and creative thinking can be programmed in a robot photographers can consider their jobs safe, for now, from being taken over by advanced technology.