[ben_w]

I have no knowledge of the skill involved in (real life) modelling, but I do know the skill involved in professional photography is a lot higher than I fully understand.

For most of us, photography is just point the phone and tap the screen, without really giving much thought to lighting (colour/s, fill/spot combinations), scene composition, lenses, and probably a lot of things I don’t even have names for given the stuff I’ve listed is stuff I only know about from 3D modelling.

And conversely, the end users of a future AI synth of a model won’t be paying directly for expensive AI developers, any more than the average visitor of thispersondoesnotexist.com

[coldtea]

>I have no knowledge of the skill involved in (real life) modelling, but I do know the skill involved in professional photography is a lot higher than I fully understand.

Yes, but there's no shortage of people who know all the involved stuff...

[ben_w]

So we agree it’s a high-skill job not a low-skill job?

[coldtea]

Depends on the definition of high-skill.

High-skill as in "you need to know lotsa stuff", yes.

High-skills as in "the skills are rare, and require a special degree or years or training", no.

They're not that rare (there's an overabundance of both skilled and non-skilled photographers), and they're not that hard to pick up (to the point that 18 year olds can know all there is to it with a little determination and practice).

Or let's just say that "high skill" is relative, and being a pro photographer is hardly like being a pro coder or a surgeon...

[nimbleal]

> there’s an overabundance of ... skilled photographers

I’m really not sure this is the case. I know more about cinematography than photography (I direct) but here in China a decent cinematographer can charge for a day what some workers might earn in a year. And you can tell the difference between their work and someone cheaper. That would suggest to me their skills are rare.

[Wowfunhappy]

> and being a pro photographer is hardly like being a pro coder

This is where I strongly disagree. Becoming good at composition, setting up shots, etc is an art and can take a lifetime to perfect. No less high skill than programming.

[Talanes]

High-skill usually implies that some sort of specialized training or schooling is required. Working an espresso bar is also a delicate skill, but no one calls baristas high-skilled workers.