Is AI Killing Photography? My Honest Answer

Sep 24, 2026

Is AI destroying photography — or is it just another tool? After more than 20 years as a photographer, this is a question I get all the time, and I don't think the honest answer is a simple yes or no.

Why I Still Travel for the Real Thing

I recently traveled through Italy with a group of photographers who spent real money to experience Venice, Florence and Tuscany in person.

Tuscany at sunset, a church and cypress trees silhouetted against a golden sky

A Val d'Orcia farmhouse on a hilltop surrounded by morning mist in Tuscany

Foggy Tuscan hills with olive branches in the foreground

Gondolas moored in Venice at dusk with a pink sky

Now I'm heading to Iceland with another group, waking up before sunrise, scouting locations and waiting for the right conditions.

An Icelandic horse running on a black sand beach at dusk

The Northern Lights over an Icelandic mountain, shot with no AI involved

Real aurora, no AI — this is exactly what the sky looked like.

Vestrahorn mountain in Iceland under a natural, unedited sunset sky

A natural sky, no AI sky replacement — just the right evening at Vestrahorn.

Technically, a lot of these images could be generated with AI from a bedroom, without ever leaving home. But that's not why I became a photographer, and it's not why the people who travel with me sign up either.

Where I Actually Use AI

I'm not against AI — I use it constantly. Here's exactly where I draw the line.

Removing People and Distracting Elements

This is the AI use case I reach for the most. Lightroom's Distraction Removal tool can detect people, reflections and dust automatically instead of me selecting each one by hand.

Lightroom's Distraction Removal panel detecting people, reflections and dust

Here's the exact sequence on a real shot in Venice. The raw file, full of tourists at sunset: A crowded Venice promenade at sunset, full of tourists, before any editing

Lightroom's AI detecting every person in the frame: Lightroom AI highlighting every detected person in red on the Venice promenade photo

With the color grade applied, but the crowd still there:

The same Venice promenade photo with the color grade applied but the crowd not yet removed

And the final result, once the AI has removed every person:

The same Venice promenade, graded and completely empty after AI removed the crowd

Same promenade, same evening — just without the few hundred tourists that were actually there.

Commercial Retouching and Sky Replacement

For commercial work, I'll go further — including replacing the sky entirely when the brief calls for more drama than the day gave me.

Before — the real sky:

Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas at sunset under a real, clear blue sky

After — AI sky replacement:

The same Allegiant Stadium shot with a dramatic AI-generated pink and orange sunset sky

Before — the Vegas Strip with just a preset:

The Las Vegas Strip at night with only a color preset applied, natural sky

After — a sky added with AI:

The same Las Vegas Strip photo with a dramatic sunset sky added using AI

AI Backgrounds for Professional Portraits

This is where AI opens up shoots that would otherwise need a location scout, a travel budget and a full production crew. I can shoot a model against a simple backdrop and place her anywhere in the world.

A portrait of a woman in white fur on a snowy Paris rooftop terrace with the Eiffel Tower, AI-generated background

A portrait of a woman in a yellow saree walking through an Indian palace, AI-generated background

A portrait of a singer in a pink polka-dot dress inside a retro diner, AI-generated background

Here's the background alone, built in Photoshop before the model was composited in:

The AI-generated retro diner background alone, shown in Photoshop's layers panel before the portrait was composited in

The diner doesn't exist. Neither does the Parisian rooftop in the snow, or that exact hallway in the Indian palace. The model does — and so does the final photo.

Personal Work vs. Commercial Work

For my personal photography, I try to keep things as authentic as possible — that means real locations, real light, real patience. For commercial work and filmmaking, I'm much more open to using AI when it helps me create something that would otherwise be impossible on the budget or timeline available.

So, Is AI Killing Photography?

My honest answer: it depends what you're using it for. It's not killing photography any more than digital cameras killed film, or Photoshop killed the darkroom — but it is changing what counts as "real," and every photographer has to decide where their own line is.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Serge Ramelli use AI in his photography?

Yes, but selectively. He uses AI to remove distracting elements and people, handle advanced commercial retouching like sky replacement, and generate backgrounds for professional portraits that would otherwise require traveling to that exact location.

Does he use AI for his personal landscape and travel photography?

No — for personal work, he tries to keep things as authentic as possible: real locations, real light, shot in person rather than generated. His Iceland aurora and Vestrahorn sunset photos, for example, use no AI at all.

Is AI replacing real photography trips?

Not for him. He still travels to places like Italy and Iceland to shoot in person, even though many of those images could technically be generated with AI instead.

How does AI remove people from a crowded photo?

Tools like Lightroom's Distraction Removal panel can automatically detect people, reflections and dust across the frame, then remove them without manually selecting each one — turning a crowded tourist spot into an empty scene in a few clicks.

Explore More From Photo Serge

Want more of my thinking on photography and editing? Here are more guides:

Happy shooting! — Serge

Get my FREE Lightroom preset here: https://bit.ly/AIPresets

Serge — Photoserge | Coaching photographers who are serious about getting to the next level.