An afternoon of NFT creation

IMAGES THAT SOMETIME STARTLE YOUR EYES…

I’ve been fascinated by the images from historical Japan. The amount of knowledge backed up or taught to the Artificial Intelligence systems is a challenge and joy to discover the pictures that emerge with just a few written words for a prompt. With the words: “Realistic general portrait of a warrior Samurai, elaborate realism, handsome,” The NightCafe Creator produced this image:

And I’ve published five altogether from the day’s work:

I prompted for: “Realistic general shot of a geisha, elaborate realism, elegant.” And that’s all I needed to create this striking presence of a very put-together geisha. Next came this serious, perhaps suspicious, gentleman:

The fourth one is this very contained, Geisha lady. The marks on her face are something I have to question. Perhaps someone will know the significance?

The final image of the published group is this young Samurai warrior. The detail of the hair decoration looks authentic. I find the detail of the faces and the lighting that shapes them extraordinary. And I noticed the light on the men’s faces is more complex compared to the women’s softer illumination.

I’ve worked for many years, sometimes as a photographer (Glamour and Theater, a big part of it.) The time required to adjust the light for each subject is critical to get the desired image. My other job, especially on films involved makeup, and sometimes hair. It’s a constant problem to keep a film actor shine-free for every shot. And I see how the AI fades up face after face with impeccable matt-finished skin reflecting even bright lights without a trace of shine. However, if required, the sweat is presented as it should be:

This appeared in a series going for Santa Claus. Not the one I chose.

It’s a bit frightening to see this level of excellence brought forth with just a couple of words. I guess the saving grace is that these are not real, living subjects, but the creation of a directed AI, grinding out facsimiles of real live appearing humans. We still get to photograph the living ones.

Another idea is that those actual photographs can be turned into NFTs and manipulated with words and filtered into even more developed works of art where the process becomes more like a tool for the artist to create a water-color or painting. The photo is the original source for the directed minting to produce something stunning.

I delete a lot of experiments as I learn what is possible and what is never to be seen or retained. Software systems are growing and developing continually. And I feel there is more happening out there beyond what any human can keep up with. I get more in the box than I can read beyond the titles. I tend to trust the people I follow, knowing they specialize in the limited topics that interest and concern me. I delete probably thirty to forty entries every day. They never stop coming!

I love creating NFTs, and today’s Japanese subject resulted in twenty-three NFT Portraits. I published five and will keep the complete collection. Every time I do this day-long process, I learn something more about how it works and how to tweak it for a more specific result. What fun it is! I will try to get the Santa series out in the next week.

I hope you enjoyed the images. Thanks for reading and viewing.

— iguanamountain 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tehran, IRAN, July 13, 2009

I first   worked in Iran back in 1974 on a movie project, later teaching in the National Theatre. I didn't leave until the revolution was well under way in November of 1978. I had a unique point of view being one of the very few Americans who worked inside the Shah's government. And during those years I never knew or communicated with any of my countrymen as they were inside their gated, Americanized communities. My friends and co-workers were from all parts of the city, both upper class, diplomats, artists, actors, and ordinary workers and craftsmen, plus all their families. The hospitality of all these Iranians was enormous and heartfelt.   There is so much concern and conflict about the current situation of 2009 that I am compelled to write about what I have seen. This is my own personal experience and memory. I hope my friends will not worry about me as much.     I remember, there was a line across the city; an east-west street named Shah-Reza (now named Enghelab)
Read more

Inside the magic circle

We've talked a lot lately about what compromises a Virtual World. One of the ways is total immersion in a computer created world either as a social type of environment or as a multi-user war or strategy game. Some of the most popular are the online creations, some having hundreds of thousands of members.   If you don't think this virtual world stuff is serious, take a look at this CBS Evening News article: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/07/31/eveningnews/main1852600.shtml These folks are beyond simple games or entertainment. They're spending real money on property and things that only exist in their chosen virtual world.   Here's a list of most of the worlds by category . There is something for everyone. Or you can get set up and make your own from scratch. http://www.virtualworldsreview.com/info/categories.shtml     Here's a few you can look at real fast. They all are very welcoming and filled with information for newcomers. http://www.v
Read more

The Work of the Writer is a Brain Stretch and Never Truly Finished

The Work of the Writer is a Brain Stretch and Never Truly Finished Pain and gain — two sides of the same coin for a novelist The alarm goes off at 3:50 AM, and I’m up and heading for the coffee maker. While that’s heating and brewing, I’m doing a full set of yoga stretches. Without fail, this routine is followed every morning and has for the last three years. By 4:20 AM The pen is in hand, and what is now the fifteenth notebook is getting some kind of writing. Sometimes stream of consciousness, sometimes a scene for whatever book I’m working on. The learned discipline is to write. It’s an easy shift to the computer keyboard to type a more finished version of the handwritten pages. Somewhere in this process, a Journal page is started and that will collect material throughout the day. I owe this process and discipline to Julia Cameron’s book, The Artist’s Way (25th Anniversary). That usually gets me to about 9 and more coffee and breakfast. After that short break, I’m back with more revi
Read more