Generative AI takes the world by storm and content creators seek out new ways to make good use of it. One of the best things for content creators is to learn how to use generative AI to enhance visuals. Cover photo by Julien Tromeur.
Content creators are always producing visuals – it’s part of the creative imperative. But with so many other creators jostling for views, it can be hard to stand out from the crowd. Generative AI offers many ways to help you do so, and content creators are paying attention.
There’s a lot of debate about AI’s impact on creative expression, and the risks that it could push human photographers, videographers, and other visual content creators out of business. Others raise the possibility that AI-generated content may become too similar and undifferentiated, thus pushing up the value of human-generated content.
But content creators are increasingly appreciative of the ways that generative AI helps them enhance images to make them scroll-stopping. According to a recent Lightricks survey of 1000 content creators, 86% said they would use AI if it has a positive effect on their creative process. The combination of AI and human creativity could be the sweet spot that drives more high-quality, fascinating, and jaw-dropping visuals.
Given all the hype around recent AI developments and adoption rates, it’s easy to forget that we’re still in the early days of the human-AI partnership. Generative AI could potentially do a great deal more than it does today, while creators are still learning the ropes and mastering different applications of generative AI. Those who get up to speed faster will be ahead of the crowd, and better able to establish a competitive edge.
Six Ways You Can Use Generative AI
To help you keep up, here are six ways for content creators to use the generative AI tools on hand today to enhance their visuals.
1. Enrich simple images
There’s immense beauty in simplicity, and sometimes it takes a great deal of work to produce a simple, powerful logo, pattern, or image. But often, this achievement is just the starting point.
You use AI Logo Art to amplify your image into complex, rich branding that maintains the impact of the original image while elevating it with more context and texture. For example, take the impression made by a basic monochrome pattern, and turn it into something astonishing.
In a similar way, you could apply AI to any graphical or line art element, and generate more images of the same item from different angles and aspects, or in different settings. This can radically speed up product image generation, or produce a rich album of image variants that are each slightly different to the other, overlapping to deliver a deeper effect.
2. Build complex videos
It’s not always easy to produce the video content you’re dreaming of, especially if you’re working alone, or you’re traveling and don’t have a lot of equipment to hand. Generative AI can serve as your always-ready video assistant that transforms your video footage.
You can use AI to expand any short video clip into multi-layered video that surprises and engages the viewer. With Videoleap’s AI transformations and templates, you can swap out backgrounds to give your content a totally different vibe, choose from a range of filters to upgrade an ordinary video into something other-worldly, or elevate mundane scenery to extraordinary landscapes.
When you use generative AI’s video-to-video capabilities, it’s possible to fully actualize all the effects you can imagine.
3. Convert viral ideas into engaging gifs
Memes and gifs rule the internet – or at least social media. But it can be challenging to turn your simple idea into the short looping video you imagine.
An AI tool like Vercel’s AI GIFs web app makes it easy to turn a short text description into a cool GIF that has potential to go viral.
Simply describe your image, click on the “Generate” button and wait a moment for the engine to output a moving visual based on your prompt. Then you can export it, and overlay your GIF with text to produce the ultimate meme.
4. Create realistic (and surrealistic) avatars
Avatars are a massively important aspect of your visual identity. Ideally, your avatar will reflect your spirit or personality in ways that an ordinary photograph can’t quite convey. Generative AI gives you the capability to communicate your inner nature through images in ways that aren’t otherwise possible.
Just begin with some simple photos, and then use Remini’s AI tool to create new images with you – or your portrait subjects – in different settings.
You can make it more realistic or correct flaws in the lighting or the angle, or let your imagination take flight by adding filters, themes, and backgrounds that reveal your hidden depths or place you in different universes.
5. Expand image variety and quality
According to the old saying, quality is more important than quantity, but when it comes to creating visual content, you really want both – especially if you’re bent on demonstrating to the social media algorithms that your posts deserve to surface in users’ newsfeeds. Generative AI helps you produce more images and videos, and to ensure that every one of them meets your high standards. Plus, if you want to create a cohesive feed that engages followers, consider using tools to schedule Instagram posts.
With AI-powered image generator Synthesys X, you can replicate the images you post, or those published by others that you find inspiring, to give you a larger library of original images to work with.
Whenever you see an image that matches the mood you want to convey, you can use the tool’s web browser extension to ask its AI to generate similar images that are completely original and royalty-free. You can also use the platform to tweak the image to be more captivating, remove flaws, or fill in missing items and irregularities.
6. Save time and money on photoshoots
Last but not least, content creators can use Photo AI to enhance a small number of photos into a full portfolio of images for any need.
You just upload a few photos, and then apply AI to produce images of your subject in different settings, situations, outfits, hairstyles, etc.
This makes it easy to complete a whole photoshoot, so you can, for example, publicize a sponsor’s new fashion range or hairstyling products, without having to shell out for a professional photographer, hire a studio, or take the time for someone to restyle your hair and makeup repeatedly.
AI-enhanced visuals could be the future for content creators
Generative AI offers loads of ways for content creators to enhance their images and generate richer, more powerful, and more varied visual content. Creators might need some time and practice to get comfortable using AI, but those who learn how to unleash their creativity through AI tools will be able to deliver elevated visuals that communicate their vision without undermining their authenticity.