Animating still photos? No thanks
Call me old school, but I like photos to be as they were intended to be: a captured second of time. However, a genealogy website, MyHeritage, is now using artificial intelligence to “transform photos of people into short, highly realistic animations, much like the moving pictures in the newspapers and posters of Harry Potter’s magical world,” LiveScience reports.
The technology, called Deep Nostalgia, is accessible on the MyHeritage website, where one can upload a family photo and have it turned into a video clip that lasts a few seconds.
LiveScience also provided a few examples, including Charles Darwin in 1855, Marie Curie in 1920, and Amelia Earhart in 1937.
I spent a little time staring at the photos.
The process offers a new perspective that is weirdly fascinating, as the subject’s eyes move around, or the subject slowly smiles – all thanks to a computer algorithm and artificial intelligence.
But at the same time, it’s super, super creepy.
I have one video of my grandparents, and it’s on a VHS tape. I have the tape but at some point need to convert it to a more modern format, because I would love to watch one hilarious exchange between them that my grandfather accidentally taped when he pressed the record button on a hike.
However, it’s not because I want to see them moving about. It’s simply because I would love to hear their voices again, and I wish that I would have had the foresight as a teen to record them more often.
I have a few photos of them from various points in their lives, and I treasure those photos.
However, I have no desire to take a photo of them and animate it. It’s just too much.
Apple has made a step forward in this realm that is less creepy. iPhone users have the option to shoot “live” photos, which are really short videos embedded into the still photo. And those can be really cool, but it’s also natural, capturing actual movement. It’s not a re-animated still photo of a moment long since past.
Technology has revolutionized how we capture our moments. We can quickly shoot video, photos and live photos right from our smartphones with amazing quality and clarity. Then we can upload those memories into a storage system where they can be accessed for generations to come, in theory.
But animating still photos? Pass.
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