As i am playing in Photoshop

with the Marvel figure Jean Grey as "Dark Phoenix" - after i took an image of her together with a LED loght of a "flame" behind - then light painting added by exposing the surrounding with different lights and exposures - i then played a little bit with smaller areas via AI in Photoshop - in order to transform the LED lamp into fire.

While AI absolutely sucks in Photoshop - due to the absurd lack of resolution in details. But it is very good in doing blurred / out of focus things - where you don't really see much of the noise, and no sharp details are required. There, it works very good and comes often in hady (for example when eliminating details in the background). But most of the time, it is a question of SMALLER areas, not large areas.

The larger the AI area, the worse the results. It is like you get some sort of primitive Baby AI. You do not get access to the big gun. After all, they wantyou to pay for BS (e.g. the "AH" and "OH" is just a futile version of what AI really can do - but you don't get access to such high resolving features. They make you pay for something that perhaps had the standard from 15 years ago (behind the scenes).

But as i said, the Photoshop AI afeatures are good when you have to deal with blurry, out of focus areas - then it fills in the gaps (or whatever of your desire), in a way, where it doesn't look cheap or primitive. So, out of focus flames, work much better, than trying to get fine, photographic details of something.

Blurred lines in Photography

So, the lines are really getting blurred in the type of photography i am experimenting with. Especially given that I am now dealing with figures from Comics, such as X-MEN, and STAR WARS (which are after all, fantasy creations from the beginning). Therefore it seems fair to use AI as an additional tool, in order to enhance the final image and expressions further. Like in this photo of the "Dark Phoenix" entity.

I am not a pro or anything like that - far from it. Nor do i have special ideas or thinking. I am not targeting to be an artist or claim trying to make it as realistic or "authentic" as possible (What is "realistic" anyway, given that we 're talking about Comics characters).

Swedish publications of X-Men in the 90s

I just have fun - and i like the characters due to my old love of X-Men from 1990 and a decade onwards. The way the X-Men where represented back in the early 90s in Comics published in Sweden (which held a very good standard, had many, many pages - barely any ads - and were therefore way better than the US X-MEN Comic versions. And the X-Men were still truly humble and real heroes in the 90s, in the Swedish publications.

X-Men turned ego-centric in the 2000s

Around 2000 and onwards, things changed and the X-men started to gloat in weird self-centered ways "Oh look what I can do. And look what I am standing for". Like self-pronounced goddesses. Wohoooo. I felt that it changed the inherent heroic spirit of the X-Men into self promoting "look-at-me bitches - i am the shit".

Not my thing, really.

What I love

is that I have real, realistic figures drawn with fine details, especially in their faces (despite the relative small sizes between 12-15 cm). Using them as a base for further enhancement and photographic installments. It is really fun ! Like having a part of the X-Men charm in your very own home.

A personal slice of the X-Men, i can call "my own". (What ever that means *LOL* - I am not sure). I should print a few images, as well - which I have not done yet.

Dark Phoenix

The main photo version of 'Dark Phoenix' above - i actually like very much. Jean Grey really looks like a bad ass "Dark Phoenix" in the photo. Fans also know from the old X-Men adventure series that the Dark Phoenix was a truly fierce cosmic power, not to play with.

And we loved the struggle between Jean Gray (with and without her Phoenix energy used for good) vs the manifestation Dark Phoenix when it took over.