When you think of artificial intelligence, what comes to mind? Siri? The Terminator? How about Keegan the photo coach?
Oh, you haven’t heard of Keegan, so allow me to introduce you. In his own words, more or less:
Keegan is an artificial intelligence created by Regaind, a startup specialized in automatic image analysis. After being trained by professional photographers, Keegan is now able to describe the strengths and weaknesses in your image, in order to help you identify specific areas in which you can improve…. and to let you challenge your friends on your score! Keegan gives 5/10 to a decent photo, 7/10 to a very good shot and 9/10 to an exceptional image.
Upload an image and Keegan will rate it, and tell you exactly what he “thinks” about it. I was curious about his judgement, so I tested him on some well known and generally well regarded photographs. Here is what he had to say.
First up, a John Keatley photograph of Bill Gates:
Reading is cozy, Keegan picked up on that. And Mr. Gates does look fairly at ease. Not a bad score, not a bad photograph.
How about something by William Eggleston? Iconic, and a pioneer in his time. Keegan’s take?
Keegan says “meh.”
An Annie Leibovitz portrait:
Keegan’s highest praise yet, very enthusiastic about the light. He even awarded it a ribbon.
A Philippe Halsman piece featuring Salvador Dali:
Curiously, Keegan had no love at all for this surrealist photo.
One of the world’s most iconic photographs, Steve McCurry‘s Afghan Girl:
It appears Keegan is onto something here; he’s given this one extra special recognition and offered a golden ribbon.
A Decisive Moment by Henri Cartier Bresson:
Hashtag boring. That’s harsh! He trashes the composition too, guess he hasn’t heard of the golden ratio.
After getting his take on all these famous photographs, I was curious about what Keegan would say about something of my own.
So basically, cute puppies trump all. I guess that’s not wrong, though I have to question his judgment ranking this higher than all the rest of the photos I tried.
Give it a try and see what Keegan thinks of your work! And if you’d like to have some good old fashioned human intelligence applied to your photos (and you should, critique is a great way to grow) submit something to SLR Lounge’s own critique section!
