Not AI: "unreal" looking nature photograph wins competition

Not AI: "unreal"-looking nature photo wins competition

At a time when images created using artificial intelligence are being accepted as real photographs, the opposite happened to Australian photographer Matt Deakin. A real nature photo he took was thought by several people to be an AI generation.

Deakin's work ultimately won the grand prize in the Australian Geographic Nature Photographer competition. The photographer said that the unique shot was not planned in advance and was taken almost by accident.

At the time, he was using a drone to capture how the rays of the setting sun were illuminating a shallow reef. When he brought the drone closer, he noticed a green sawfish swimming towards a group of sea turtles in the water.

The photographer managed to capture this moment from above. He named the photo Ethereal Encounter.

Interestingly, Deakin might not have had time to capture this shot. During the shooting, the drone's battery was running out. When the device was landed, its charge was only at 3 percent.

The composition and the placement of the marine creatures in the photo looked so unusual that some believed it was prepared using an artificial intelligence generator.

Deakin said that such comments did not upset him. On the contrary, the photographer admitted that the photo indeed looks unreal.

The photographer submitted this work to the competition's category dedicated to endangered species. The green sawfish depicted in the photo is also among the endangered species.

All works submitted to the competition, which is organized by the South Australian Museum, must be related to the nature of Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica, or New Guinea.