I think it might be the lighting and backdrop. They're brightly lit from one side, with a very dark background, making them really pop out. It reminds me of the lighting that was popular in 1990's formal portrait photos, which I always thought looked odd.

[–] foodandart@lemmy.zip 17 points 5 days ago (1 children)

That, and the color of the suits really isn't helping.

[–] ink@sh.itjust.works 22 points 5 days ago

The color is so that they aren’t spotted by the space deer.

[–] SCmSTR@lemmy.blahaj.zone 26 points 5 days ago

Professional photography has been around for a long time. There's lots of it.

AI basically just copies existing things.

Ai copies professional photography.

Photo looks professional.

Therefore, photo looks ai.

[–] TachyonTele@piefed.social 17 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Not everything is ai

[–] joelfromaus@aussie.zone 3 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

Sounds like something ai would say >.> /s

[–] TachyonTele@piefed.social 4 points 5 days ago

Please identify all the astronauts in this picture for me?

[–] Retro_unlimited@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago

I immediately thought of the game Left 4 dead, I thought it was edited to look like nasa lol

[–] PhoenixDog@lemmy.world 5 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Professional digital editors who have existed for decades take days to to touch up photos for press releases.

Fucking morons on the Internet in 2026: is this AI??

[–] chatokun@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I would say inexperienced, not morons. I didn't assume AI, but it did feel edited. To younger people who have more experience with ai edits vs professional editing, they're just going off what they know.

[–] PhoenixDog@lemmy.world 1 points 5 days ago

If you assume everything is AI because it's doesn't quite look perfect, even if it's just a picture being taken because professional photography exists... You're a fucking moron and you should be called out for it.

Has nothing to do with inexperience. If you assume everything is AI you're an idiot.

[–] zr0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 5 days ago

Did you count the fingers?

[–] Onyxonblack@piefed.social -2 points 5 days ago (2 children)

There's just no way it wasn't touched up with AI.. look at the woman's face and hair. Pretty obvious.

[–] sneakypersimmon@lemmy.today 16 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Josh Valcarcel is the photographer of this portrait. He has been working as a professional photographer for close to 20 years. He doesn't need AI to make beautiful portraits like these.

Here is an interesting interview with Josh about this portrait specifically and his background in photography.

Let's give this man the credit he deserves instead of AI.

[–] sneakypersimmon@lemmy.today 3 points 5 days ago

All professional photos are touched up to some degree. It doesn't mean they used AI to do it.