How AI is helping Fake Photographers Steal Your Big Day

You're looking for the perfect wedding photographer for your perfect wedding. You look online and find a stunning web site with breathtaking images. Perfect lighting. Fantastic poses. This is everything you're looking for.

You contact the photographer. They email back right away and set up a phone meeting. You seem to hit it off. The retainer gets paid and now all you have to do is wait for the Big Day and your dream photos.

Except they never come.

Maybe the photographer does show up, but something seems off. The confidence level you might expect from someone who produced the images on their web site just isn't there. The photographer is struggling, fumbling, unsure. If and when you finally do get the photos they aren't anything like what you'd hoped for. It goes way beyond issues such as your venue just not being as picturesque as those in the photographer's portfolio, or the weather being poor.

Or a worse scenario occurs and on your wedding day no one shows up at all. You've found yourself ghosted, out the money you've already paid, and no photographer.

How did this happen? Where did all of those great photos on the web site come from?

Unfortunately, there have been people trying to scam wedding couples for quite some time now. It used to be that they scour the internet to find images taken by other photographers and swipe them to add to their own galleries. Because these scammers would often take images from well-known photographers, it wasn't too difficult to expose them.

Thanks to the advancement and proliferation of AI, it's going to become a lot harder to catch the scammers. Someone who has very minimal real-world experience and no portfolio of their own can create entire galleries of fake weddings with very little effort.

HOW AI IS USED TO CREATE FAKE WEDDINGS

Before I go on, I want to be clear that my intent here is not to bash AI. I think there are a lot of beneficial uses for AI technology. But there's also no denying that AI can be used in some very harmful ways.

When it comes to AI-generated imagery, the technology has become so advanced that it can mimic real wedding photography with near-perfect accuracy. With just a few clicks and simple descriptions, elegant scenes of "brides" and "grooms" in stunning venues can be generated with flawless lighting and composition.

I'm going to share some images below and want to offer a FULL DISCLOSURE: All of the images featured in this post were generated by AI.

It took approximately 2 minutes of my time to generate the images below using 100% free AI software, very simple prompts, and absolutely zero effort to refine any of the images or re-render them to eliminate mistakes.

I very intentionally did not want these images to appear too "perfect" because I feel like, as is, they outline just how easily AI can be used to fool someone. Scaled down for a blog post, viewed on a phone, or suffering loss of quality due to compression by social media sites, even simple renders like these can catch someone off guard.

Sample of a wedding photo generated with AI

The technology is advancing scary fast. Anyone familiar with AI generated imagery probably is aware of the problems the tools had with creating the appropriate number of fingers, or with generating weird artifacts and deformities when rendering people. These issues are becoming less and less of a problem these days.

As I mentioned, the images I generated for this post were bare minimal effort. Quick and dirty and without even accessing advanced tools or models to train the renders.

It's not hard to imagine how easy it would be for someone to put a little more time into refinement of images like the ones in this post to create entire galleries of even better quality, making it seem like they've shot dozens of high-end weddings.

In reality, they may have very little experience behind the camera. Maybe none at all.

If they wanted to further create false legitimacy, AI can even be used to simulate selfies or otherwise allow an unscrupulous photographer to create "behind-the-scenes" images of themselves supposedly photographing some of these fake weddings.

The prompts used to generate these photos took me just a few seconds to write.

HOW DO YOU PROTECT YOURSELF?

Before you hand over any money, you should verify that the wedding photographer you're hiring is the real deal. That's important in any context, but these are some tips if you specifically suspect the person you're interested in might be using fake content.

1. Are the willing to show you a full gallery?

By "full gallery," I do mean an entire wedding. Not just a highlight reel of the best, but every photo delivered to the client. There are a lot of things AI isn't very good at yet and one of them is consistency. Lighting, angles, specific details of the venue or even of the couple themselves can vary wildly. Scammers will curate the images they are willing to show to try to eliminate those inconsistencies. They also aren't likely to spend time generating images for the more "mundane" things like detail photos of decorations, wedding rings, etc.

2. Will they meet with you in person (or on video)?

This one can be tricky in today's world. I actually prefer to meet clients in person, but Covid kind of changed all of the rules. I've found that a lot of my clients now are perfectly fine with just a phone call. There's nothing wrong with that, especially if you're confident that the photographer you're hiring is legitimate. However, if you have your doubts, suggest meeting in person or over a video chat. If they hesitate, it could be a bad sign.

3. Can they provide you with references from former clients?

Newer photographers may not have many (or any) past clients for you to check with, and that's OK. But if someone is presenting too-good-to-be-true stellar galleries of epic weddings, then they absolutely should have a former client (or several) that they are willing to let you speak with.

4. Do they have any social media proof?

Related to point 3 above, most established photographers will have tagged photos from real clients on social media. AI generated content is simply going to lack any genuine engagement.

5. Do you recognize any of the locations in the photos?

To generate images, AI takes a ton of different sources and then kind of blends them together. One thing it's not yet very great at is replicating exact locations or getting all of the small details of those locations correct. You might not be familiar with all of the churches or venues in your area, but chances are you can recognize that a photo just doesn't look like it was taken anywhere in your area. In any case, don't be afraid to ask the photographer where they took specific images. It would be a pretty large red flag if they can't give you that information.

6. What kind of experience are they claiming?

Newer photographers might not have a ton of experience or any kind of connection with other vendors. But if they are honest, they won't be claiming those things, either. Scammers who have built fake portfolios, however, won't be able to hide the fact that no one else in the area has heard of them or worked with them.

This photo literally only took second to generate from an AI tool.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Your wedding day is a one time event, and your photos are supposed to last forever.

Regardless of your budget, you don't deserve to be scammed by someone out there pretending to be something they are not. Any legitimate photographer, experienced or brand new, won't be offended if you want to do a little vetting

Do your research. Trust your instincts.

When in doubt, go with a professional who has a verifiable reputation and a prove track record with past clients. Preserving the memories of your big day deserves nothing less.