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| New AI-Enhanced Image of Peter George |
The image above is an example of a gallery posting which I have replaced with an AI-enhanced version. I think it improves the presentation, especially of images culled from old beefcake magazines, which were not amazing quality prints even when new. The unenhanced version is shown below.
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| Old Image of Peter George (Unenhanced) |
The enhancement process benefits muscle and posing pouch definition, sometimes with spectacular success, but the technique has its limitations and human faces with their relatively small detailing sometimes come out with unnatural exaggerations and emphasis. The grainy texture of old images tends to be replaced by smoother, slightly plastic textures which is a mixed blessing, hairiness is much diluted, for example. However, the result often serves better for the purposes of presentation, I feel. I'm not seeking to 'restore' or 'preserve' the images in an academic sense, but to improve the impact of them for a modern and casual, first-time audience, hopefully recapturing something of what the first viewers experienced when Royale burst onto the British gay scene. Enthusiasts can seek out the unspoilt originals at the Archive (see link below)
I trialled the new style of images in TEDS and Stanley Free and now use it routinely on new posts, but only where it improves the presentation. I do not attempt to improve those images which are already good quality. There are a variety of tools in the kit, but there are situations where the AI software cannot improve the imperfect original, it struggles with fuzziness (sometimes surprisingly) and low resolutions (more understandably). It can also be misled by spurious marks on the original where the human eye would not be. Likewise, my ability to use the tools is evolving and has its limits!
I hope to retrofit older posts (pre March 2023) in due course.
You can identify AI-enhanced images at this site because I add the Royale Studio Archive logo to them. I don't add it to untreated images. Sometimes I provide a link to the unaltered originals for comparison purposes in the text of the post, but in any case the original source images can all be found in the relevant set or model folder in the mitchmen Royale Studio Open Archive. The folders also include other images omitted for quality reasons, duplicates obtained from different sources, and the source references themselves. Sometimes the upload process may be delayed, so watch for an announcement or click the link to check periodically.
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