Dreaming of the Willamette - Deep Dream Generator gallery #3
I continue to collaborate artistically with an artificial intelligence. The future is now.
Many thanks to the Deep Dream Generator for hosting a free web interface to allow anyone to play around with training a neural network to create artwork (and thanks Google for the underlying open source code - install it locally from GitHub here).
Previous installments in this series: Gallery #1; Gallery #2 (not named as such); my insanely detailed Deep Dream Generator tutorial; and the post that started it all.
Dreaming of the Willamette
Recently I have been working on a series inspired by the Willamette River that runs a few a blocks from my house. I have been taking photographs of the Willamette with the express purpose in mind of running them through the Deep Dream Generator. I crop out sections of the photographs that I think will work well with the AI, and in some cases I have also done some image manipulation in PhotoShop both before running an image through the generator and afterward on the output.
Blue Heron at Dusk
![heron sunset dream.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQman96haJNHKx1Jr7fV2rt9HhqVgibzgcQX1Eto5T6UKdN/heron%20sunset%20dream.jpg)
![](https://steemitimages.com/DQmYb1Cyx8Ybmzz4EL628f3HPfissCSYrgMRkCBotM7BRdt/image.png)
Style image is not my own, low-res version presented here as fair use in reporting my process. I got this style image from a public image created by another user of the Deep Dream Generator.
I am quite pleased with how this one turned out. I took this picture after dusk, the heron was perfectly silhouetted against the reflections in the river from the lights on a bridge. The photo itself is dark and blurry but that actually often makes for a good candidate to use for deep dream generation - the AI can take some creative liberties when the source image is a little fuzzy. To the right is the style image I used to train the neural network - I was hoping for a stained glass effect and it worked well. I set enhance to high, depth to deep, weight to 60%, and scale to 80% to create this image. I also used the clone stamp tool in PhotoShop to fix some sections that did not come through cleanly and manipulated saturation and vibrancy in the reflections of light on the water.
My original photo of the great blue heron at dusk for reference:
Sunset on the Willamette
![](https://steemitimages.com/DQmZXxXbbyBFUanXS7rQWPp1U9iSmUwBW76ZyDQss6fcG58/image.png)
![](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQmfE34nz2jRiyF31VApom3c8bNUFYniSSQkTKMUijmpuuu/image.png)
Style image is not my own, low-res version presented here as fair use in reporting my process. I got this style image from a public image created by another user of the Deep Dream Generator.
I posted this piece previously as the cover image of an instrumental soundtrack song.
This is a great example of my technique - I took a number of pictures of sunset reflections on the river one evening and cropped out interesting sections to play around with in the Deep Dream Generator. The original cropped section of photograph is above right; the style image I used is below right. I was going for an oil or pastel painting look with thick, visible brushstrokes so I chose my style image accordingly.
This one I did not manipulate at all in PhotoShop, this is the pure output from the Deep Dream Generator. Most of the artistic work here was in cropping the original photograph to create an interesting composition with areas of light in the reflections to draw the viewer's eye around the final "painting". Sometimes working with the Deep Dream Generator feels like cheating. I think this is a genuinely interesting piece of digital art and I created it in a few minutes between taking the photo, selecting and cropping it, and running it through the Deep Dream Generator.
Some more from the same series of photographs (different cropped base images and different style images):
Sunset on the Willamette #2
Sunset on the Willamette #3
Ripples Over a Log
![](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQmXS6MLp19raLQYKByujVsm8ny1RB9RyYg8S7ffsPKKfPe/image.png)
![](https://steemitimages.com/DQmYFpC1zrUFqP13TXDRTsixQspPjWxwhN9RHsLEWk6o3yV/image.png)
My original photography as base image
Style image is not my own, low-res version presented here as fair use in reporting my process. I got this style image from a public image created by another user of the Deep Dream Generator.
I took another series of photos to use for this project, this time focusing on close-up shots of ripples in shallow water. Here I cropped a section of water flowing over a log and manipulated the original photo a little to create more depth of contrast. The style image (see below right) is the same style image used for Sunset on the Willamette #2 above.
I cropped this section of photograph because the micro-currents and eddies underneath the mini-waterfall coursing over the log are really interesting. I was hoping they would translate well into brushstrokes and I am not disappointed with the results.
You can see how using a different style image can really change the results by comparing the images below (same base image, different style images) with the image above. This is not just a simple "filter" a la Instagram or Picsart. The AI creates a new thing, draws new lines, selects new colors, in similar fashion to a human artist asked to recreate a reference image (base image) in the style of a particular master (style image).
Ripples Over a Log #2
Ripples Over a Log #3
Ripples Over a Log #4
Willamette Abstraction
![](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQmU2kPVkZeXoJJcrZZCwYCoeBgrmYmCpQ4A6i4ayis6Fpv/image.png)
In the same series of photos that resulted in the Ripples Over a Log series, I took some more abstract shots of crossing ripple patterns on shallow water. With less depth and contrast in these images, they worked well for a more abstract final result using various geometric and organic patterns as style image.
I actually like some of the base images I used for this abstraction series on their own - water ripples are really interesting :)
Stay tuned for more!
This is really just scratching the tip of my Deep Dream Generator obsession. I have also been creating small (post-it note sized) original pen and ink cross-hatch drawings and using them as base images to create some pretty crazy final results (crazy in that it is hard to believe the level of detail in the final output came from a post-it note sized drawing in the first place).
Here is a sneak peak at a piece of art I made for my @cyclops blog. I have created many variants of this, none published yet. Original post-it note art of cyclops:
Cyclops Woodcut style with cave background created from above image:
Happy deep dreaming! Much love - Carl
I love some of these so much that i'd quite happily put them on my wall. Some really good stuff here matey.
Hey I know that is super high praise from you!
Can i get 3 super high res versions of the Williamette Abstraction ones - grey, multicoloured and goldy grey ones. Id like them as desktop wallpapers :)
Unfortunately major limitation of Deep Dream Generator is max res of .95 MP :( I have played around with splitting a larger source image up into a grid and using the generator to do sections of it at a time, but in the case of the images above they are all .95 MP. Sorry dude
Very cool program, Carl. The original shot was pretty amazing to begin with:)The AI derivative pieces were wonderful:)
Thanks! I have been geeking out on that website hard for months now :) I really have fun creating art or taking photography with the express purpose in mind of then running it through the AI. I have some projects that I have ran through deep dream, painted on top of in PhotoShop, ran back through deep dream, painted on top of again, etc., through a dozen or more recursions :)
I totally get that ... it looks great:)
Those are some pretty cool pictures, man.
Thanks dude!
I find it interesting that despite the fact AI is manipulating the pictures, a human is setting the parameters and making the decisions about what the AI will do. It's the cyborg thing... half man, half machine. I love the Cyclops one at the end! Thanks for sharing!
Yes exactly! That is why I called it a collaboration. None of the above are examples of this, but I often do true collaborations where I start with a piece of my own art, let the AI re-imagine it, then paint over the top of that and submit the end result back to the AI for round 2 of collaboration, repeating the process in some cases as many as a dozen times until I end up in some really strange places :)
That seems like a real symbiotic relarionship with the machine...! Thered something quite sublime about it.
It is amazing how you use it
Thanks!
I love your Blue Heron, Carl—the moody before & the luminous, stained-glass after ✌🏼
I also posted about a Big Bird, today 🤓
Oh cool heading over to investigate now :)
I had to try it out this is so neat @carlgnash thanks for sharing
Awesome! Really glad I inspired you! I have been totally addicted to the Deep Dream Generator for months now :)
Oh wow, this is absolutely stunning. Not only is the art itself just outstanding, I have a HUGE soft spot for this being inspired from photos of the Willamette river. As an Oregonian, this is a really special piece for me, I just love it.
Thanks Lily! I <3 the Willamette :) When I worked in downtown Eugene I would swim naked in the Willamette on every lunchbreak during the summer. Rejuvenation!
Haha, that is a ridiculous and amazing story! Eugene’s a pretty neat city!
Absolutely beautiful. This really is another level of artistry and thoughtfulness. Resteemed and see you around!
Thanks so much! Checked out your profile looks like a cool mission - good luck!
Upvoted and followed.
Oooh really like your own deep dream post from today!
Do you have a link to your Deep Dream Galery? I'd like to check it out. Here is a post I hope you find helpful when using the default image templates.
https://steemit.com/art/@rebele93/deep-dream-generator-full-sized-template-images
Cheers,
@rebele93
Also, Do you run a local copy of the Deep Dream Generator? Is it faster? pros vs cons?
I did download and play around with it very briefly but my initial impressions were that it was way slower (at least on my machine) and I pretty much gave up on it. Here is my profile :) https://deepdreamgenerator.com/u/428759/