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# This band photo doesn't exist
- URL: https://broddin.be/this-band-photo-doesnt-exist/
- Published: 2023-03-20T09:43:11.000Z
- Updated: 2026-07-19T19:04:25.000Z
- Author: Tim Broddin
- Tags: ai, photography, #wordpress, #Import 2024-02-03 13:15, #broddin, #Migrated-1784487752640, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-07-19 19:02

I’m a **big fan of AI**. It’s changing our world at an unprecedented pace, and I’m pretty sure it has the chance to propel humanity into a bright future. But that will be the topic of another blog post, in which I explain why I’m an AI optimist.

Last week, [Midjourney](https://midjourney.com/?ref=broddin.be) released version 5 of their **image generation algorithm**. One of the very first things I try with every new image generation is to ask it to **generate a band photo**. I have [some background in music photography](https://www.wannabes.be/?ref=broddin.be), and it also seems like a good way to test some things whether it’s good at composition, lightning, humans and famous people.

Until now, the results were **terrible**. Take for example this prompt:

“an award-winning photo portrait of Amy Winehouse taken in a dark & smokey bar, great lightning, realistic skin”.

This is what [StableDiffusion](https://stability.ai/blog/stable-diffusion-public-release?ref=broddin.be) and [DALL-E 2](https://openai.com/product/dall-e-2?ref=broddin.be) come up with:

![StableDiffusion](https://broddinblog.on-forge.com/storage/681/cleanshot-2023-03-20-at-092004-at-2x.png)

StableDiffusion

![DALL-E 2](https://broddinblog.on-forge.com/storage/682/cleanshot-2023-03-20-at-092521-at-2x.png)

DALL-E 2

You couldn’t let anyone believe this was really Amy Winehouse. Some results look a bit like her, but the **uncanny valley is pretty deep**. And none of these pictures would be award-winning.

Now, if you ask Midjourney 5 the exact same prompt:

![](https://broddinblog.on-forge.com/storage/307/image-1.png)

Now, this is a good portrait. **I can feel it.** The hand is still a bit weird, but if I saw this picture in a magazine, I wouldn’t probably notice.

Playing around with Midjourney 5 gave me the idea to **collect these portraits** on a site. In part because it’s a fun little project, but also because these algorithms are getting better and better, and I want to track the progress.

I have loads of cool band photos coming up, so check it out at [https://thisbandphotodoesntexist.com/](https://thisbandphotodoesntexist.com/?ref=broddin.be) or on [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/thisbandpho?ref=broddin.be).

![](https://broddin.be/content/images/wordpress/2023/03/radiohead.png?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1) 

![](https://broddin.be/content/images/wordpress/2023/03/kanyewest.png?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1) 

![](https://broddin.be/content/images/wordpress/2023/03/billie2.png?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1) 

![](https://broddin.be/content/images/wordpress/2023/03/brucespringsteen.png?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1) 

![](https://broddin.be/content/images/wordpress/2023/03/rollingstones.png?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1)