Remembering When Photography Meant Realistic Captures of Reality, Not "Hey Hi" (AI) and 'Instagrammed' (Filtered, Manipulated)
Hundreds of years ago painters tried to capture whatever was before them, be it a scene of nature, some animal/s, or "important" humans. Oil-based colour was a potent material that was enough to fool the human eye (from a distance at least). Paintings could look "real" provided you took some steps away. Over time there were some other "Schools" or "Trends", e.g. impressionist stuff. As photography became feasible there was more to the latter as it didn't need to directly compete with what's merely a reflection of reality. They still called that "art".
In more recent years GAFAM gave people tool to create a fictional version of themselves. Filters (algorithms) were offered and over time those got rebranded as "hey hi" (mostly the same thing, at least in practice).
Where are we going with it and what will be achieved? Making young people insecure about their appearance because all their supposed 'friends' have no freckles, no pimples, and elongate/accentuate certain features of their body, face, and surroundings?
Fake pictures predate the "hey hi" hype; Instagram in particular was full of these. █