Web3 redevelops photography

Future. Web3 concepts such as the metaverse, iterative art, and NFTs are changing both the process and market of photography. As budding artists push the boundaries of what can be classified as a “photo,” a new art form may spring up from the code.

Reinventing the photo
Bryan O’Neil Hughes, the director of product management at Adobe, has some ideas on how Web3 will revolutionize photography.

• It will be programmable. Don’t have the right light you need? The metaverse could allow photographers to manipulate their environments through their digital camera lens to get the shot they want.
• It will combine the physical and digital. A new form of photography will blend “real” images, digital shots, and A.I. in an ever-evolving manner to create a new form of photography, as seen in the works of artists like REO and Sean Conte.
• It will have “layers.” Photography will go beyond the visual plane, embedding sounds and smells to create an even more immersive experience.

In the picture
What Web3 also allows, of course, is the ability for these iterative works to be minted as NFTs on the blockchain. That’s a key technological factor because it allows the artist to continually edit digital files or embed them in an algorithm that allows the work to evolve in a virtual landscape. This could usher in  the rise of “active” photography. And with the ability to sell these works right on the blockchain, making money as a photographer/artist/digital-manipulation wizard is actually possible for all.

Making sure these works are protected within the metaverse, however, could be an entirely different challenge. Hughes wonders what a “watermark” could look like in a virtual world… or else, prepare yourselves for the first digital art heists.