this post was submitted on 03 Jul 2025
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I guess some people thought it was AI, but just a cool moment in my basement window well.

Edit: taken with my iPhone several years ago since that’s all I had with me when it happened so quickly.

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[–] k0e3@lemmy.ca 136 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] Reverendender@sh.itjust.works 50 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I for one, welcome our new pinecone overlord.

[–] Aatube@kbin.melroy.org 20 points 1 week ago

in fact i pine over its shining beauty

[–] sprite0@sh.itjust.works 96 points 1 week ago (3 children)

the ai witchhunt gets a bit silly, sorry you got caught up in v it. very cool photo!

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[–] BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world 68 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (14 children)

I remember trying to warn people on Reddit that their anti-AI crusades were going to hurt real people making real art, especially surrealists, and got banned from a bunch of art subs for being “pro-AI” as a result. Actually, they phrased it in far more hurtful and inflammatory ways, like “advocating theft.” Apparently caring about not hurting real human beings making real human art is “advocating theft.”

I don’t miss Reddit. That place was bad for my mental health.

P.S. This photo is beautiful and I’m happy you had a mind to capture it and share it. Thank you.

[–] jsomae@lemmy.ml 13 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I get these kind of reactions on Lemmy all the time. I say something that isn't the exact party line, people assume I'm their worst enemy even though our disagreement is very minor in the broad scheme.

[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

There's always an US vs THEM element to any culture, but to me it seems like there's been a relatively recent social trend (as in like the last decade) that anybody who isn't jumping up and down waving pompoms for the one right side of an issue is presumed to be an extremist for the polar opposite wrong side, and all their other views about the world and their overall way of life are probably also despicable. It's very simple binary thinking and works well with memes - minimal information to take in, quick and easy to process, one obvious right answer. It also fits gaming mindset very well - is this NPC on my side or should I kill him?

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[–] Jakeroxs@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

It's the same shit on lemmy

I was watching a video yesterday where the video author said it was sketchy that another ytber had used an AI voice but still credited the original voice actor the Ai voice was based on, the voice actor also chimed in that they agreed and were still being paid even though the AI voice was being used.

Literally every time I see arguments against AI from creative it's because losing income/stealing, he hit both those and yet that is still not good enough.

The goal posts will ever shift and the rage will never end.

[–] brucethemoose@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

I got banned from a fandom subreddit for pointing out that a certain fan remaster was (partially, with tons of manual work) made with ML models. Specifically with oldschool GANs, and some smaller, older models as part of a deinterlacing pipeline, from before 'generative AI' was even a term.

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[–] mgenehoffman@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 week ago

Thank you! And yes, I mean I realize it’s a two sided battle. I legitimately hate gen AI and what it was done to the art world. My current career is in the process of being completely devoured by AI and taking photos is something that brings me a lot of joy and connects me to the real world, so it’s infuriating to have both the loss of my career and denigration of my photography due to AI.

[–] Cethin@lemmy.zip 7 points 1 week ago

Well, also AI is hurting actual human beings. We should be fighting against it too. Yeah, be careful of crossfire, but it doesn't mean you shouldn't fire at all.

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[–] dumbass@quokk.au 66 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] anubis119@lemmy.world 46 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I highly doubt AI would properly generate a Fibonacci sequence in the pinecones.

[–] Lembot_0004@discuss.online 43 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Eat it for permanent +0 to HP.

[–] dharmacurious@slrpnk.net 12 points 1 week ago

Completely unrelated, but tonight I opened an app to look for hotels, and it greeted me with a message that I had a "0% off" coupon for my next booking

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[–] aeronmelon@lemmy.world 43 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (3 children)
[–] fckreddit@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 week ago

Konnichiwwa.

[–] rbos@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I gotta check if Laid Back Camp has a new series!

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[–] Couldbealeotard@lemmy.world 37 points 1 week ago (14 children)

To be fair, I totally understand why people think it's AI. Between the phone camera processes and the extreme postprocessing, this looks more deep fried than some memes I've seen. It almost looks like it's got a cartoon filter applied.

Add on the fact that OP is trying hard to down play how much editing has been done, it starts to feel like it doesn't add up. If OP posted the unedited photo to show the bad phone sharpening and admitted how much editing was done on top of that, people would understand what they are looking at.

Don't get me wrong, it looks cool, but when someone says "oh, no I just took this with my phone", I look at that and think that's not the whole truth.

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[–] vxx@lemmy.world 30 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Too much HDR. I can see why they thought it's AI.

Still a nice shot. The composion and framing is nice.

[–] otter@lemmy.dbzer0.com 13 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Composition*, fellow human.

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[–] mgenehoffman@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 week ago (1 children)

It’s not HDR. It’s a single shot, slightly underexposed so we don’t lose the highlight detail. The rest of the work could have been done in a physical darkroom. But thank you.

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[–] buddascrayon@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Honestly, deep fried images usually give me a headache but this one is actually pretty nice. I think the horrible HDR gives it a painting like quality.

[–] mgenehoffman@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 week ago (2 children)

It’s not HDR, it’s a single shot and no tone mapping has been done. Just levels adjustment that could have been done in a physical darkroom.

The number of things that confuse people in this image really surprises me, but I’m assuming you’re talking about the light beam, which is the sun raking concrete at a very sharp angle. The detail it’s exposing on the concrete is actually just like that, even in the raw image.

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[–] OldManBOMBIN@lemmy.world 22 points 1 week ago

I have a mental image of you in a basement sweatshop in Philadelphia- the air is full of smoke and there's a constant barrage of German speeches and gunfire being played over the loudspeaker, broken only by the occasional steam whistle. You take a longing glance out the window, wishing you were on one of the higher floors so you could jump. And there is it.

Pinecone.

[–] pineapplelover@lemmy.dbzer0.com 21 points 1 week ago

Welcome to lemmy

[–] surph_ninja@lemmy.world 17 points 1 week ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

The default subs are controlled by people involved with karma farming. Some of them are so bad that the mods will ban anyone with a high number of upvotes to prevent them from competing with the bots.

Funny enough, I bet the same mods will let a bot repost your pic in a few months.

[–] shark_phenomenon@lemmy.world 13 points 1 week ago

r/pics is a massive joke anyways. Screw that sub!

[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 13 points 1 week ago (2 children)

The Holy Pine Cone of Allentown.

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[–] acockworkorange@mander.xyz 12 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Well, stop feeding reddit's AI machine.

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[–] hakunawazo@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago

conus pineae divinae

[–] ApollosArrow@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago (2 children)

TIL what a window well is. I would honestly love to see what it looks like from outside. Is there some kind of covered up grate on top?

[–] mgenehoffman@sh.itjust.works 33 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Here it is several years later. It’s an office that I rent. The landlord apparently does not care about maintaining the windows.

[–] jacksilver@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I was so confused by the image initially as I hadn't seen a window well that deep before. This follow-up picture made it all click, thanks for sharing.

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[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (4 children)

"Obviously" has been a conclusive reason to condemn things since social media began. So of course "obviously AI" falls under that impeccable standard.

Also just curious, is taking photos with an iPhone something people apologize for now? I don't keep up with all the latest acceptibility rules.

[–] mgenehoffman@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 week ago (2 children)

It was more to denote the presence of Apple’s processing algorithms, which are possibly part of why people think it’s AI or painted. Lots of people on Reddit thought it was a painting and some pointed to the painterly look of details when zoomed into.

Lots of discussion about that being the result of Apple’s fusion algo, which merges many rapidly taken exposures to eliminate noise, at the expense of real detail.

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[–] Aganim@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago

Nice, thanks for sharing! Maybe it's even something for c/accidentalrenaissance?

[–] nthavoc@lemmy.today 8 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Since the light is hitting things just right, probably put some random objects or action figures in there to see if people notice. Every day is a new story! Cool picture by the way.

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[–] cm0002@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago

Just as the prophecy foretold!

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