video | At Home with Tech

January 25, 2026

How Real Is This AI Video If I Created It Using My Own Photos?

Technology has chipped away at the definition of reality. Digital photography and photo editing software provide almost endless adjustment opportunities for creative expression. But now, with AI-powered tools, you can literally reconstruct an entire photo. You can remove distractions and even people. So, what’s real anymore?

For the past few years, I’ve been fighting a certain sense of guilt as I’ve learned to ‘improve’ my photography using AI-fueled enhancements. Sure, my resulting photos are better, but I sometimes worry that they’re no longer the pictures I captured. But I’ve been careful, and I’ve worked hard to keep it real.

Today, I happily use all the AI-powered photo editing tools in Adobe Lightroom, because I make sure my modified pictures are still faithful to the core images. This is essence of my rule book, and I follow it without angst.

Next comes video.

AI Can Turn Your Photo into a Video
Text-to-video prompting and photo-to-video magic is today’s big creative disruptor. And I know I must face this revolution head on, as it changes everything about the work I’ve been doing for decades.

I’m particularly interested in the generative AI power to to turn a real photo into a video that looks shockingly similar. AI can replicate and then extend the creative elements in your photos into full motion video. Remarkable. (The results are not always perfect, but they’re improving.)

So, I embarked on a little creative exercise. I chose a few silhouette photos I snapped during a sunrise over Delray Beach on our recent Florida vacation and ran them through Google Veo. This process generated 8-second video clips that almost exactly followed the visual elements from my photos. The only exception was Veo created alternate, though similar, people on the beach. (And that’s fine.)

Then I edited the AI video clips together to create this sequence representing my own sunrise experience on that beach.

AI Video Generated from My Photos

As Real as Art Can Be
So, what exactly is this? What have I created here? Well, it’s simultaneously real and not real.

My photos provided enough creative direction for Veo to effectively clone each photo and then extend each moment.

So sure, then it’s easy to call this sequence ‘fake’ as Veo has invented 8 seconds from each frame I gave it.

But these individual scenes faithfully reflect the reality I saw. They do express the essence of my experience.

So perhaps this entire AI-enabled creative process should fall under the category of art. Yes, maybe that’s what I’m doing here.

No Professional Video Crew Required
I also found it wildly fun that I’m able to generate video clips that would otherwise require me to hire a professional video crew for the day.

In my AI video, the opening shot of the two people walking on the beach… yes, I might be able to capture that with my DJI Osmo 3 gimbal.

But that closing tracking shot of the paddleboard man surfing? That’s a clear step beyond Barrett’s personal filmmaking chops (for now).

The Limits When Recording Real B-Roll
Of course, I don’t need AI to create video for me. Here’s some actual b-roll I recorded on Delray Beach that same morning with my Osmo.

Real Barrett B-Roll

But while I also like this ‘real’ b-roll, these are necessarily wider shots, limited by the realities I encountered in those moments on the beach. (Shooting b-roll can be an intrusive process. And I didn’t want to mess with people’s sunrise Zen.)

Snapping a photo is quick and usually less invasive. As a result, I think my original silhouette shots had additional visual impact.

Real Barrett Photos

But now, I can also use my new AI tools to express my creative interpretation of these same images into longer scenes. I can build on these moments, magically extending my stills into the video realm. That’s so cool!

But what does this all mean moving forward? Well, I’m not exactly sure.

A Digital Painting in Motion
I don’t truly understand my little Frankenstein video. Yes, I made it, but what is it?

It’s alive… and yet not
Fabricated, but very close to reality
Hard to exactly define, other than an artist’s interpretation

Perhaps I’ll simply call it my digital painting in motion.

Of course, there are any number of unanswered questions regarding the broader topic of AI-generated video for our society. But I’ll leave that for another day.

For now, I’m pleased that I was able to simply share with you the flow and true ‘spirit’ of my beautiful sunrise experience with a little artistic help from AI.

And I hope you liked the paintbrush I chose to use.

January 4, 2026

How to Ensure Your Sunrise Photography Captures a Larger Visual Story

I have a confession to make about my sunrise photography. I love snapping a beautiful sunrise, but I no longer take tight shots of just the orange fireball. I learned a long time ago that most sunrises look about the same.

The only difference (and it’s a big one) is the cloud formation that may be near the sun. In fact, a great sunrise is always about the clouds and how brilliantly they light up.

Still, zooming in as much as you possibly can to frame in the sun and nearby clouds will get you only part of a particular sunrise’s story. By cropping out the rest of the environment, you’re missing so much more.

Of course, any sunrise should always be the center point of the picture, but it’s just one part of your digital canvas. What else is happening around the early light? If you can show that, then you’re capturing a more complete visual story.

My DJI Osmo 3’s Timelapse Mode
I’ve just returned from our family vacation in Delray Beach, Florida. The weather was perfect, and yes, I woke up early enough on a couple mornings to hoof it to the beach to greet the dawn.

As you may recall from my ongoing Maine sunrise photography project on the mudflats of Cape Porpoise, I’ve been focused on creating more timelapses over the past few years. I love shooting sunrise timelapses, because the fast motion reveals the complex and elegant dance of any clouds in the general sunrise zone.

So, I brought my DJI Osmo 3 gimbal camera with its easy timelapse settings to Delray Beach. And let me tell you… the Florida sunrises did not disappoint.

My Osmo’s wide-angle perspective covered much of the beach and the people who gathered early for the grand event. (As you can see in the photo, my Osmo was mounted on my little Joby tripod and tethered via Bluetooth to my iPhone’s screen.)

The Rushing Waves
In my first timelapse attempt, I was struck by the mesmerizing quick rhythm of the waves and the rush of people moving about like insects. This 20-second sunrise timelapse ran for 30 minutes.

An Hour-Long Story in 40 Seconds
The following dawn, I walked onto the beach and saw a long, dark cloud bank of the horizon, totally obscuring the path of the early sun. Undeterred, I still set up my gear knowing that cloud conditions can change quickly during a sunrise. But I decided to double my recording duration to an hour, since the sun would likely show up a little later, once it eventually rose above the clouds.

Really interesting, right? A lot can happen during an hour on a beach while the sun comes up.

Again, maintaining a wider visual perspective is my key creative choice to capturing a sunrise. Whether snapping a still or a timelapse, showing the broader environment will help you tell the more complete photographic narrative.

A Truly Magic Hour
Finally, I’ve got to acknowledge the rush of happiness that accompanies this morning activity. Whether you show up with your camera or you’re just there to experience the start of a day, the experience is hard to beat.

At home, I usually reserve the first hour of my mornings at my desk for my creative pursuits (photo editing, blog writing, AI exploration). I call it my magic hour. But getting up and outdoors to witness true magic for an hour…

That instantly fills my creative bucket.

December 28, 2025

Lessons Learned at Home with My Tech

Keeping up with all your tech and gear can feel like drinking from a firehose. If you don’t pay attention to the constant changes, upgrades and advances, you can wake up feeling like a Luddite.

I just reviewed a bit of what I’ve discovered over the past year and then shared on my blog.

And here are ten ways I’ve learned how to skill up.
(Each title below is linked to my original blog post.)

Hope this is helpful…

#1
How to Magically Turn a Photo into a Video using Generative AI