DEEP DREAM: IMAGE EFFECTS FROM ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Ever wondered what you computer is thinking about while you're not distracting it with kitten videos and recipe searches? Google did, and what they discovered was pretty incredible. It resulted in the Deep Dream code, now available to the public, which feeds images through a program to create strange, eerie, and beautiful versions of the original. To order the Deep Dream effect on your image, visit our Image Effects gallery.

SUMMARY THE SCIENCE THE EFFECTS SAMPLES "Artificial neurons" trained to recognize images can create them, too. Sixteen effects create artistic, weird, and digitized variations. See for yourself the results of the effect on a variety of different images.

THE SCIENCE BEHIND DEEP DREAM

It all started with Google's goal to build a computer with highly advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) that can recognize what you're looking at when you view an image. We've seen the evidence of their efforts in things like Google Goggles and Google Glass. The internals that run these recognition processes do so by activating "artificial neurons." Each neuron is coded to look for a certain thing in your image, and is created by binge-feeding the program image after image (after image...) of whatever it is to find - such as flowers, or maybe a specific flower. So, if you've ever used Google Goggles to find out what kind of flower you're looking at, the program working to answer your inquiry will run through many different neurons (as many as 30 layers) for one that recognizes flowers, and can then match the flower in your picture to one it has in its database. While this is an extremely simplified explanation, it helps explain how the Deep Dream code works. If you offer an image to the computer and authorize it to utilize only one of these layers or algorithms, very interesting things begin to happen. Take, for example, the flower algorithm mentioned above. If something like this is applied to a plain blue sky with some clouds - no flowers - you might imagine the algorithm would just return an error. But instead, the "neurons" begin to find flowers in the image, perhaps through combinations of colored pixels that appear as solid blue to us. The algorithm alters the image, and the result is a picture of a cloud-spotted sky with blue and white flowers - almost as though the program is helping us to see the images there all along.

Left: original Right: Altered with Deep Dream Gerber daisies appear within ordinary clouds!

THE DEEP DREAM EFFECTS

What results from all of this experimentation, research, and study is a very cool set of effects that can alter an image in fascinating, utterly unique ways. From a Van Gogh-esque decorative design, to the appearance of strange animal heads where before there was only rocks on a beach, the effects can add artistry, disguise problems such as low resolution, or completely transform a photograph. Effects such as Salvia, Inceptionist Painting, and Botanical Dimensions create organic or geometric patterns through and around the foreground and background images in a photograph. Digital Prism, Digital Weave, and Demonic give images a digitized, pixelated look with a fun, retro flavor. And the Facelift, Painting, Sketch a Sketch, and Mirage create artistic versions of the picture that almost appear handmade.

Deep Dream transforms a low res image

SAMPLES: ORIGINAL IMAGES

Portrait / Face

Flower

Landscape

Low Resolution

SAMPLES: HUMAN FACE / PORTRAIT

Inceptionist Painting

Salvia

Art Deco

Painting

Mirage

Demonic

Facelift

Charcoal

Trippy

Self Transforming Machine Elves

Digital Prism

Botanical Dimensions

Sketch a Sketch

Dead Presidents

Digital Weave

Mystery Flavor

SAMPLES: FLOWER

Inceptionist Painting

Salvia

Art Deco

Painting

Mirage

Demonic

Facelift

Charcoal

Trippy

Self Transforming Machine Elves

Digital Prism

Botanical Dimensions

Sketch a Sketch

Dead Presidents

Digital Weave

Mystery Flavor

SAMPLES: LANDSCAPE

Inceptionist Painting

Salvia

Art Deco

Painting

Mirage

Demonic

Facelift

Charcoal

Trippy

Self Transforming Machine Elves

Digital Prism

Botanical Dimensions

Sketch a Sketch

Dead Presidents

Digital Weave

Mystery Flavor

SAMPLES: LOW RESOLUTION

Inceptionist Painting

Salvia

Art Deco

Painting

Mirage

Demonic

Facelift

Charcoal

Trippy

Self Transforming Machine Elves

Digital Prism

Botanical Dimensions

Sketch a Sketch

Dead Presidents

Digital Weave

Mystery Flavor

If you can't wait to get your hands on your very own Deep Dream photo, visit our Image Effects gallery for options and prices. Then, select your Fine Art Print or Canvas Print size and style, and place your order today! If you have any questions about the Deep Dream effect, or any of our other products and services, please do not hesitate to contact us. Our knowledgeable staff are always happy to offer answers, advice or suggestions.