The Samsung Unpacked 2025 event didn’t just bring the new S25 series of smartphones – it unveiled a slew of new AI-based features for the smartphones. But as Samsung and Google worked together to unveiled the S25’s new Gemini Live features, they asked the AI for advice on how to become a better photographer. Some of the advice the AI offered was on point, but as an actual photographer, I think one piece of advice the AI offered is particularly off base.
Sissie Hsia, the VP of Google Gemini Experiences, took the stage to explore the new Gemini features during Samsung Unpacked 2025. That list of features includes Gemini Live, an AI-powered virtual assistant coming first to Android and S25 phones. What’s impressive about the AI is that it's multimodal and could use the voice prompts with a photo to offer specific advice.
To demonstrate, Hsia showed the AI a photo of her dog and asked how she could become a better photographer. Gemini’s first bit of advice, to try a composition that’s not centered, is fairly standard advice like the well-known Rule of Thirds.
But when Hsia asked how to get a more vibrant photo, I didn't quite agree with what Gemini suggested. The AI suggested shooting on a sunny day for a more vibrant photo. While a sunny day will produce more vibrant colors, the AI failed to suggest when to shoot on a sunny day. Shooting at noon on a sunny day will have more vibrant colors, yes, but it will also create terrible shadows. The advice to shoot on a sunny day should have also came with advice on when to head out that day.
Ironically, I often recommend beginners shoot on an overcast day or in the shade, at least for portraits, because it’s the easiest light to get a flattering portrait in. Overcast light is soft light, and soft light can help reduce the appearance of skin texture and wrinkles, make the eyes pop, and avoid those under-eye shadows that make you look really tired. Yes, the contrast will be a bit softer on a cloudy day, but it’s the easiest light for a beginner that doesn’t yet know how to work with light at all.
If you’re a beginner and don’t know how to work with the sun, the odds are that your photos would turn out better on an overcast day or in the shade. If you don’t position the sun just right, you’ll end up with deep shadows over the wrong parts of the photo, like a dog completely in a dark silhouette. Experienced photographers who know how to work with light and flash can get good photos in the middle of a sunny day, but it's a near impossible challenge for beginners.
What Gemini should have said is to photograph on a sunny day an hour before sunset. This essential clarification would have made all the difference. Shooting at noon on a sunny day, you can’t position the sun properly for a flattering shot. But the hour before sunset is different. Photographers call this the golden hour specifically because it's often the best time to create a flattering photo that has lovely contrast but without harsh shadows.
Inexperienced photographers tend to get images that are too dark when shooting in full sun. Working close to sunset offers that greater contrast, but in light that’s a lot easier to work with. If a beginner photographer asks me how to create a more vibrant photo, I suggest shooting on a sunny day but about an hour before sunset.
Gemini’s response could have been better, but perhaps that gives those who teach photography a sigh of relief that AI isn’t going to replace them anytime soon. Google Gemini made a similar gaffe on stage when presenting Gemini Live when the AI recommended opening the back of a film camera to solve an issue with the film not winding, which as film photographers know, will ruin the photos.
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