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AI PHOTO GENERATOR · GPT IMAGE 2.5

AI Photo Generator

Photographs are the hardest thing to fake and the easiest to get wrong: the light gives it away. This is the photorealism side of GPT Image 2.5 — describe the scene the way you would brief a photographer, in camera language, and both models answer in it.

AI product photography

What the AI photo generator handles well

How it works

  1. Brief it like a shoot. Subject, surface, light, lens. "Leather boot on wet cobblestone, overcast, 35mm, slight puddle reflection" is a photo brief. "Realistic boot photo" is not, and the difference shows up in the result.
  2. Add a reference if the subject is real. Anything you own, sell or have photographed should be uploaded rather than described. 3 credits per reference, up to three, and this generation is built to keep the subject recognisable.
  3. Explore on Flare, finish on Sunburst. Settle the framing and the light at 1K on Flare, then re-run the one you want on Sunburst at 2K or 4K. Neither model costs more than the other, but every run is charged separately: 1K Standard then 2K Standard is 3 credits plus 6.

What to put in the prompt

Use focal lengths, not adjectives. "85mm, f/2.8, eye level" sets perspective and depth of field. "Professional photography" sets nothing — it is the single most common wasted clause in a photo prompt.

Name one light source and its direction. Real photographs usually have one dominant light. Say where it is and how hard it is: "single soft window light from the left, deep shadows on the right".

Say the time of day instead of the mood. "Twenty minutes after sunrise" carries colour temperature, shadow length and haze in three words. "Moody" carries none of them.

Let imperfection in. A slight tilt, a stray reflection, a shallow crop. Naming one small flaw is what pushes an image from render to photograph.

Check the small print. Fine text and tiny logos are where generated photos still give themselves away. Zoom in before you use one, and re-run if a label has drifted.

Prompts to start from

Community prompts in the matching categories, each shown with the image it produced. Open one and the text is filled in for you.

What it costs

Base price per image, identical for Flare and Sunburst. Prompts over 500 bytes add 2 credits per further 1,000 bytes; each reference photo adds 3. The Studio shows the exact quote before you generate.
Credits per image1K2K4K
Standard3612
High122440

Packs from $9, or monthly and annual plans; see pricing. Failed generations are refunded.

Questions

How realistic are the photos?

Good enough that lighting and composition are usually convincing, and not good enough that you should skip checking. Fine text, small logos, hands and reflections are the parts most likely to drift. Zoom in before you publish.

Can I generate photos of a real person?

Please do not upload photos of other people without their consent, and do not use the tool to depict a real person in a situation they were not in. Sexualised imagery of anyone is refused outright, and any attempt to sexualise a minor results in immediate and permanent account action. That rule is about sexualisation — an ordinary photograph that happens to include a child is not what it targets.

What does an AI photo cost?

From 3 credits at 1K Standard to 40 at 4K High, plus 3 credits per reference photo. The Studio quotes the total before you generate. New accounts start with 30 credits and failed generations are refunded.

Is this better than a real photographer?

No — it is faster and cheaper for scenes that do not exist yet, and it is bad at the one thing a photographer is for, which is photographing something that actually happened. Use it for concepts, variants and scenes you cannot stage.

Related

Model facts from OpenAI, "Introducing ChatGPT Images 2.5". ShimmerPic is an independent tool, not affiliated with OpenAI.