AI photo editing prompts for Gemini & ChatGPT

How to edit a photo with AI and still look like yourself

Photo editing with Gemini or ChatGPT works in one round trip: you upload a picture, paste a prompt, and the AI returns a new version. The prompts on this page are grouped by what you want done, so it helps to decide the job first. Repair jobs (restoring a torn print, sharpening a blurry shot, removing an object, fixing white balance) should change as little as possible. Style jobs (a 1980s portrait, a painting, a collectible figure, a festival look) are allowed to change a lot, but your face should not.

Because the AI redraws the picture instead of editing pixels, small details can drift between runs. A good prompt names what must stay the same, which is why almost every prompt here includes a line such as “keep my face and features exactly the same”.

How to use these prompts

1. 1

   Pick the sharpest, best-lit photo you have. A front-facing picture with an even light gives the AI the most to work from.

2. 2

   Upload it to Gemini or ChatGPT, paste the prompt and replace every [BRACKETED] part with your own detail, such as an outfit, a colour or a place.

3. 3

   Look at the face, hands, text and edges first. Those are the places where mistakes show up.

4. 4

   Reply with one change at a time, for example “keep everything, but make the background softer”, instead of rewriting the whole prompt.

Get better results

• Say what must not change. Name the face, the clothing colour, a logo or a building outline. The AI treats anything you do not protect as editable.
• Use one job per prompt. Restoring, colourising and restyling in a single request usually gives a muddy result. Do them in separate steps.
• Start from the original. Each edit of an edited picture adds drift. If a version goes wrong, go back to your first upload.
• Check the output size. If you plan to print, ask for the highest resolution the tool offers and zoom in to look for soft areas.
• Keep a copy of the original. Save your untouched photo before you start so you can always compare or begin again.

If the answer is not right

• The face looks different. Reply “keep my exact face from the original photo, change only the clothes and background”, or try a clearer, closer photo.
• Skin looks plastic. Add “keep natural skin texture, pores and film grain, no smoothing or beauty filter”.
• Text or labels are garbled. AI redraws lettering badly. Keep text out of the prompt and add it afterwards in an editor, or ask the AI to leave the text area untouched.
• Hands or edges look wrong. Regenerate a few times, and ask for “hands relaxed and fully visible” or crop the photo so fewer hands are in the frame.

Only edit photos of people who agreed to it, and be careful with photos of children. If you post an edited picture, it is good practice to say that AI was used, and some platforms ask for it.