How to Generate Realistic Photos with AI [2025]

Artificial intelligence today can create images that look like real photographs. Whether it’s product shots, portraits, landscapes, or marketing visuals – generators like Midjourney, DALL·E 3, Leonardo AI, or Firefly can handle almost anything.

But the question is: how to create a photo that truly looks realistic?
In this article, we’ll look at specific techniques for writing quality prompts, which tools to use, what the limits of AI are – and why professional photographers still matter.

What Makes an AI Photo Look Realistic

The quality of the result depends mainly on the prompt – the text instruction given to the AI.
A good prompt must be specific, realistic, and visually descriptive.

📌 For example, instead of:

“woman in park”
🟢 write:
“photo of a woman in her 30s walking in a park, golden hour sunlight, shot on 85mm lens, shallow depth of field, natural colors, realistic skin texture”

How to Write Prompts for Realistic Photos

The basic structure of a prompt for realistic photography:

[Type of shot] + [main subject] + [lighting] + [camera style] + [environment details] + [quality parameters]

Example:

“portrait of an elderly man sitting in a café by the window, natural daylight, Leica 50mm lens, cinematic look, bokeh background, high resolution, photo-realistic style”

💡 Tip: For realistic results, use keywords such as:

• photo-realistic, depth of field, DSLR, realistic lighting, lens flare, shot on film, 35mm lens, ISO 400

Best AI Tools for Realistic Photos

🧠 Midjourney v6+

• Excellent for portraits, product, and fashion photography.
• Use parameters such as --ar 3:2, --style raw, --v 6.

🎨 DALL·E 3 (OpenAI)

• Perfect for realistic environments, human expressions, and natural color tones.
• Advantage: produces a more natural “photo look” without excessive effects.

⚡ Leonardo AI

• Offers models for different styles (realistic, cinematic, macro).
• Allows fine-tuning of details, textures, and lighting.

🪄 Adobe Firefly / Photoshop AI

• Ideal for enhancing existing photos (extending backgrounds, fixing details, adding elements).
• Outputs are licensable – suitable for commercial use.

Most Common Mistakes When Generating Photos

• ❌ Too generic prompt – AI creates unrealistic proportions or objects.
• ❌ Lack of light and depth – without proper lighting, photos look flat.
• ❌ Inconsistent details – fingers, jewelry, skin texture (AI still gets these wrong sometimes).
• ❌ Wrong aspect ratio – always define --ar 3:2 or --ar 16:9.

AI vs. Professional Photographer

AI can quickly create visuals for concepts, presentations, or marketing.
But professional photography still has something AI cannot replicate:

• 🎯 Emotion and authenticity – capturing a real moment that can’t be faked.
• 🧠 Creative intent – a photographer knows why they take a photo, AI just reacts.
• 💡 Consistent style – maintaining lighting, tone, and expression across a photo series.
• 📷 Legal certainty – AI-generated content can have unclear licensing issues.

📸 Recommendation:
Use AI for concepts, mood boards, and inspiration.
But for final campaigns, portraits, or important projects, trust a professional.

Integrating Infiry into Your Workflow

Whether you generate photos using AI or take them yourself, Infiry helps you keep all visuals organized, secure, and professional.

Infiry can:

• 📂 Store both real and AI-generated photos in one place.
• 🏷 Add keywords, descriptions, and labels (“AI”, “photo”, “concept”).
• 🔎 Search by color, content, keywords, or author.
• ☁️ Share photo collections with clients or teams via secure links.
• 🧠 Use AI to generate descriptions and tags for faster organization.

👉 Try Infiry for free – the ideal place to store and manage both real and AI-created photos.