Gemini Image Prompts: Photos and Edits

Pick the image you need, copy a prompt below, and replace the subject or reference with your own. This guide contains eight photo-style examples, 25 creative concepts and three editing prompts. They are starting briefs. They do not show tested outputs or promise advertising performance.

Choose the model and check the export

Google calls Gemini’s image generation Nano Banana. As checked on October 9, 2026, its product page lists Nano Banana 2 for free access and Nano Banana 2.1 with a Google AI plan. Check the model, features and limits actually available in your account before scheduling production.

The Gemini Apps guide explains creating images, uploading references, editing and downloading the full-size file. App downloads and API output settings are different: an API capability is not a promise about your app’s export. For a programmed workflow, check the selected model in the API image documentation and its pricing. Do not assume an app subscription covers API usage.

Start with the access you have. A higher plan is useful only if its available model, export size or limits solve your actual production constraint. Budget time for review, corrections and rejected outputs as well as generation. There is no fixed daily allowance assumed in these examples.

Describe what should be visible

A practical brief specifies the subject, action, setting, style, light direction, composition and aspect ratio. Add what must stay unchanged and where text will go. Replace “coffee cup, professional, 8K” with a scene you can assess:

Create an editorial photograph of a matte espresso cup on a walnut desk beside an open notebook. Steam catches soft morning light from the left. Keep the cup sharp and the background gently blurred. Warm neutral colours, empty space on the right for a headline, horizontal 16:9. No generated text.

Photography terms can suggest a look; they do not operate a physical camera. “85mm, f/1.4” can communicate a portrait with a soft background, but does not guarantee realistic optics. Plain descriptions work too. Specify which detail should be sharp, which area should be blurred and whether you want fine grain. “8K” does not set the downloaded file’s pixel dimensions.

Eight photo-style prompts

These describe illustrative scenes. For an identifiable person or an exact product, attach a reference you have permission to use and identify it clearly. Do not present a generated scene as documentary evidence of an event or product test.

For plastic-looking skin, request visible pores and natural texture. For conflicting shadows, simplify to one main light direction. For an unwanted sharp background, identify the focal subject explicitly. These are corrections to try, with no guaranteed result. Inspect hands, reflections and product geometry even when the prompt is precise.

25 creative concepts to adapt

Brand and atmosphere

1. Stone arch. Create an ancient stone arch in a misty valley at sunrise, warm light on its edges and muted earth colours. Cinematic illustration, arch fully visible, quiet space on the left, horizontal 16:9. No text.
2. Geometric assembly. Create an electric-blue wireframe structure assembling in a dark space, with a few particles where edges meet. Crisp digital illustration, simple silhouette, horizontal 16:9. No code or lettering.
3. Ribbons on a beach. Create a dreamlike figure on a windy beach whose coat turns into translucent pastel ribbons blowing towards the sea. Soft backlight, clear silhouette, vertical 4:5. No recognisable real person.
4. Raindrop. Create a macro-style image of a clear drop on the tip of a green leaf, lit from the upper left against a dark background. Keep the drop and leaf tip sharp. Square 1:1.
5. Valley lights. Create an aerial illustration of warm windows across a misty valley at dusk. Deep blue and amber palette, loosely connected clusters of houses, horizontal 16:9. No map labels or factual coverage claims.

Product concepts

Use these as mood boards. A boot in a cave does not demonstrate durability, and a product beside solar panels does not establish an environmental benefit. Compare any commercial product depiction with the real item.

6. Floating bag. Use the attached camera-bag photo as reference. Place it in a surreal studio scene with floating paper maps around it. Keep the bag’s shape and fastenings, soft white light, light-grey background, square 1:1.
7. Cave boot. Use the attached boot as reference, standing on a mossy rock in a crystal-lined cave. A shaft of light reaches the boot; the sole’s side profile remains visible. Adventure concept, horizontal 16:9. Add no new features or claims.
8. Tea under glass. Create a fantasy scene with a glass dome over steaming tea, while iridescent fragments fall outside. Dark background, clear glass edges, vertical 9:16. No health claims or labels.
9. Scooter in a field. Place the scooter from the reference photo in a golden wheat field with small solar panels far away. Warm evening light, ultrawide 21:9. Preserve the vehicle’s visible design; no added specifications or environmental badges.
10. Painted earbuds. Render the earbud case in the attached photo on a Paris cafe table as an oil painting with thick swirling brushstrokes and blue-yellow contrasts. Retain the case’s silhouette. Square 1:1, no extra branding.

Illustration and style

11. Router line art. Draw the exterior of the reference router in blue technical-style lines on white. Horizontal 16:9. Do not invent internal parts, measurements or certification marks; keep it a decorative illustration.
12. Software city. Create an isometric pixel-art city with buildings shaped like a spreadsheet, chat window and database. Limited retro palette, clear pixel edges, one tiny avatar in the foreground. Square 1:1, no real company logos.
13. Woodblock bottle. Depict the reference water bottle in a Japanese woodblock-print style with a large stylised wave behind it. Indigo and vermilion, carved texture, vertical 2:3. Keep the bottle shape; no sustainability claims.
14. Geometric poster. Create a poster with circles, triangles and straight lines in red, blue and yellow. Add only the exact words “Function First” in simple sans-serif lettering. Generous margins, flat colours, vertical 4:5.

Text, packaging and diagrams

Approve the wording before generating. For exact labels, dates, ingredients, charts or user interfaces, add the verified original in a design tool. Generated text is still something to check.

15. Event poster. Create a cream poster with the exact heading “[EVENT NAME]” and the exact subheading “[APPROVED DATE AND LOCATION]”. One orange shape, clear hierarchy, vertical 2:3. Leave space for the real logo; invent no details.
16. Packaging study. Create an unbranded matte-black pouch on a stone slab, with a blank front panel for an approved label to be added later. Soft rim light, square 1:1. No ingredients, quantities or claims.
17. Three steps. Create a navy diagram with three numbered circles connected left to right, labelled exactly “Capture”, “Review”, “Approve”. Muted teal and amber, horizontal 16:9. No extra arrows or steps.
18. Comparison layout. Create a neutral two-column card headed “Option A” and “Option B”, with four empty rows beneath each. Equal visual weight, thin dividers, horizontal 16:9. Add no ticks, scores or claims; verified facts will be placed later.

Social and website layouts

19. Vertical subject. Create [SUBJECT IN MOTION] against bold contrasting colour blocks. Vertical 9:16, keep the essential subject inside the central area and leave space at top and bottom for platform controls. No text.
20. Report cover. Create a calm studio scene with [SYMBOLIC OBJECT] left of centre and broad empty space on the right. Restrained cool colours, soft light, horizontal 16:9. No logos or text.
21. Wide website image. Place [SUBJECT] on the right third with an empty soft gradient on the left. Gentle overhead light, ultrawide 21:9. Keep the subject clear when previewed in a narrower crop.
22. Illustrative contrast. Create two versions of the same fictional desk side by side, cluttered on the left and orderly on the right, at the same angle and scale. Horizontal 16:9. No result percentages or suggestion of a documented customer outcome.

Abstract data themes

These are decorative concepts, not data charts. Use a plotting tool and verified data for an actual quantitative claim.

23. Process loop. Create a chrome sculpture shaped like an infinity loop, with subtle glowing lines along its surface. Dark studio background, controlled reflections, square 1:1. No labels or numbers.
24. Data city. Create a fictional neon city inspired by bars and curves, with blue and amber towers against a black sky. Digital illustration, horizontal 16:9. No axes, values or implied real results.
25. Painted terrain. Create imaginary terrain from thick pastel paint, with blue valleys and golden peaks. Macro-style texture, gently blurred edges, horizontal 16:9. No location names, scales or measurement labels.

Refine one change, then compare the whole image

Use the same conversation with a model that supports the editing task, and keep a copy of the best version. Identify references explicitly, for example “Image A is the product; image B is the background.” Try these follow-ups:

Replace the ceramic cup with a clear glass of iced coffee. Keep the camera angle, desk, light direction and empty area on the right. Match the new glass’s reflections to the scene.

Extend the canvas to the left for a headline. Keep the existing subject in position and continue the same out-of-focus background. Add no text.

Use image A as the product reference and image B as the setting. Place the product on the slab, keeping its shape and proportions. Leave the label area clear for the original artwork to be composited later.

Multi-turn editing helps you describe revisions; it does not lock every pixel or replace a reproducible seed. Compare the face, logo, label, perspective and crop after each change. If an exact product keeps drifting, composite the original packshot onto a generated background instead of repeatedly redrawing it.

Choose a ratio for the layout, then inspect pixels

These are layout suggestions; they omit full platform specifications. Check the destination’s current pixel requirements, safe areas and cropping. An app-store screenshot may need a specific device size; a 9:16 request alone does not meet that requirement.

In the app, request a ratio and inspect the downloaded result. In the API, use the selected model’s supported ratio and image-size settings. The current documentation lists model-specific options, including 1K, 2K and 4K for Nano Banana 2.1; it does not mean every model or app offers the same export. For print, check the final physical size, pixel density and printer requirements.

Review provenance and publication quality

Google embeds SynthID watermarks in generated images. Its verification guide also explains limits: detection can be uncertain, and repeated alterations can prevent detection. A negative check does not establish that an image is a real photograph. Keep the original files and generation history, and label illustrative scenes where readers could otherwise mistake them for evidence.

Before publishing, read every letter and number, inspect anatomy and reflections, compare products with approved references, and preview the actual crop on a phone. Measure a creative test by the relevant qualified outcome under comparable conditions; a count of generated pictures measures output only.

For another tool, see our ChatGPT image prompts. AI automation services can help organise a repeatable production process; our video and photography services provide original material when the real product or person matters. For the separate task of visibility in AI answers, see generative engine optimization.