Lesson 9 of 22
The anti-paint suite
"Photorealistic" gives you CGI. Naming a real camera gives you a photo.
The default output of an image model is painted — smooth, evenly lit, subtly illustrated. Fixing that is not a matter of asking harder for realism. The word "photorealistic" actively makes it worse; it pulls toward polished CGI.
What works
- NAME THE DEVICE: "shot on iPhone 15 front camera". This activates photographic training data and is the single biggest fix. It beats generic lens specs.
- Name a film stock: "Kodak Portra 400 color" — real colour science instead of the generic AI palette.
- Ask for grain: "natural film grain visible in shadow areas, ISO 1600".
- Ask for optical flaws: slight chromatic aberration at the edges, gentle vignette. (Image prompts only — these hurt in video post.)
- "RAW photo, slight camera noise, natural tonal variation."
- Expression: "slight eyebrow raise, mouth slightly open as if about to speak". A neutral resting expression causes instant scroll-past.
What breaks it
| Never write | Because |
|---|---|
| "phone", "selfie", "holding phone" | renders an actual phone as a visible prop and kills the shot |
| "35mm lens" | cinema lens → bokeh. Name a phone camera instead |
| "warm natural lighting" | golden-hour studio look |
| "photorealistic", "high quality" | painted, CGI look — the opposite of the ask |
| stacked realism directives | they compete; a few well-chosen cues beat a pile |
Light like a room, not like a DP
Don't write "warm key from above-left, soft fill" — that produces too-even, too-consistent light. Describe what real rooms do: a single overhead bulb casting under-chin shadows, cool window light clashing with warm bulbs, a green fluorescent cast, an overexposed forehead. Bad lighting is what real footage looks like.
One practical note: generate at 2K, not 1K. On the model we use it's the same cost for four times the texture detail, and 1K is a direct cause of the painted look.
Takeaway
Name a real camera and a real film stock. Never say "photorealistic" — it means CGI to the model.
Course outline
Progress
0 of 22 lessons completed
Chapter 1
Start here
Chapter 2
The script
Chapter 3
The frame
Chapter 4
The clip
Chapter 5
The edit
Chapter 6
Judging it honestly