Key Takeaways
- Photo AI allows users to generate portrait-style images with customizable features and backgrounds.
- Choose from different AI characters or upload your own images.
- Users can customize character features, styles, and settings, copy prompts, and download images easily.
Learn how to create intriguing AI-generated images with the Photo AI app. You’ll find out how to design your character and generate prompts, along with some tips to help you enhance your results. We’ll also cover pricing and more.
What Is Photo AI?
Photo AI is a tool that lets you generate portrait-style images using various prompts. You can customize your background, in addition to the clothes that your character wears and much more. You have the option to pick from different pre-existing characters, but you can also upload images of yourself if you would prefer.
Photo AI was launched in late 2022 by Pieter Levels, a Dutch digital entrepreneur who also founded Nomad List (we’ve got a full guide on what Nomad List is if you want to check that out as well). In addition to using the desktop version, Photo AI also has an iOS app that’s available for download.
Download: Photo AI for iOS (Free, in-app purchases available)
Is Photo AI Free?
To use Photo AI, you need to purchase a monthly or annual subscription. Prices begin at $29 per month and $390 per year for Photo AI Pro— the least expensive plan. You can also get Premium ($99/mo and $990/yr), and Business ($299/mo and $2,990/yr).
Photo AI Pro will be more than enough for most users, especially if you’re just using the app for fun. The main difference between each plan is that you get bigger allowances with Premium and Business. Below is a rundown of what you get with each subscription:
| Photo AI Pro | Photo AI Premium | Photo AI Business |
| Create up to 5 AI characters per month | Create up to 25 AI characters per month | Create up to 100 AI characters per month |
| 1,000-photo limit | 5,000-photo limit | 25,000-photo limit |
If you don’t have the money to spend on an app, you can check out these free AI art generators instead.
What Can You Do With Photo AI?
You can mainly use Photo AI for generating portraits, whether that’s of yourself or a fictional character. One of the app’s biggest advantages is that you have several customization options, such as generating photos in many parts of the world. On top of that, you can select different packages if you’d prefer to keep your image style consistent.
Photo AI also lets you customize your character’s hairstyle and design images for different social media networks, such as Instagram. Moreover, you can use settings like speaking on stage and corporate headshots.
To make generating your photos easier, Photo AI also lets you copy and paste prompts. These are especially useful if you want to experiment with different ideas before you go ahead with your main creation.
How to Generate Images With Photo AI
Now that we’ve covered the basics of what Photo AI is, let’s look at how you can generate images using the app. We’ll show you the main steps and also walk you through some of the other essential features that you’ll find when using Photo AI.
Step 1: Create Your Character in Photo AI
The first step to generating your images in Photo AI is to create your character. If you want to include yourself in photos, you can upload pictures of yourself. The process takes just under 40 minutes on average, and you’ll see an option called Create your first AI character after signing up.
Alternatively, you can pick from one of the many characters available by following these steps:
- Scroll down on the left-hand side and navigate to Select character.
- Choose your character from the list of options available. For this tutorial, we’re going to choose the AI character named Chris.
Even if you’re a photographer, you can still use tools like Photo AI to help you conceptualize and create. We’ve got a full guide on how photographers can use AI if you don’t know where to start.
Step 2: Choose Your Basic Photo AI Parameters
After picking your character or uploading images of yourself, you’re ready to start creating your images in Photo AI. First, you’ll need to set some basic parameters:
- The number of photos you want to create (choose between one and 16 images)
- Whether you want portrait, square or landscape images
- Faceswap features
- Whether you want to use the Final Upscaler feature
To access all of these, scroll down to Parameters and adjust your settings however you feel is necessary. For this demonstration, we’re going to pick eight images in portrait mode and see what we get.
Step 3: Insert Your Prompts in Photo AI
After setting your initial parameters, you’re ready to move on to the fun parts of creating an image with Photo AI. First, scroll down to Prompt and enter exactly what you want to see in your pictures. The more detail you can give, the better; explain the clothes you want the model to wear, along with where you want them to be, and so on.
You should also use the Negative Prompt section to explain what you don’t want. Think of the things that could potentially go wrong and put them here.
If you don’t know where to start, you can always copy and paste one of the many prompts already in Photo AI. You’ll see an example image for each of them, meaning that it won’t be too hard to see what you’ll potentially get. Simply go to the Prompts tab and hover over an image you like, before selecting Copy Prompt.
The Results of Our Experiment in Photo AI
As you can see, the images we got in Photo AI had both positives and negatives. In many of the pictures where the model’s hands are visible, the hands weren’t generated properly.
The architecture in some of the pictures did not match what we asked for. For example, the wooden green building in the second picture is more typical of Norway or the Faroe Islands than the part of Copenhagen we asked Photo AI to generate. I also asked for sunny weather, but the images were all overcast.
We also noticed that while the tool took pictures in a turtleneck, it didn’t do so in the color that we requested. Nonetheless, the pictures where the model had his hands in his pockets actually came out quite well. Moreover, the focal length is close to what we asked for.
Consider Using Photo AI’s Copycat Feature
If you want your pictures to be more accurate, you should consider using the Copycat feature in Photo AI. Here, you can upload an image that you want to mimic in some way, shape, or form. You’ll find this option in the Copycat section on the left-hand side.
To ensure that Photo AI knows what you want to mimic, fill out the text in the What to Copycat section.
How to Download Your Images From Photo AI
Once you’ve created images in Photo AI that you’re happy with, downloading them is easy:
- Go to Camera and hover your cursor over the picture you want to download.
- Click on the Download button. Your image will then be downloaded onto your computer.
If you want to view your pictures fully before downloading them, simply click once to expand the photo.
Photo AI offers you the chance to create interesting photos of virtual characters or even of yourself. The more prompts you give, the better your final results will be. Now that you’ve read this guide, consider trying out the app and seeing what you can create.
