You generated a product photo, but something’s not right. The lighting is strange, the texture feels off, or the whole image looks... fake.

If your image feels too "AI," you're not alone. This happens when the model lacks enough creative guidance—either from the brief, the brand style, or a reference image. Fortunately, there are a few proven ways to fix this.

This guide will show you how to make your visuals look polished, professional, and ready for your customers to see.

1. Add Context to Your Brief

Vague briefs lead to vague results. The best way to make an image look less artificial is to tell HypeStudio exactly what you want.

Not enough:
“Jar of almond butter”

Better:
“A glass jar of almond butter on a natural wooden table with a cloth napkin beside it and soft morning window light”

The more real-world context you provide—lighting, surfaces, setting, background—the more realistic the result.

2. Use a Reference Image

Sometimes words aren’t enough. Uploading a reference image helps ground the AI in reality by showing it what the product should look like.

This helps with:

• Accurate proportions
  
  
• Material textures
  
  
• Lighting consistency
  
  
• Color harmony
  
  

Tip: Your reference image doesn’t have to be perfect—it just needs to represent the look or style you’re going for.

3. Choose a Realistic Visual Model

HypeStudio offers over 100 visual styles, including many that are photorealistic and editorial in feel. If your default output feels too stylized or "CGI," switch to a model built around realism.

If you want complete control, train your own model using BrandDNA:

• Upload 10–20 photos of real product imagery that reflect your style
  
  
• The system will build a visual model that reflects your specific aesthetic
  
  

4. Avoid Common AI Artifacts

Here are a few things that make AI images look artificial—and how to fix them:

5. Fine-Tune With Repaint or Search-and-Replace

If you like the overall structure of your image but want to polish the final details:

• Use Repaint to adjust small areas (e.g., too-shiny surfaces, weird backgrounds, missing props)
  
  
• Use Search-and-Replace to fix color, texture, or lighting (e.g., “replace glossy black label with matte beige label”)
  
  

This lets you fix specific elements instead of starting from scratch.

6. Iterate with Small Changes

Don’t try to fix everything in one go. Generate a few variations, make one tweak at a time, and compare results. Iteration is part of the process.

You’ll often need to create 10–15 versions before getting one that looks just right—and that’s okay.

Summary: From “Too AI” to Totally Realistic

Final Thought

If your image looks too AI-generated, it’s not a dead end—it’s just a signal to give the model more clarity. A detailed brief, a relevant reference, and a realistic model go a long way. With a few quick edits, you’ll have visuals that not only look real—they look ready to publish.

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