Creating Product Photos with AI: 5 Different Prompting Approaches

Product photography is essential for marketing, but it can be time-consuming and expensive. AI image generation offers new possibilities for creating product photos quickly and efficiently. In this post, I'll walk you through five different prompting approaches I tested to place a mymuesli product in an Easter-themed breakfast setting.

Approach 1: The Simple Prompt

The most basic approach is to use a straightforward, minimal prompt. While simplicity has its merits, this approach provides little control over the final result.

Prompt:

Place this product in a easter themed breakfast table setting

Results: Not bad for a first attempt, but the table setting was quite crowded and not the clean, minimalist look I was aiming for.

Approach 2: Detailed Description

Adding more specific details about the items and arrangement you want in your scene can give you better results.

Prompt:

Place this product in this setting: A table set with Easter-themed plates, cups, and bowls in pastel colors. On the left side of the photo is an egg-shaped bowl filled with fresh fruits like strawberries and blueberries. In front of it, on top of one plate, sit three eggs, two white and one pink, all decorated with different patterns. A vase holding flowers stands behind them, while next to that, there's another small yellow fruit basket filled with grapes and oranges. The background features navy curtains.

Results: This approach provided more control over the specific items in the scene, but the overall aesthetic still didn't improve significantly. The table remained quite busy.

Approach 3: Midjourney-Style Prompt

This approach borrows techniques from Midjourney prompting, using technical details like camera settings and lighting information.

Prompt:

Place this product in this setting: Product photography, artisanal breakfast scene with muesli canister, wooden table setting, soft pastel color palette, Canon EOS 5D Mark IV with 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM lens at f/4.0, 1/125s, ISO 200, diffused natural window light from left side, flat lay composition with shallow depth of field, white ceramic bowl with granola and yogurt, fresh strawberries and blueberries on ceramic plate, small decorative easter eggs, minimalist white ceramic bud vase with daisies and yellow flowers, soft white curtain background, warm wooden textures, clean modern packaging design featuring rabbit illustration, commercial food styling with organic elements, morning atmosphere --ar 4:5 --s 250 --q 1.0

Results: This looked much better! The technical specifications and detailed scene description created a more professional-looking product photo with better lighting, composition, and minimalist aesthetic.

Approach 4: 3D Scene + Style Transfer

This approach involves creating a quick 3D scene sketch to define object placement, then describing the scene in detail.

Prompt:

Place this product according to the sketch provided. Take inspiration for the camera angle, lighting, depth of field from the photo provided. The bowl should be filled with granola, some fresh strawberries and yoghurt on top. The plate should contain some more fresh strawberries and blueberries. The vase features a bouquet of wild flowers. Three pastel colored easter eggs with minimal patterns are nestled within the tableware.

Results: This approach gave excellent control over object placement and composition. While effective, it requires additional effort to create the 3D sketch first.

Approach 5: Midjourney + Sketch

Combining the detailed Midjourney-style prompt with a sketch yielded the best results.

Prompt:

Place this product according to sketch. Most important rules: - Keep the text of the product intact *extremely important* - Keep the design of the product intact - Keep the aspect ratio of the product intact [Vibe] Spring vibe [Setting & Placement of objects] See sketch [Lighting] morning daylight from the window behind, soft shadows, no artificial lighting [Camera/Lens/Film] Sony A7R IV, 50mm f/1.8 lens, aperture f/2.8, ISO 320, 1/160 sec, shallow focus [Subject] {Placed product} alongside Breakfast bowl of granola (mostly oats, some cereal flakes, little chocolate pieces) with fresh strawberry pieces and a bit of greek yoghurt on top. 3 pastel painted easter eggs with patterns nestled alongside the tableware Bouquet of wild flowers in pastel colored vase behind the product white tablecloth underneath setting, partly covering table Blurry view into spring countryside view remember your rules

Results: This combination produced the best results, with excellent control over both the overall aesthetic and specific object placement. The final images were of professional quality and consistent across multiple attempts.

Follow-up Example: Another angle

Once you've established a good prompt approach, you can easily request variations like another angle and different product

Prompt:

Place this product according to sketch  Most important rules: - Keep the text of the product intact *extremely important* - Keep the design of the product intact - Keep the aspect ratio of the product intact  [Vibe] Spring vibe [Setting & Placement of objects] See sketch [Lighting] morning daylight from the window behind, soft shadows, no artificial lighting [Camera/Lens/Film] Sony A7R IV, 50mm f/1.8 lens, aperture f/2.8, ISO 320, 1/160 sec, shallow focus [Subject] {Placed product} alongside Breakfast bowl of granola (mostly oats, some cereal flakes, little chocolate pieces) with fresh strawberry pieces and a bit of greek yoghurt on top. 3 pastel painted easter eggs with patterns nestled alongside the tableware Bouquet of wild flowers in pastel colored vase behind the product white tablecloth underneath setting, partly covering table Blurry view into spring countryside view  remember your rules

Problems

Although it looks visually appealing the product placement is still an unsolved issue if you do care at all about an exact representation of your product & brand.

Key Learnings

Detail matters: Technical photography details (camera, lens, settings) significantly improve results
Sketches help: Using a reference sketch gives you much better control over composition
Be specific about requirements: Stating "Keep the text of the product intact" as an important rule helps maintain brand integrity
Watch for text issues: AI still struggles with accurately reproducing text on products
Post-processing needed: For professional use, these images would still require some editing to fix minor issues

While AI-generated product photos aren't yet perfect replacements for professional photography, these techniques demonstrate how you can create high-quality product lifestyle images with the right prompting strategies.

Exclusive Tool: Creating Detailed Prompts

For those interested in creating detailed prompts like these, I recommend using an Image-to-Prompt GPT. You can upload reference images, and the GPT will generate a detailed prompt describing camera settings, lighting, composition, and more that you can then customize.

I've given the GPT a detailed PDF to give all context needed to craft the perfect prompts.

Example output from my Image-to-Prompt GPT:

Fine Art Lifestyle Photograph, rustic artisan breakfast spread with ceramic mugs, fresh bread slices, fruit bowls, glass jars of condiments, and a floral centerpiece on a round white table, sunlit modern kitchen interior with soft curtains and muted tones, warm neutral palette with pastel greens and earthy browns, captured on a Fujifilm GFX 100 with a Fujifilm 110mm f/2 lens, diffused natural morning light from window left, soft ambient glow, top-down and slightly angled eye-level composition, natural framing using table curvature and floral arrangement, shallow depth of field with crisp foreground focus and gentle background falloff, textures of bread and ceramics emphasized, soft bokeh on glassware edges

Access the GPT via this link

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