AI yearbook photos turn one selfie into a school portrait from another decade: the laser-beam backdrop, the posed head-and-shoulders crop, the feathered bangs and the chunky sweater. The 13 prompts here are written for Smart Editor in Toybox AI, where you add your selfie and paste a prompt into the "What should change?" box. They also work as a starting point in ChatGPT or Gemini, where each model gives its own take. Each one needs a photo of you and ends by naming the features to keep.
What the AI yearbook photo trend looks like
The AI yearbook trend restyles a selfie as a posed portrait from school picture day, set in an earlier decade such as the 1980s or 1990s. A school portrait has a few fixed parts, and a convincing AI yearbook photo copies all of them:
- a head-and-shoulders crop, with the shoulders turned slightly and the face toward the camera
- a studio backdrop: a mottled blue or gray canvas, or a dark background crossed by neon laser beams
- soft front light with a small bright reflection in each eye
- the hair and clothes of the decade
- the slightly soft, warm color of a printed photo
The trend went viral in October 2023, when NBC News reported that influencers were posting 90s-style yearbook portraits from the Epik photo app. Epik was free to download, but its AI Yearbook feature cost $5.99 to $9.99 at the time and turned 8 to 12 selfies into 60 images. Today a single selfie and a written prompt in a photo editor can aim for the same look, one portrait at a time.
An AI yearbook photo generator is any tool that redraws a selfie this way. Google's Gemini overview page shows a close cousin among its sample prompts, a retro mall studio portrait. For decade looks outside picture day, such as a prom snapshot or a grunge party photo, use the 80s photo trend prompts; there are also more viral photo edits to try after this one.
How a good AI yearbook photo prompt is built
A yearbook prompt has six parts. Writing them in this order makes it easy to check that nothing is missing:
- The decade and the photo type. "A 1990s school yearbook portrait."
- The crop and pose. Head and shoulders, shoulders turned slightly.
- The backdrop. Laser beams with their colors, or a mottled canvas in one or two colors.
- The hair and clothes. Two or three specific pieces, not "90s style".
- The light and print look. Soft studio light, a faded print, slight grain.
- The keep line. Close by asking to keep your face as it is, and name one or two features you would miss, like freckles or dimples.
Restyle this photo as a [decade] school yearbook portrait. Crop it to my head and shoulders, with my shoulders turned slightly. Use a [backdrop]. Give me [hairstyle] and dress me in [outfit]. Use soft studio light and the slightly faded color of a photo print. Keep my face exactly the same: eye shape, nose, lips, skin and expression.Classic yearbook portrait prompts
Laser backdrop
Picture day with neon beams crossing a dark blue background.
Restyle this photo as a 1990s school yearbook portrait. Crop to my head and shoulders, turned slightly to the side, looking at the camera. Put me in front of a dark blue backdrop crossed by bright pink and teal laser beams. Give me feathered, center-parted hair and dress me in a chunky knit sweater. Use soft studio light and warm, slightly faded print color. Keep my face exactly the same.Change: the beam colors, for example "purple and lime green".
Mottled canvas backdrop
The quieter picture-day look with a painted canvas behind you.
Make this a 1990s yearbook photo against a mottled blue and gray canvas backdrop. Crop to head and shoulders with my body angled slightly. Give me neat, curled bangs and dress me in a denim button-up shirt buttoned to the top. Use soft, even studio light with a small bright reflection in each eye and slightly soft focus. Keep my face and expression just as they are in the photo.Change: "a soft brown and gold canvas" for the backdrop.
Grunge yearbook portrait
Flannel and a choker on picture day.
Restyle this as a 1990s yearbook portrait with a grunge look. Give me messy, chin-length hair tucked behind one ear, a black velvet choker and an oversized plaid flannel shirt. Use a plain gray backdrop, soft studio light and slightly faded color. Keep every facial feature as it is: eyes, nose, mouth, skin, expression.Change: "a knitted beanie" in place of the choker.
Team photo
The individual portrait for the sports pages.
Make this a 1990s yearbook sports portrait. Dress me in a plain red and white team jersey with the number 12 and no logos, holding a basketball at my side. Put me in front of a mottled gray backdrop, lit by a bright flash, in slightly faded print color. Keep my face and smile untouched.Change: the sport, such as "a soccer ball tucked under my arm".
Awkward picture day
The deliberately funny version, made for a group chat.
Turn this into a funny 1990s picture-day yearbook photo. Give me a slightly uneven bowl cut, large round wire glasses and a patterned sweater vest over a white turtleneck. Use a purple and blue laser-beam backdrop and a stiff, posed head tilt. Keep my real face so my friends can tell it's me.Change: "a perm that's a little too tight" for the bowl cut.
Prompts for the rest of the yearbook page
A yearbook is more than rows of portraits. These prompts make the other squares on the page, still from your own selfie.
Senior superlative
The "Most Likely to" square, with your caption printed under the portrait.
Turn this photo into a senior superlatives square from a 1990s yearbook: my head-and-shoulders portrait on a mottled blue backdrop, grinning, with the caption "Most Likely to Open a Bakery" printed underneath in simple black type. Keep my real face, including my eye shape, nose, grin and skin.Change: the caption, such as "Best Laugh" or "Most Likely to Be Late to Graduation".
Candid hallway photo
The flash snapshot from the student life pages.
Make this a candid photo for the student life page of a 1990s yearbook: me laughing as I lean on an open metal locker in a school hallway, holding a stack of textbooks, with other students blurred behind me. Use on-camera flash, grainy color and slightly crooked snapshot framing. Keep my face and expression exactly as they are.Change: the setting, such as "sitting on the bleachers at a Friday night football game".
Club photo
A waist-up portrait for the clubs section, with a prop that says which club.
Turn this into a 1990s yearbook club photo for the photography club: me standing in a classroom, holding a film camera on a neck strap, with a bulletin board of pinned prints behind me. Use flat overhead classroom light, slightly faded color and a waist-up crop. Keep my face, hair and smile unchanged.Change: the club and the prop, such as "the drama club, holding a rolled-up script".
Your portrait with a printed name
One square from a portrait page, with your name under it. Type your own name in the quotes and check every letter.
Turn this photo into one square from a 1990s yearbook page: my head-and-shoulders portrait on a laser-beam backdrop, with the name "Marisol Venn" printed underneath in simple black type, inside a thin white border. Keep my face as it is in the photo, with the same eyes, nose, smile and skin.Change: "a mottled gray canvas" for the laser backdrop.
AI senior photos prompts
AI senior photos keep your face and swap the setting for a polished portrait: a field at golden hour, a brick wall downtown, a cap and gown, or a formal studio shot.
Golden hour field
Warm, low sun and a soft background, the outdoor senior look.
Turn this into a senior portrait taken in a grassy field at golden hour. Sit me on a wooden fence rail, relaxed, with my hands in my lap. Dress me in a cream knit sweater and jeans. Use warm, low sunlight from behind me, a softly blurred background and natural color. Keep my face, hairstyle and smile as they are.Change: "a sunflower field" for the grassy field.
Downtown brick wall
A city portrait with texture behind you and even shade light.
Make this a senior portrait against a red brick wall on a city street. Dress me in a denim jacket over a white T-shirt, standing with one shoulder against the wall. Use soft shade light, a slightly blurred street behind me and clean, natural color. Keep my face, hair and expression exactly as they are.Change: "a painted mural wall" for the brick.
Cap and gown
The graduation portrait for an announcement or a party invite.
Turn this into a graduation portrait. Dress me in a navy cap and gown with a gold tassel, holding a rolled diploma tied with a ribbon. Use a pale gray studio backdrop, soft front light and a head-and-shoulders crop. Keep my face, hair and smile the way they are.Change: the gown color, such as "maroon with a white tassel".
Formal studio portrait
The dressed-up studio shot on a dark backdrop.
Make this a formal senior portrait on a dark studio backdrop. Dress me in a black tuxedo jacket, a white shirt and a black bow tie. Use soft light from one side, a subtle glow behind my shoulders and a head-and-shoulders crop. Don't change my face or my expression.Change: "a black velvet top with a simple pearl necklace" for the tuxedo.
AI high school yearbook photos of a whole group
For a reunion or a friend group, give everyone the same prompt and have each person run their own selfie, so the backdrops, crop and light match. Smart Editor edits one photo per run and can't combine several people's selfies into one image. To place a few portraits on one made-up page, Image Generator takes up to 3 reference photos with a description such as "a 1990s yearbook page with three portraits in a row on laser backdrops, names printed under each". Toybox doesn't promise an exact likeness there, and the faces may not match; the guide to an AI image generator with a reference image explains why. Everyone in those reference photos should agree to be in the picture.
Tips for better AI yearbook photos
- Use a portrait shape. A yearbook photo is taller than it is wide. Under "More options", pick "Social" (4:5) in "Shape", or keep Original if your selfie is already upright (changing the shape makes Smart Editor redraw the full image, which can zoom or shift things).
- Start from a straight-on selfie. Shoot at eye level with your shoulders in the frame, in soft light from a window.
- Name the backdrop colors. Write "pink and teal laser beams on dark blue" rather than "laser beams" alone.
- Keep the clothes plain. Add "no logos or text" so the clothes stay generic.
- Spell names out. OpenAI's image guides suggest putting the exact text in quotes and spelling an unusual name letter by letter, then checking the spelling in the result.
- Rerun from the original. Before a second portrait, pick "Original photo" in Smart Editor's "Editing" switch, so you don't stack a redraw on a redraw.
For a funny version for a reunion invite, an exaggerated caricature of your photo goes further than a yearbook edit. For a real professional portrait instead, read the guide to AI headshots.
Fixes for common problems
| Problem | Add this to your prompt |
|---|---|
| It doesn't look like you | "Keep my real face: the shape of my eyes, nose and lips, my eyebrows, my skin texture and my expression." |
| You look younger than you are | "Keep my current age, skin texture and face shape." |
| It looks like a modern headshot | "Make it look like a slightly soft 1990s photo print with visible grain." |
| The backdrop is a plain wall | "Use a dark blue backdrop crossed by bright pink and teal laser beams." |
| The crop is too wide | "Crop tightly to my head and shoulders, centered." |
| The printed name or caption is misspelled | "Print the name exactly as Marisol Venn, spelled M-A-R-I-S-O-L V-E-N-N." |
| Logos show up on the outfit | "No logos, labels or writing on any clothing." |
Make your yearbook photo in Smart Editor
Every prompt on this page runs in Smart Editor on one selfie, with the prompt pasted as the instruction. Smart Editor is included with Pro and higher plans and currently costs 85 credits per HD edit, or 110 for the larger 4K file. Before you share a portrait, zoom in on the eyes, the smile and any printed name. When one drifts, switch back to "Original photo" and run the same prompt again.