Photo Editing Prompts for ChatGPT and Gemini (Copy and Paste)

These AI photo editing prompts fix and restyle a photo you upload: lighting, removals, outfits, backgrounds, couple portraits and the trend edits Google features for Gemini. Each is written for the "What should change?" box in Smart Editor on Toybox AI, and each works as a starting point in ChatGPT or Gemini, or any AI photo editor that takes typed instructions. Every prompt needs a photo uploaded first. Every one also says what should stay the same, because each Smart Editor edit redraws the full image, and results differ from tool to tool.

How a good photo editing prompt is built

A photo editing prompt that works has five parts, in this order:

1. The one change. "Brighten", "remove", "replace", "change the color of". One change per prompt.
2. Where it is. Point at the thing by position and a detail: "the lamp on the left side table".
3. What stays. Faces, hair, pose, clothing, background, framing. OpenAI's image guide says to spell out both the change and what has to stay put.
4. The look. Light source and direction, time of day, and whether it should read as an untouched photo or a style.
5. Any text, in quotes. OpenAI's guide asks for the exact words inside quotation marks, capitalized the way you want them.

Google's Gemini prompting guide adds that editing instructions should be direct and specific, and OpenAI notes that one to three clear sentences are often enough for an image prompt. The same structure works for ChatGPT image editing prompts and for Gemini. Fill in this template, which works as an AI photo editor prompt in any tool that takes typed instructions:

Change [the one thing] in [where it is in the photo] to [the new version]. Keep [faces, hair, pose, clothing, background] exactly as they are. Make the light [time of day or direction] and keep the look [natural photo, film, illustration].

Lighting and color fix prompts

A lighting or color fix touches every pixel in the photo, faces included, so each of these lists the people as fixed.

Brighten a dark indoor photo

For birthday and dinner photos taken without flash, where faces sit in shadow.

Brighten this dim restaurant photo so it looks like the table is lit by soft light from a nearby window. Lift the shadows on everyone's faces without flattening them. Keep all faces, expressions, hair, clothing and the food on the table unchanged, and keep the warm color of the candles.

Change: the light source ("a ceiling lamp", "late afternoon sun").

Fix yellow kitchen light

For photos under old bulbs, where white cabinets and skin both turn yellow.

Correct the yellow tint from the ceiling bulbs so the white cabinets look white and the photo looks like it was taken in daylight. Keep each person's natural skin tone, face and hair as they are, and don't change the kitchen layout or anything on the counters.

Change: the surface that should read as neutral ("the gray sofa", "the white tablecloth").

Soften harsh noon shadows

For outdoor portraits taken at midday, with dark eye sockets and a bright forehead.

Soften the harsh midday shadows under my eyes and nose so it looks like I'm standing in open shade. Tone down the shiny spot on my forehead. Keep my face shape, eyes, skin texture, freckles and expression exactly the same, and keep the park behind me as it is.

Change: how soft ("slightly softer", "overcast-day soft").

Warm golden-hour glow

For travel and beach photos taken under a flat white sky.

Give this beach photo the warm, low light of about 30 minutes before sunset, with long soft shadows falling to the right. Turn the white sky pale gold and peach near the horizon. Keep both of us, our faces, swimsuits and poses, and the shape of the shoreline unchanged.

Change: the time ("blue hour just after sunset", "early morning mist").

Remove and clean up prompts

Describe what goes and what fills the gap. The guide to editing a photo with AI covers when a phone eraser beats a typed prompt.

Remove a stranger behind you

For travel shots with a tourist walking through the background.

Remove the tourist in the white cap and red backpack walking behind me on the right, and his shadow on the stones. Fill the space with the fountain and the building steps that continue behind him. Keep me, my face, my dress and my pose exactly as they are.

Change: the person's position and one clothing detail.

Clear clutter from a room

For listing, resale or "new apartment" photos.

Remove the laundry basket, the shoes by the door and the charging cables on the floor. Keep the furniture, rug, walls, windows and lighting exactly the same, with nothing new added to the room.

Change: the list of items, named one by one.

Clean up a sky

For house and landscape photos crossed by power lines.

Remove the power lines and the utility pole crossing the sky above the house. Continue the blue sky and the tree branches naturally where they were. Leave the house with its roof and windows, the trees and the driveway as they are.

Change: what crosses the sky ("a crane", "a phone tower").

Outfit and background prompts

In clothing and scenery edits, the person should come back exactly as shot. For portraits and group shots, the face-safe editing guide lists the features to name so faces don't drift.

Swap an outfit color

For checking how a jacket or dress would look in another shade.

Swap the color of my hoodie from gray to deep burgundy, keeping its fabric texture, drawstrings and folds. Don't change my face, hair, jeans, shoes or the street behind me.

Change: the item and the color.

Change the outfit itself

For a dressier or more casual version of the same photo.

Replace my T-shirt with a white linen shirt, buttoned except for the collar, sleeves rolled to the elbow. Leave my face, hairstyle, watch, pose and the background untouched, and give the new shirt the same shadows as the rest of the photo.

Change: the garment ("a navy blazer over the same T-shirt").

Plain studio backdrop for a profile photo

For LinkedIn, a staff page or a speaker bio.

Put a plain light-gray studio backdrop behind me, with a soft light falloff behind my shoulders. Keep my face, expression, hair, glasses, shirt and the framing as they are in the photo, and light my face from the same side as the original.

Change: the backdrop color ("warm beige", "deep navy").

New scene behind the subject

For putting a portrait somewhere nicer without losing the person.

Put me on a quiet cobblestone street in the early evening, with warm shop lights softly blurred behind me. Keep my face, hair, coat and pose exactly as they are, and light my face with the same warm glow as the shop windows.

Change: the place and time of day.

Couple photo editing prompts

Couple edits have two faces to protect, so name both people in the keep list. Say who is on the left and who is on the right when the change touches only one of them.

Clean up a couple's travel photo

For landmark and bridge photos where strangers crowd the background.

Remove the crowd of people standing behind us on the bridge and continue the railing and the river view where they were. Keep both of our faces, our hands, our jackets and the way we're standing exactly the same.

Change: what's behind you ("the parked cars", "the scaffolding").

Couple portrait in soft evening light

For anniversary, engagement or date-night photos shot in flat midday light.

Relight this photo of the two of us so it looks like the sun is setting behind us, with a warm rim of light on our hair and shoulders and a soft glow on our faces. Keep both faces, expressions, outfits and the park setting unchanged.

Change: the light ("candlelight at a dinner table", "string lights on a patio").

Rainy city night for two

Wet streets, neon reflections and one umbrella for two.

Turn this into a rainy night on a city street, with wet pavement reflecting colorful shop signs and a clear umbrella over the two of us. Keep both of our faces, hair, clothes and poses exactly as in the photo, and make the rain light, not a downpour.

Change: the city mood ("snowy evening", "foggy harbor").

Trending Gemini photo editing prompts

As of September 2026, Google's Gemini overview page showcases photo ideas that include figurines, retro mall studio portraits, decade looks such as 90s grunge and 80s preppy, and new hairstyles. The prompts below cover those four, plus a black-and-white portrait, and they run the same way in ChatGPT and Smart Editor. For trends as they come and go, see the AI photo trend prompts. For prompts written around Google's own image model, see the Nano Banana prompts.

Collectible figurine

For the photo-to-figurine look on Google's Gemini page, with no toy brand on the box. The 3D figurine prompts have more desk-figure setups.

Recreate the person in this photo as a small collectible figurine standing on a clear round base on a wooden desk, next to a plain unbranded box with a window. Keep the face, hairstyle and outfit recognizable, give the figure a smooth painted finish, and light it like a product photo.

Change: the setting ("on a bookshelf", "on a computer desk next to a keyboard").

Retro mall studio portrait

For the late-1980s studio look, which changes the backdrop and film but not the person.

Restyle this as a mall studio portrait from the late 1980s: a soft laser-blue backdrop, gentle haze, slightly soft focus and warm film colors. Keep my face, expression and hair as they are, and change only the backdrop, the lighting and the film look.

Change: the decade ("1970s wood-paneled studio", "1990s school photo").

90s grunge makeover

For a decade look that swaps the clothes and the film feel.

Restyle my outfit as a 1990s grunge look: a loose red-and-black flannel shirt open over a plain gray T-shirt, with a faded, slightly grainy film look and a concrete wall behind me. Keep my face, hair, expression and pose exactly as they are.

Change: the decade style ("80s preppy with a cable-knit sweater over a collared shirt"). The 70s, 80s and 90s trend prompts go further on decade looks.

Try a new hairstyle

For seeing a cut before the salon. The hairstyle try-on guide covers bangs, short cuts and what suits your face.

Give me a chin-length layered bob with soft curtain bangs, in my natural dark brown color. Make the new hair fall naturally around my ears and neck. Keep my face, eyebrows, skin, expression, earrings and the background exactly as they are.

Change: the cut and color ("a short buzz cut", "long loose waves in copper red").

Black-and-white street portrait

For a moody profile photo from an ordinary color snapshot.

Convert this portrait to high-contrast black and white, like a 35mm street photo, with deep shadows and visible film grain. Keep my face, pose, clothing and the street behind me exactly as they are, and don't add any new objects.

Change: the contrast ("soft, low-contrast gray tones").

Tips for better photo editing results

• One change per prompt. OpenAI's image guide warns that changing several things at once lets other details drift. Run a second prompt for the second change.
• Pick the shape with the tool's own control. ChatGPT has an aspect ratio picker and Smart Editor has "Shape". Both redraw the whole picture in the new shape, so check the edges and faces after a shape change.
• Name the neutral color. For color casts, tell the editor which surface should be white or gray ("the white wall"). It gives the correction a target.
• Describe light like a photographer. Source, direction and time: "window light from the left", "sun low behind us". Vague words like "better lighting" leave the choice to the model.
• Point at things by their neighbors. OpenAI's Image Inputs FAQ says the model struggles with tasks that need precise spatial localization, so name "the lamp next to the blue chair" rather than a distance like "10 cm to the left".
• Upload the original. A screenshot or a forwarded copy carries less detail, and the edit can only start from the detail you give it.

Fixes for common problems

Run these prompts in Smart Editor

Open Smart Editor, upload your photo under "Your image", paste a prompt into "What should change?" and press "Apply edit". To try a second prompt on the untouched photo, set "Editing" to "Original photo" instead of "Latest result". Smart Editor is a Pro-plan tool; each HD edit currently costs 85 credits and each 4K edit 110. There's no brush, so describe the spot in words. The privacy policy explains how uploads are handled.