Editing Photos with AI: A Step-by-Step Guide to Reference Images

Text-to-image is only half of what you can do. Upload a photo as a reference image, describe the change, and the model edits your picture instead of inventing a new one. This guide shows how to set up an edit, which models to use, and how to word the prompt so the parts you want to keep stay the same.

What a reference image does

When you add a reference image in the editor, the model reads it together with your prompt. That lets you:

• change the weather, season or time of day of a photo
• remove objects, or swap the background
• restyle a portrait or product while keeping the subject recognizable
• colorize a black-and-white photo
• combine several images, for example a product and a scene, into one picture

You can add up to 7 reference images to a single generation.

Which models support editing

Every model on Banana Art Lab accepts reference images except Z-Image Turbo, which is text-to-image only.

• Nanobanana (10 credits) is the cheapest way to try an edit, and it is good at fast restyles, scene swaps and product placement.
• Nanobanana 2 and Nanobanana Pro (40 to 80 credits, depending on resolution) keep more detail from the reference and handle several reference images at once. Nanobanana Pro is also the best choice when the result has to include readable text.
• GPT Image 2 (20 to 40 credits) works well for photo-style edits that should keep the details of the original, such as product shots.
• Seedream 5 Lite (12 credits at 2K) is useful for example-based edits and before-and-after style transfers.

The model overview compares them in more detail.

Step by step

1. Open the editor and choose a model. For a first test, Nanobanana keeps the cost at 10 credits.

2. Upload your photo. Use a sharp image where the subject is clearly visible; the model can only keep details it can see.

3. Say what to keep, then what to change. Edits work best when the prompt separates the two. For example:

Keep the people, their poses and the composition unchanged. Change the weather to a snowy winter day with snow on the ground.

4. Choose the aspect ratio and resolution. Keep the same aspect ratio as your photo if you want the framing to stay the same.

5. Generate, then refine. If the result is close but not right, upload the new image as the reference and ask for just the next change.

Prompt patterns that work

• Keep + change: "Keep the product, its label and the lighting. Replace the background with a marble kitchen counter."
• Remove: "Remove the people in the background. Keep everything else unchanged."
• Restyle: "Turn this photo into a watercolor illustration. Keep the face and the outfit recognizable."
• Combine: "Place the bottle from the first image on the beach in the second image, at the same scale as the towel."
• Repair: "Colorize this black-and-white photo with natural skin tones and period-accurate clothing colors."

Short, concrete instructions beat long lists of adjectives. If something keeps changing that should not, name it explicitly in the "keep" part.

Templates made for editing

Several templates are built around a reference image, so the prompt is already written for you:

• Snow Scene Weather Effect turns any outdoor photo into a snowy scene.
• Aerial View Conversion re-renders a photo from a bird's-eye view.
• Smart Object Removal removes unwanted objects.
• Smart Colorization colorizes black-and-white photos.
• Photo Enhancement sharpens details and corrects color.
• Formal ID Photo Generation creates an ID-style portrait with formal clothing and a plain background.

Open a template, upload your photo and generate. You can still edit the prompt before you run it.

Common problems

The face or product changed too much. Use Nanobanana 2, Nanobanana Pro or GPT Image 2, and add "keep the face unchanged" (or the product, the logo) to the prompt.

The edit was ignored. Make the change more specific: "make it snow" is weaker than "snow covers the roofs, the street and the trees".

The framing changed. Match the aspect ratio of your photo and add "keep the composition unchanged".