GPT Image 2.6 Flare

GPT Image 2.6 is an image generator and editor. Start with text when you are still deciding what a picture should look like. Start with a reference when the picture has to fit something that already exists: the shape of a lamp you sell, the arrangement of furniture in a room, or an illustration you want to extend into a series. Both Flare and Sunburst support these two starting points. The choice of starting material often matters more than the choice of model. A photograph of an unusual handle tells the model more about its shape than a paragraph of adjectives.

Imagine you need an invitation for a neighborhood supper. At the sketch stage, a description of a long table, mismatched chairs and a single yellow tablecloth gives you plenty to work with. If the invitation has to show the actual courtyard where people will eat, use a photograph of that courtyard. Specify which wall, doorway and paving pattern readers should recognize. You can still change the time of day or add the table. The reference gives those changes a place to happen.

Before you choose a setting, decide where the image will appear and what a viewer needs to notice first. A shop thumbnail has to identify an item at a glance. A poster seen across a room needs a distinct silhouette and room for its title. A close view for a catalog can give a small feature much more space. Those are three different briefs, even if all three show the same object.

Flare suits the stage where you still have several plausible pictures in mind. For the supper invitation, you might try a view from the doorway, a view looking straight down the table, and a close crop around a stack of plates. Use the same colors and subject in each prompt. When you compare the results, you can then judge which camera position makes the gathering feel most inviting. You may find the roughest version communicates the idea most clearly.

Sunburst is a useful choice when the composition is settled and a particular detail deserves attention. Suppose the stack of plates works, but the painted rim is important to the design. Bring the selected picture into image editing and describe how the narrow blue line follows the curve of each plate. Tell the model to preserve the count and position of the plates, the framing, and the light falling from the doorway. Compare the new rim against the source before deciding that the edit is an improvement.

To compare the variants for your own project, keep the reference, prompt, aspect ratio and resolution the same. Write down the feature that will decide the choice before looking at either result. For a poster it might be the space available for a date. For a product it might be the outline of a clasp. This gives you a practical reason to prefer one output, even when both look attractive.

A helpful prompt gives each important object a place. Consider the instruction “make a cozy reading corner.” There are many reasonable answers, from a library with a fireplace to a child’s bedroom. A more specific starting point is a low oak chair beside a north-facing window, a book open on the seat, and a faded green curtain at the right edge of the frame. The details work together. The curtain helps define the edge, the window explains the light, and the book suggests who might have been there.

Use materials to communicate how light should behave. Matte paper scatters the light across a broad surface. Brushed steel shows a streak that follows the direction of the grain. A clear tumbler needs something behind it to make its edge visible. Instead of asking for “premium lighting,” describe a narrow white reflection running along the left side of a dark bottle, or a soft shadow falling behind a paper carton. These requests give you something specific to inspect in the result.

For a first draft, read the prompt once as if you were setting up a photograph. Could you place the objects without guessing which one belongs in front? Could you tell where the viewer is standing? Remove details that compete for the same patch of canvas. If a wide window, a tall bookcase and a large title all have to fit on the right, decide which of them can move before increasing the image size.

A reference can supply the subject, a composition, a surface texture or a palette. Say which job each image has. For example, start with a photograph of a desk lamp and a second photograph of a walnut tabletop. Ask for the lamp from the first image, standing on the wood from the second. Name the lamp’s jointed arm and green shade as features to preserve. Explain that the second photograph supplies only the surface beneath it. This reduces the chance that a chair or vase from the second scene will become part of the brief.

The editor accepts up to sixteen references. Two well-chosen images can be easier to use than a folder of near duplicates. If a maker has photographed a bag from the front and from the side, those views can explain the front pocket and strap attachment. Four almost identical front views add little information about the strap. Crop distracting surroundings from a copy of a reference when they serve no purpose, and keep the original photograph available for comparison.

When revising an earlier output, decide which image should be the starting point for the next pass. Editing the latest result preserves its useful changes, but it can also carry forward a misplaced seam. If the last edit fixed the background and distorted the subject, return to the earlier version and ask for a more limited background change. Keeping the strongest intermediate result is particularly helpful when several people are reviewing different details.

Choose the aspect ratio for the place where the image will be used. In a square shop tile, a pair of shoes can sit together with equal space on either side. In a vertical story, stacking one shoe slightly behind the other leaves room above for a headline. In a wide banner, the same pair can occupy the right third while the left holds a line of copy. Asking for the intended arrangement at the start gives the model a chance to compose for each shape.

For a banner, specify where the quiet area begins and ends. Try asking for a pale wall that occupies the left half of the frame, with the subject placed entirely on the right and the strongest shadow falling toward the bottom edge. Check the result with your actual headline placed over it. Empty space that looks generous on a monitor may disappear once a longer translation wraps onto a second line.

Some placements show the same file at several widths. Open your draft in the narrowest crop it will encounter and check the object’s most recognizable feature. A bicycle may still read clearly with part of a wheel cut off, but losing the handle of a distinctive teapot can change how people identify it. If one crop cannot serve both placements, make a separate composition from the same subject reference.

For a catalog photograph, begin with a short inventory of visible facts. A travel bag might have two zipper pulls, a stitched handle, a brass buckle on the left strap and a front pocket with a curved opening. Include the features a customer uses to distinguish that bag from another version. Then give the camera a position, such as slightly above the bag with the front and left side visible. That makes the buckle’s location meaningful.

A useful edit brief for this shot would ask for a warm gray paper backdrop, keep the bag upright at the same angle, and preserve the number and position of the zipper pulls. Ask for a contact shadow immediately beneath the base so the bag appears to rest on the paper. If the result looks too flat, change the direction of the light in the next pass. Changing the material, light and angle together makes it harder to tell which instruction caused a problem.

Before publishing, place the result beside the source at the same scale. Trace the outline with your eye from the handle down to the base. Count the fasteners and inspect the shape of the opening. For a listing that promises a specific color, compare the output with an approved photograph under consistent viewing conditions. A visually convincing highlight can make a fabric appear more glossy than the item a buyer will receive.

Separate the words that belong inside the picture from instructions about the picture. For a seed exchange poster, put the exact title “Seed Swap” in quotation marks. Ask for those two words on one line in the upper third, with three illustrated seed packets beneath them. Specify where the date should go, or reserve an empty strip if you intend to set it later. Clear divisions between title, art and event details give each element a job.

Check all lettering at the size at which it will be read. A title that looks convincing in a thumbnail can still contain a doubled character. Read a date digit by digit. Inspect the counters inside letters and the gap between adjacent words. If a particular line must be exact, ask for a blank area and typeset that line in your layout tool. That also lets you change a venue or session time without remaking the artwork.

For a series of illustrated cards, define a visual rule you can repeat. One series might use a cream background, two ink colors, a heavy outline and a single vegetable centered on every card. Use an approved card as a reference when requesting the next vegetable. Compare the thickness of the outlines and the space around each subject with the cards side by side. An individual card can look good while feeling out of place in the set.

Topview offers 1K, 2K and 4K size tiers for this model. Choose the lower tier while you are deciding where things belong. At that stage you are judging the position of a figure, the balance of light and dark, or the amount of space left for copy. Move to a larger tier when the intended use calls for more pixels. The selected aspect ratio determines the shape of the output, so a wide banner and a square tile at the same tier have different dimensions.

The credit quote above the guide changes with the variant, resolution and number of reference images. For example, a text-only Sunburst image at 4K is quoted at 30 credits. Adding two reference images brings that edit to 34 credits. A Flare text draft at 1K is quoted at 7 credits. Check the number on the generation button after attaching the references you actually plan to use. This is especially helpful when comparing the cost of testing several compositions with the cost of one larger final image.

The workspace produces a still PNG at medium rendering quality. Resolution and composition solve different problems. More pixels can help when you need to crop tightly around a textile pattern. They will also give you a larger image of a badly placed object if the framing is wrong. Correct the arrangement first, then inspect the larger output at full size for the detail that prompted the change in resolution.

Review a finished image twice. First look at it small, in its intended setting. Put the invitation beside the other items in a calendar, the shop tile among neighboring products, or the banner behind the real navigation and headline. Ask someone unfamiliar with the brief what they notice first. If they describe the flowers on the table before noticing the supper invitation, you have learned something that a close inspection of the petals could never reveal.

Then open the PNG at full size. Look at contact points where a hand meets an object, a chair meets the ground, or a reflection meets the edge of a bottle. Compare repeated elements such as buttons and spokes. Read any visible text aloud against the approved wording. For an edit, include one last comparison with the input image and inspect the areas you asked to preserve. Changes at the edge of the frame can be easy to miss when your attention stays on the main subject.

Keep the selected output with its prompt and the references that mattered. For the next invitation in a series, you may want the same courtyard and lighting with a different table setting. Having the source and a concise record of the original choices makes that a small, well-defined editing task. You can describe the new occasion in a sentence and spend the rest of the brief on the details that make the series recognizable.