Colorized vintage-style portrait of a man in a brown jacket beside a teal bicycle.

Example result illustrating this prompt's visual direction. Actual results may vary by model, reference image and settings.

Requires Photo Photo Prompts ChatGPT Photo Editing Prompts

Plausible Historical Photo Colorization

Add restrained interpretive color to a monochrome photograph.

Prompt

Colorize the uploaded black-and-white photograph with understated, plausible color. Preserve every face, pose, object, texture, shadow, and photographic grain. Use natural skin variation, muted clothing colors, and material-appropriate hues. Follow any color references supplied with the photo; for unspecified colors, make conservative choices without implying historical certainty. Preserve the source luminance and avoid color bleeding at hair, collars, and fingers. Do not repair away original character or add objects. Keep the original composition and make the result look like a lightly aged color photograph.

Colorize the uploaded black-and-white photograph with understated, plausible color. Preserve every face, pose, object, texture, shadow, and photographic grain. Use natural skin variation, muted clothing colors, and material-appropriate hues. Follow any color references supplied with the photo; for unspecified colors, make conservative choices without implying historical certainty. Preserve the source luminance and avoid color bleeding at hair, collars, and fingers. Do not repair away original character or add objects. Keep the original composition and make the result look like a lightly aged color photograph.

Recommended: ChatGPT

Upload your photo to the AI tool first, then use this prompt. The prompt asks the model to preserve identity and key visual features.

How to use it

Upload the reference photo you want to edit.
Paste the prompt and provide any requested target details or optional reference images.
Review the result against your reference and use a relevant failure fix if needed.

Common failure fixes

If color crosses edges, constrain it to the correct skin, fabric, or object region.
If colors feel modern, reduce saturation and preserve source luminance.
If supplied color references are ignored, match them before adjusting unspecified hues.

Cream page with a Meeting Notes heading, three handwritten items, and a small blue circular doodle.

ChatGPT

Clean Document Photo to Scan Look

Improve a photographed page while preserving every visible mark and word.

Clean the uploaded photograph of a document into a readable scan-like image. Correct page perspective and rotation, preserve the full page boundaries, and even out illumination by reducing cast shadows and glare where existing detail supports recovery. Keep all original text, numbers, signatures, stamps, handwriting, annotations, and diagrams exactly as visible. Preserve intentional paper color and meaningful colored markings. Do not rewrite text, change content, remove marks, or invent obscured characters; if key content is unreadable, request a clearer photograph. Use gentle sharpening and retain the page's natural proportions.

Hiker in a mustard jacket beside a lake in a wide landscape with low distant hills.

ChatGPT

Seamless Photo Expansion for a Wide Crop

Extend a photograph horizontally while protecting the original subject.

Expand the uploaded photograph horizontally to a 16:9 composition without cropping the original subject. Keep the original image region unchanged as closely as possible, including identity, pose, object placement, and focal detail. Extend only the side areas, continuing the background's perspective, light, texture, depth of field, and horizon. Prefer simple plausible scene continuation; do not add people, text, landmarks, or prominent new objects. Avoid duplicating existing objects or stretching the image. Keep the subject at its original scale and blend the extension boundaries invisibly.

Red-brick corner building with straight vertical edges and naturally receding side walls.

ChatGPT

Architectural Perspective Correction

Straighten building geometry while preserving realistic proportions.

Correct perspective in the uploaded architecture photograph. Make true vertical building edges parallel and level the horizon using the scene's actual geometry. Preserve the building's design, floor count, facade pattern, doors, windows, and material texture. Retain a natural sense of depth; do not force every receding horizontal line to be parallel. Use the smallest crop needed to remove empty transformed corners, and do not invent missing facade sections. Keep people and vehicles proportionate. Maintain the original light and color, with modest detail sharpening only.

Deep-red sports coupe beside an industrial wall with soft reflections across its hood.

ChatGPT

Automotive Editorial Photo Enhancement

Refine car lighting and reflections while preserving the exact vehicle.

Enhance the uploaded car photograph into a clean automotive editorial. Preserve the vehicle's make-specific body shape, wheels, trim, lights, mirrors, paint color, and visible markings without guessing unreadable text. Keep its original location and camera angle. Remove minor dust and distracting surface smudges, then use broad soft highlights to define panels while retaining reflections consistent with the surroundings. Balance exposure under wheel arches, preserve tire tread and road contact shadows, and keep windows believable. Do not redesign the car, lower the suspension, add branding, or replace the scene. Retain the original aspect ratio.

Tricolor beagle seated against a warm-gray backdrop with softly lit fur and visible whiskers.

ChatGPT

Fine Art Pet Portrait

Create a softly lit pet portrait that preserves individual markings.

Edit the uploaded pet photo into an elegant photographic portrait. Preserve the animal's species, breed characteristics, exact coat markings, muzzle shape, eye color, ear shape, and expression. Replace the background with a soft warm-gray studio backdrop, keeping the existing pose and a believable support surface if visible. Use broad side light, gentle fill, detailed fur, and small natural catchlights. Retain whiskers and fine ear hair. Do not humanize the animal, add accessories, change its proportions, or apply painterly effects. Frame vertically at 4:5 with ears fully visible.

Sunlit street with cream walls, blue shutters, and terracotta pots in a subtle warm film style.

ChatGPT

Subtle Film Look for Travel Photos

Give travel images a restrained analog finish without changing their content.

Apply a subtle analog-film treatment to the uploaded travel photograph. Preserve all people, objects, architecture, perspective, and composition. Use gently warm highlights, slightly cool shadows, restrained greens, and a soft highlight roll-off while keeping natural skin tones and detailed blacks. Add fine, irregular photographic grain scaled to the image rather than coarse noise. Retain clear subject detail and moderate contrast. Do not add date stamps, borders, dust, scratches, light leaks, or new elements. Keep the original aspect ratio and avoid heavy orange-and-teal grading.