Generate lifelike human portraits with Adobe Firefly

In this article I'll explore how to achieve lifelike human portraits generation with Adobe Firefly. We'll use Adobe Firefly Image 2, which is a model released by Adobe in October 2023. We will focus on detail in skin and hair as well as lighting and different levels of photorealism. We'll control the settings of generating such images and make parallels with taking such images with a camera.

Adobe Firefly prompting is a combination of writing a text prompt and using extensive settings panel to control and fine-tune your output, including photo settings, which are the key to getting a realistic results.

Settings

For lifelike photography make sure to select Content type -> Photo in your Settings:

Visual Intensity slider is responsible how lifelike your photograph will be. If your slider is moved to the very left Adobe Firefly:

Adobe Firefly will generate an image that looks like a photo taken by a smartphone or a camera without editing or adding any style (in other image generators this is often called "raw" image).

When Visual Intensity slider is moved to the very right, you give a lot of creative freedom to AI:

You'll get stylized images. Think about those as either retouched portraits or even images that could remind super real video game or using creative camera angles, even extreme close-ups.

In that position, you can get rather creative and unexpected kind of portraits:

By default Visual Intensity slider is set in the middle. It's a good place to start iterating on your images.

Text prompt

When you set up all the Settings, it's time to iterate of Text prompt.

First part of your prompt is usually the most important instruction for an image generator and the subject of your prompt. Be specific describing a person. It often helps to include age group (baby, child, adult, senior, etc.), ethnicity, hair color, eye color, outfit, a location where the person is, and expression (smiling, surprised, thoughtful, etc.).

Some photography terms to try: close-up portrait, headshot, studio light, natural light.

prompt: a headshot of a ginger baby girl, green eyes, green leaves covering half of her face

prompt: Japanese Grandmother reading a book

prompt: a man, 73 years old, a long white beard and mustache, wearing yellow turban. He has a stern expression, giving the impression of a wise and experienced person. The man's beard and mustache are prominent, adding to his distinguished appearance. The close-up shot of the man's face emphasizes his facial features and the intensity of his gaze.Often you can achieve similar results with simply writing a text prompt (as the platform can often guess and set the setting based on your prompt). You can use a combination of settings and text prompt and experiment with outputs.

Images generated by Adobe Firefly have Content Credentials, which help promote transparency around the use of generative AI. I will share what CAI (Content Authenticity Initiative) is and how it works in my next articles. As LinkedIn doesn't support Content Credentials yet I always mention that the image is AI generated.

Coming next: Advanced Photography Settings in Adobe Firefly