Making AI photos look like a phone took them
AI images rarely fail because they look fake.
They fail because they look too good, and nothing on a phone does.
One light, coming from a window
Studio lighting is the loudest tell there is.
Real photos have one source, usually to one side, usually a window.
Ask for that and half the problem goes away.
TipOvercast daylight is the most believable light you can ask for.
Pick a worse angle
Nobody holds a phone at chest height and squares it up.
Slightly high, slightly tilted, slightly too close.
Composition that would fail a photography class passes as real.
Put something in the background
An empty backdrop reads as a set.
A radiator, a plug socket, a cluttered shelf. Any of it helps.
TipName one boring object in the prompt. It does more than any style word.
Stop retouching
Skin has texture. Fabric creases. Edges are slightly soft.
Every smoothing pass moves it further from a phone photo.
For video, add the hand holding it
A locked-off shot looks like a tripod, because it is one.
A little drift and a small correction is what a hand does.
TipThe same rules work for clips. Motion is just one more imperfection to keep.
Then keep the ones that survive a scroll
Put it in a feed next to real photos and look away for a second.
The one you cannot pick out is the one that works.
Realistic is not the same as high quality. Usually it is the opposite.
Break four things and people stop noticing the fifth.