Important points
- Adobe Firefly provided the most realistic photo results of the AI image generators tested.
- Microsoft Image Creator showed some realistic results, but lacked customization options.
- Canva’s Magic Media had disappointing results, especially in animal photos, due to unrealistic elements such as an alien-like tongue.
Everyone has a smartphone in their hand or pocket, but they may not be the best at taking pictures on a whim. I tested four AI image generators (Adobe Firefly, Canva’s Magic Media, DeepAI, and Microsoft Image Creator) that can replicate my best smartphone photos and save me from having to retake them myself. I checked to see if.
my smartphone photo
I selected three different photo types from my phone’s library to replicate with AI. We used the same three photos for each AI image generator and the same photo descriptions for the prompts. Here are their descriptions…
Landscape:
Horizontal landscape of a South Florida beach at sunset. The sun and its color are dark yellow, and the sky surrounding the sun is dark blue. The sun reflects off the water in the center of the frame, and the horizon at the waterline is broken by the sand in the foreground. It’s pitch black, there’s no one on the beach and nothing else. There is a tree silhouette in the upper right corner of the image.
animal:
A large dog stands on the long green grass in the center of the image, staring at the camera with a large pink tongue sticking out of its mouth. This dog is a cross between a Cocker Spaniel and a Red Labrador, and is brownish-red in color. The perspective of the photo shows only the dog’s head, front legs, butt, and tail wagging behind it. The sun hits the dog from the back right side of his body.
Portrait:
A white male in his mid-twenties was sitting on the inside window ledge with his back resting against the left inside edge of the window. The wall around the window is white but in shadow. The man looks to the right side of the window view and sees a green tree outside. The man is wearing a dark baseball cap, a black T-shirt, and white shorts that reach above his knees. His right leg is hanging from the window ledge and his right hand is resting on his thigh. His left leg is bent, his foot rests on the window ledge, and his left hand rests on his knee.
Duplicate photos using Microsoft Image Creator
Microsoft’s AI Image Creator is a standalone tool, but it’s also part of Microsoft Designer’s browser-based design tools. Although it’s free, there aren’t many features to customize prompts. A text prompt will simply appear to allow you to select the aspect ratio of your image.
Microsoft Image Creator Landscape
Using a prompt to describe a landscape photo did not work well with Microsoft Image Creator results. First, there is no way to specify photorealism or photo style, so images look more illustrative and abstract. I was disappointed with the results here.
Microsoft Image Creator Animal
Animal photography suffers from the same problem of lack of photorealism found in landscape images, but I’m far more impressed with the results of these images. The prompt could have been better written, but the image of the dog looks more realistic and proportioned compared to the actual photo. The lighting is great and the dog’s features make it look like a realistic mongrel.
Microsoft Image Creator Portrait
Although the direction the man is facing is wrong, I was impressed with the results of this image. AI images in Microsoft Image Creator look realistic and believable. It could be a photo of a real human being.
As is often the case with AI-generated human images, I was pleased to receive these images, which replicated cell phone photos, despite the slight differences with the man’s hand. I can’t expect to recreate my friend’s face with the same detail, but overall I’m impressed with this model.
Duplicate photos using Adobe Firefly
Adobe Firefly is a standalone browser tool that is also implemented in most Adobe software. Currently the image generator is the Adobe Firefly 3 model. I used Firefly AI from a browser rather than a specific Adobe program, but if you want to replicate your smartphone photos from your phone, you can find Firefly in the Adobe Express Mobile app.
Adobe firefly landscape
Adobe Firefly’s AI image tools generated a realistic beach scene, but it doesn’t look much like my original beach landscape image. This may be due to the way the prompt is written.
Adobe Firefly’s text-to-image prompts also include reference, configuration, and style options to display as much detail as possible in your results. I didn’t use the synthesis tools, but I think the synthesis would be much neater if I did.
adobe firefly animal
I was impressed with the dog photos that Adobe Firefly produced. The composition is similar to the original photo, but the angle is different.
Since the dog described is a mongrel, it is understandable that it may be difficult for an AI system to replicate it. Although I am happy with the breeds featured in these images, I specified that the dogs be all solid colors, with white spots in many generations. The dog’s face also looks a little creepy.
Adobe Firefly Portrait
As with the other images produced by Firefly, I’m very happy with how the portrait of the man sitting in the window turned out. I think it’s pretty obvious that it was generated by AI, but it’s a pretty good duck.
The man’s face is different for each generation, and the texture of the wood outside the window looks more like pointillism than part of the image. But at first glance, I’m happy with the results.
Duplicate photos using DeepAI
DeepAI is a free browser tool. I found it frustrating to use, with disappointing quality. Each prompt creates one image, unlike other image generators that offer three or four.
You can choose between standard and HD quality for free, and when it comes to results, you can choose between speed or quality. I chose speed. There are over 100 styles to choose from, but none are particularly photo-realistic. I used Fantasy World for all generations.
DeepAI Landscape
The images themselves aren’t too bad, and the AI obviously isn’t too bad either, but they pale in comparison to the landscape photos I started with. The generated image doesn’t have much of a sunset and completely ignores the tree in the top right of the original photo shown in the prompt.
DeepAI Animal
I’m really disappointed in this generation. The dog has two tails and its shape and proportions look unnatural. This generation is closer to the Labrador breed than considering the characteristics of a mixed breed as a prompt. Compared to modern smartphone cameras, the quality is not quite photorealistic.
DeepAI portrait
This generation ignored many aspects of my prompts, such as the style of men’s clothing and the fact that the whole body should be visible. His eyes look gouged out, but this is not realistic and is clearly an instruction from the AI.
Canva’s Magic Media boasts native text-to-image tools. Canva Free users get 50 credits for using AI tools, excluding AI generators, which are included in many Canva Apps tools. Canva’s image generator has style options, one of which includes a photo style that gives you the most realistic results.
Canva landscape
Canva-generated landscapes are fine, but nothing special. It lacks depth and excitement when compared to my original smartphone photos. One of the images produced reflects the sun off the water in a non-linear and unrealistic manner, making the results questionable.
Canva animals
You can imagine my disappointment with Canva’s AI-generated dog photos. Not one of the four images produced gave me a realistic result before I considered whether it looked similar to the photo on my smartphone.
The dog’s tongue seemed to cause major problems with the output, with three of the four images having an alien-like tongue and the fourth having a neon pink tongue. The rest of the image doesn’t seem too bad, but the tongue is not negligible.
Canva portraits
As with other Canva AI image results, the portrait of a man looking out the window was disappointing to look at. Each image contains eerie non-human features, such as distorted faces and typical AI-style hands. Three of the four images also have the man in the wrong direction, and all clothing in the prompt is ignored.
Adobe Firefly best replicates smartphone photos
After using four different AI image generators, I don’t think you can trust any of them to accurately replicate your favorite smartphone photos. But if I had to choose one tool, it would be Adobe Firefly.
The Adobe Firefly 3 model produced realistic photo results that I’m happy to share. Firefly followed my prompts best and provided an image that most closely resembled the original smartphone photo. Microsoft Designer’s Image Creator is your second choice of four choices.
