What each part of the prompt does
- Hands at work
- Cutting out cookies gives the hands a natural task and the body a believable lean over the table, which beats a stiff pose holding a plate.
- Flour as proof
- "A little flour on their hands and one cheek" is the small mess that makes the scene feel lived in. The word "little" keeps it from turning into a costume.
- Window light
- Daylight from one window gives soft, directional light on the face, and the snow outside sets the season without needing decorations everywhere.
- Phone photo look
- "Candid phone photo" keeps the result from looking like a polished advert, which is what makes it believable on a personal account.
Variations to try
Same idea, one thing changed. These have no example image yet.
Plum cake and kulkuls Keep the face from my uploaded photo exactly as it is. Show the person in a warm home kitchen in December, laughing as they slice a dark Christmas plum cake at a wooden table. A little flour on their hands and one cheek, a red and white striped apron over a cream sweater, a plate of kulkuls and rose cookies, a steel tin of cashews and a small paper star lantern. An open window shows coconut palms in the afternoon sun, and a string of fairy lights hangs over the shelf. Soft daylight from the window, candid phone photo, 4:5 frame.
Icing the cookies Keep the face from my uploaded photo exactly as it is. Show the person in a warm home kitchen in December, concentrating as they pipe white icing onto a gingerbread man at a wooden table, tongue slightly out. A little flour on their hands and one cheek, a red and white striped apron over a cream sweater, trays of cookies cooling, a bowl of white icing and a jar of sprinkles. A small window shows snow falling outside, and a string of fairy lights hangs over the shelf. Soft daylight from the window, candid phone photo, 4:5 frame.
Late-night baking Keep the face from my uploaded photo exactly as it is. Show the person in a warm home kitchen in December, laughing as they cut out gingerbread cookies at a wooden table. A little flour on their hands and one cheek, a red and white striped apron over a cream sweater, trays of cookies cooling, a bowl of white icing and a jar of sprinkles. A dark window shows snow falling in the street light outside, and a string of fairy lights hangs over the shelf. Warm lamp light and fairy lights at night, candid phone photo, 4:5 frame.
If the result isn't right
- If the flour covers too much of the face, ask for "a small smudge of flour on one cheek only".
- When the cookies look plastic, add "real baked texture, slightly uneven edges".
- If hands come out with extra fingers, write "both hands on the cookie cutter, five fingers each".
- For a recipe card, change the frame to "3:2 frame with empty space on the right for text".