Roy Edit AI prompt: edit a reference photo step by step

If you searched for a Roy Edit AI prompt, start with RoyEditz's website. Roy Editz publishes photo editing prompts and tutorials. To use one with your own portrait, you need an editor that accepts a reference image, a clear photo, and instructions that describe what to keep and what to change.

The original prompts below show how to adapt that workflow to your photo. They are not copied from RoyEditz. On Yix, you can try the same kind of photo editing task with Nano Banana 2. Yix is independent of RoyEditz, and the editor does not promise to reproduce pictures shown on the creator's blog.

Find the tutorial that matches your picture

RoyEditz covers several kinds of edits. Its 1980s portrait guide combines an uploaded photo with instructions about period clothing, scenery and film texture. Its cinematic portrait article describes a studio-style transformation. These are different visual briefs, even though both start with a portrait.

Choose the effect before writing the prompt. A request for a vintage outdoor photo needs different lighting and surroundings from a clean studio headshot. Mixing the two in a long list makes it harder to judge whether the result followed your instructions.

If you want the creator's original wording, read the corresponding article on RoyEditz. If you want to make your own variation, describe the visible choices: where the person stands, what the background contains, which direction the light comes from, and how tightly the picture is cropped.

Prepare a useful reference photo

Use a photo you own or have permission to edit. For a first portrait edit, choose one person with a clearly visible face and enough detail to inspect the eyes and hairline. Avoid starting with a screenshot of a screenshot, a strong beauty filter, or a tiny face in the distance.

Match the reference to the intended framing. A chest-up portrait is a sensible starting point for a chest-up edit. Turning that same photo into a full-body scene asks the model to invent clothing and anatomy that the input never showed. It may be worth trying, but it is a different task from changing the background.

Keep the original file. You will need it to compare results and to restart if repeated edits gradually change the person's appearance. If someone else's portrait is involved, agree on the intended use before uploading it.

Write the changes in plain language

Tell the editor which parts should stay and which may change. Start with the subject and the allowed edit, then add the setting or lighting. Finish with any detail that would make the result unusable, such as added lettering.

For example, "make it cinematic" leaves most decisions open. "Replace the room with a plain charcoal studio backdrop; keep the person's pose and clothing; use soft light from the left" gives you specific details to check afterward.

You can ask for facial features to remain consistent, but wording such as "identity lock" cannot guarantee an unchanged face. Compare the output with the reference rather than relying on the strength of the instruction.

Original prompts to adapt

These are starting briefs, not demonstrated before-and-after results. Change details to match your photo and inspect every output before publishing it.

A restrained studio portrait

Edit the attached portrait. Retain the person's facial proportions, expression, hairstyle and existing clothes. Replace the background with a plain charcoal studio backdrop. Add a large soft light from the camera's left, with gentle shadows on the other side. Keep the original framing and visible skin texture. Leave out text and extra accessories.

Start here if you want a small, easy-to-review change. Keeping the outfit and pose gives you fewer differences to inspect. If the light looks too dramatic, replace the lighting sentence with "Use even, soft daylight with mild shadows."

A quiet retro photograph

Give the attached photo a faded family-album look. Keep the subject, pose, clothing and background arrangement. Use slightly warm colours, softer contrast and fine film grain. Preserve readable facial details. Avoid scratches across the face, date stamps, added objects or a heavy orange tint.

This brief changes the photographic treatment while leaving the scene in place. For a period outfit or a different location, make a separate pass and describe that change explicitly. A film texture alone does not establish that the scene is historically accurate.

A new outdoor background

Replace the background of the attached portrait with a shaded garden path. Keep the same person, expression, hair and clothes. Keep the camera at the original height and match the garden's lighting to the light already on the face. Make the background softly out of focus. Preserve the outline of the hair and shoulders; do not add people or lettering.

Check the edges around hair, glasses and clothing. The person can still look pasted on if the new background has a different light direction or perspective.

Try the brief in Yix

1. Open the editing card above. It selects Nano Banana 2 for image editing.
2. Add your reference photo as a JPG, PNG or WebP file up to 7 MB, then wait for its preview to appear. Keep a local copy so you can upload it again after leaving the page.
3. Paste one brief and adjust the setting to suit your photo. Confirm the selected model and the displayed credit cost before generating.
4. Generate when you are ready, then compare the result with the original at a useful viewing size. Download the version you want to keep.

Opening the card prepares the editor; it does not generate an image. A selected model also does not mean that a reference photo is attached. Confirm the photo preview before you start.

Fix the part that went wrong

If the face changed, return to the original photo and reduce the scope: try only the backdrop or colour treatment first. If the outfit changed unexpectedly, state that the existing clothes should remain. If the image looks overly smooth, ask to preserve the visible skin texture and remove beautification language from the brief.

When the composition is good but one detail is wrong, describe that detail precisely. "Remove the lettering in the top-right corner while preserving the rest of the picture" is more actionable than "make it better." Review any other changes the edit introduces.

Save the successful prompt beside the original reference and the chosen output. That gives you a reusable starting point for the next photo, without assuming that identical wording will produce identical results.

Keep editing

Use the image editor for another photo, or read the 1980s photo prompt guide for a more detailed retro brief.