Turn an existing image into a clearer, more consistent, or more useful version for a specific business task. This resource helps you write an editing brief, request controlled changes, and review the result before publishing. The goal is not to make an image “perfect,” but to make it fit its job: explain, sell, teach, or document. Once the brief is ready, open the image editor.
When to use it
Use it to clean a background, adapt an image to several formats, adjust a visual style, prepare a thumbnail, or explore a product variation. It can also create a first proposal for human review.
Do not use it as a replacement for a professional shoot when exact measurements matter, as identity evidence, as documentary proof, or to hide damage, labels, or material information. Do not imply that the Nano Banana name belongs to you, and do not assume an edit will preserve every original detail exactly.
Fill-in worksheet
Complete this brief before editing:
- Source image and permission to use it:
- What must stay:
- What should change:
- Desired style: restrained, editorial, warm, technical, or other:
- Aspect ratio: 1:1, 4:5, 16:9, or other:
- Intended use and channel:
- Text that must appear, if any:
- Logos or marks to preserve:
- People, hands, or faces present:
- Elements that must not be invented:
- Approval criterion:
Workflow
- Define the image’s job and select a source with verifiable permission.
- Split instructions into “keep,” “change,” and “avoid.” This limits accidental changes.
- State the style, aspect ratio, and intended use. A product page needs a different crop from a vertical story.
- Request a first edit limited to the highest-priority changes. Do not combine ten transformations in the first pass.
- Compare source and result at full size and at the actual publishing size.
- Inspect text, logos, people, edges, proportions, and small details.
- Record which instructions worked and save the approved version with its source.
Small-business example
A coffee shop has a landscape photo of a cup on a table. It needs a vertical image for a new-menu announcement. The brief says: keep the cup, coffee color, printed logo, and table texture; change the background to a light wall with morning light; use a warm editorial style; use a 4:5 ratio; publish on Instagram and a digital sign; do not add ingredients or text inside the image. The first result preserves the cup but distorts the logo. A second request keeps the logo intact, while the price is added outside the image in the design template. The result is approved after a mobile-size review.
Textual before-and-after example
Before: “Photo of a black backpack on a gray background, with one visible wrinkle in the fabric.”
After: “The same black backpack, with its shape, zippers, stitching, and tag unchanged. Uniform light-gray background, soft side lighting, and a 4:5 crop for a product page. Do not add pockets, text, or accessories.”
Reusable edit recipe
Copy and adapt:
Edit the source image for [intended use and channel].
Keep:
- [main product, person, or scene]
- [colors, texture, logo, and identifying features]
- [object count and placement]
Change:
- [background, lighting, cleanup, or crop]
- style [short description]
- aspect ratio [format]
Avoid:
- inventing text, ingredients, people, or accessories
- distorting hands, faces, edges, logos, or proportions
- removing information needed to understand the scene
Return a clear, reviewable variation. Flag any detail you cannot preserve faithfully.
Failure and safety checks
- Read every character in the text. Generated images can introduce incorrect letters.
- Compare logos, brand colors, and symbols with the official files.
- Inspect faces, hands, fingers, eyes, uniforms, and any identifying feature.
- Zoom into edges, corners, reflections, and straight lines for distortions.
- Confirm that proportions and object counts match the real product.
- Verify image permission and avoid exposing personal or confidential data.
- Keep the original, brief, instructions, and edit date to preserve provenance.
- Label an edited image when viewers could reasonably be misled, especially in demonstrations, testimonials, or documentation.
Copyable final artifact
# Approved editing brief
Goal: [what the image must accomplish]
Source and permission: [file, owner, date]
Keep: [list]
Change: [list]
Style: [description]
Aspect ratio: [format]
Use and channel: [place and size]
External text: [approved copy]
Risks reviewed: text, logos, people, edges, proportions, permission
Output: [link or filename]
Provenance: [original, instructions, editor, date]
Approved by: [name and date]
For another variation, reuse this brief and the editing resource. Consider a business audit only when image production is recurring, involves a team, has meaningful volume or spend, includes sensitive data, or review has become a material bottleneck.