Improve your retro portrait

Most retro portrait problems come from the reference photo rather than the generator. Use this guide to diagnose the result you got and decide what to change before you spend another generation.

The face looks different

This is almost always an input problem. Use a sharper, front-facing, single-person photo with even lighting. Avoid heavy shadows, sunglasses and wide-angle selfies. In the custom prompt, ask for the facial features to be preserved and reduce the amount of styling. Identity preservation is never guaranteed, and no generator can recover detail that is not in the original photo.

The result looks too artificial

AI portraits drift towards illustration when the model over-styles the face. Reduce grain and saturation, and ask for natural skin texture and subtle lighting rather than a dramatic filter. If it still looks painted, switch to a simpler style such as the studio portrait and generate again.

The result looks too modern

Add explicit period signals: direct on-camera flash, faded colour, 35mm film grain and a subtle red-orange date stamp. Remove anything modern from the description, such as smartphones, contemporary fashion brands or current-day locations.

The outfit or background is wrong

Choose the studio style when you want fewer background details, and name the wardrobe directly, for example "satin blazer" or "knit sweater". Our styles are 1980s-inspired creative directions, not historically authenticated reproductions, so some interpretation is expected.

The image is too grainy or too faded

Film grain and faded colour are part of the look, but they can be overdone. Ask for "light grain" and "slightly muted colour" instead of "heavy vintage filter". The goal is a photograph that has aged, not a stylised effect.

A request is pending or the allowance looks wrong

Refresh the page to re-check your allowance. If a request timed out with an unknown outcome, its slot stays reserved through the current UTC day to prevent duplicate use. Do not repeatedly click Generate; that can consume additional attempts once earlier ones are released.

The request was rejected

Providers reject images that break their content rules. Try a different photo, avoid requests for real people you do not have permission to use, and avoid copyrighted characters. A rejection does not normally consume an allowance.

Upload or formatting problems

RetroPrompt accepts JPEG, PNG and WebP up to 8 MB. Very large images, unusual formats or files with unusual colour profiles can fail, so re-export the photo as a standard JPEG and try again.

When to start over

If two or three attempts all fail in the same way, stop changing the prompt and change the source photo instead. A clean portrait with even lighting solves more problems than any wording change.