Portraits With ChatGPT?

What if you wanted to explore artistic portrait creation using reference images and OpenAI's ChatGPT... This is where I would start you.

Check through your phone and grab a solo image of yourself. I know you have a selfie in the mix somewhere. I found this one from where my wife and I took a few of my boys to grab pizza and play in the river.

Not my best look… (dude, where did all those white whiskers come from!?) but it will suffice. Now, I dropped this image into Chat GPT and added the following prompt:

Create a high-contrast black and white close-up portrait of the referenced man.

The image should focus exclusively on the left half of his face, which is partially submerged in water. Include visible water droplets and bubbles on his skin and hair to enhance the aquatic setting.

Illuminate the left side of his face dramatically, casting the right side into deep shadow to create a stark contrast against a dark background. Emphasize fine detail in the skin texture, beard stubble, and sharp eye focus to evoke a moody, cinematic atmosphere. The image orientation must be square (1:1 ratio). Ensure the overall composition still captures intense emotion and depth through lighting and texture details.

The result…

Okay, that is pretty legit. It has all the tell-tale markings of my face - and yet was totally generated with a reference image and a little prompting magic. I like the moodiness.

A good number of my readers are female - and I know you clearly do not want a prompt that asks ChatGPT to emphasize the whiskers and beard stubble (that you clearly do not have)… so we need to modify this prompt for the women in the group.