| name | creative-scene |
| description | Generate realistic product-in-use lifestyle scenes. Places the product in believable contexts of use (who, where, when, doing what) with natural lighting and real texture, for lifestyle/editorial/ecommerce. Use when the user says "lifestyle shot", "product in use", "scene", "show it being used", "in-context photography", or needs people/environment around the product. Part of the Creative Production set. |
Creative — Scene Explorer
Show the product living in the real world — believable usage moments, not floating studio renders. The job is to make a viewer picture themselves using it. Realism and emotional plausibility beat technical perfection.
When to use
- Lifestyle hero images, social content, editorial, "in-context" ecommerce shots.
- Selling the experience or outcome, not just the object.
- You need people, environment, or a moment of use around the product.
When NOT to use
- Clean catalog/PDP angles on a plain background →
creative-shot.
- Pushing a discount/bundle →
creative-offer.
- No look locked and brand consistency matters →
creative-explore first.
Inputs (ask only what's missing)
- Product + how it's actually used (ergonomics matter for believability).
- Target user who appears or is implied in the scene.
- Locked visual direction if available.
- Aspect/medium: web hero (wide), social (square/vertical), gallery.
Workflow
- Define 3-5 usage moments: who + where + when + doing-what. Concrete beats generic ("barista, morning cafe, steaming milk" not "person using product").
- Structure each scene prompt:
backdrop → subject + product → light/lens → constraints. Favor photoreal-natural styling: candid, real texture, natural light, believable depth of field.
- Generate with your image tool. Save to
./creative/scene/<moment>.png.
- Verify believability + hero: is the product clearly the focus? Are hands/ergonomics plausible? Regenerate weak ones (bad hands, product too small, staged-feeling).
- Present moments; recommend the strongest for the medium.
Worked example
Product: insulated water bottle. Audience: trail runners.
## Moment "Dawn Trail"
who: runner, late 20s, mid-stride where: forest trail, first light
when: cool blue-hour → warming doing: pausing to drink
prompt: "forest trail at dawn -> runner pausing, bottle to lips, breath visible
-> 50mm, shallow DOF, soft directional light -> candid, real sweat/texture,
bottle clearly visible and in focus"
[ref: ./creative/scene/dawn-trail.png]
## Moment "Desk Companion"
who: implied (hand only) where: tidy work desk when: midday
doing: reaching for the bottle beside a laptop
prompt: "minimal wood desk, daylight -> hand reaching for bottle next to laptop
-> 35mm, natural light -> candid, real texture, bottle hero"
[ref: ./creative/scene/desk.png]
Recommendation: "Dawn Trail" for the hero (aspirational, on-audience); "Desk" for broader appeal.
Quality bar
- The product is unmistakably the hero and in focus — not lost in the scene.
- Lighting, texture, and ergonomics are plausible; no uncanny hands or impossible grips.
- The moment matches the actual audience and use case.
- Aspect fits the target medium without awkward cropping.
Common pitfalls
- Floating/staged feel — natural light and real texture sell realism; studio-perfect kills it.
- Product demoted — the environment overwhelms the hero. Keep it central and focused.
- Mangled hands/anatomy — common generation failure; regenerate or switch angle.
- Real identifiable people without consent — use generic or implied (hands, back-of-head) subjects.
Handoff
Winning scenes → creative-polish for finish (grade, fix artifacts, conform aspect). Reuse the creative-explore stub for cross-asset consistency.
Tooling
Needs a text-to-image tool. Without one, deliver the structured scene prompts for the user to render.
