lens

Focal length is the difference between a photograph and a render. Name it, and half the AI look disappears.

The problem

Left alone, these models default to something like a wide lens held close — mild distortion, exaggerated depth, everything slightly too visible at once. That combination doesn’t exist in commercial product photography, so the eye reads it as unreal before it reads anything else.

Real product work lives in a narrow band: 85mm to 135mm for hero shots, 100mm macro for texture, and a camera height that sits at the product’s midline rather than looking down at it. Say those numbers and the model has something concrete to imitate.

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“Camera at product mid-height” is doing more work than the focal length. The default is a slight downward angle, which is how a phone snapshot looks and how a campaign never looks.

f/4 rather than f/1.8 on purpose. Extreme shallow depth of field is itself a tell now — too many AI images use it to hide a background the model couldn’t resolve.

“Subject filling 60% of the frame” gives you room to reframe later without regenerating. See frame.

What to watch for

• Longer focal lengths flatten the product. If a jar starts looking like a cylinder sticker, come back toward 85mm.
• Macro on a full product rather than a detail will fail — use 100mm macro for texture and 85–135mm for the whole object.
• The model will sometimes apply the blur as a flat wash rather than by distance. Check the edges of the product against the background.