AI Photo Effects: 40 Glitch, Smoke, Vintage and Doodle Prompts

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Glitch Effect | portraymedia

These AI prompts create four kinds of visual effect: digital glitch, drifting smoke, surreal photo manipulation and double exposure silhouettes. Some prompts edit a photo you upload, so only use images you have permission to edit. A clear subject and a simple background usually give the best result.

What’s on This Page

SectionPromptsBest for
Glitch effect6Album art and cyberpunk designs
Smoke Effect Prompts6Adding depth to a photo
Surreal Photo Manipulation Prompts6Dreamlike edits of your images
Double Exposure Nature Prompts6Landscapes inside a silhouette
Newborn Photo Prompts9Enhancing baby photos
Antique Portrait Prompt1A vintage photo look
Mixed-Media Doodle Overlay Prompts6Hand-drawn doodles over photos

The look began with real errors, such as bad signals and corrupted files, and artists later adopted it on purpose. Now you can create it by describing the damage you want.

Why the Glitch Effect Works

Most digital design is clean and predictable, so distortion catches the eye. The effect suits:

  • Album art and cyberpunk designs
  • Social media graphics that need movement
  • Wallpapers and posters

Keep part of the subject readable. If nothing is recognisable, the image just looks broken.

How to Write a Glitch Prompt

Tools such as Nano Banana and Adobe Firefly respond better to specific damage than to “add glitch”. Useful words include pixel displacement, RGB separation, scan lines and digital noise.

Before you generate, replace these placeholders:

  • <SUBJECT> or <UPLOADED IMAGE>: a person, object, logo or text
  • <AR>: your frame size, such as 9:16 or 1:1

6 AI Prompts for a Glitch Effect

Glitch Effect | portraymedia

RGB Channel

Glitch effect artwork of <SUBJECT>, RGB color channel separation, horizontal pixel shifts, broken signal distortion, dark background, high contrast — aspect ratio: <AR> — no smooth gradients.

Replace the highlighted text with your own details before you run the prompt.

Glitch Effect | portraymedia

VHS-Style

Retro glitch effect applied to <SUBJECT>, VHS scan lines, analog noise, color bleeding, soft blur, old tape playback distortion — aspect ratio: <AR>.

Replace the highlighted text with your own details before you run the prompt.

Glitch Effect | portraymedia

Data Corruption

Digital glitch effect design of <SUBJECT>, corrupted data fragments, pixel tearing, fragmented blocks, layered distortion patterns — aspect ratio: <AR>.

Replace the highlighted text with your own details before you run the prompt.

Glitch Effect | portraymedia

Minimal Glitch

Subtle glitch effect on <SUBJECT>, light pixel breaks, small horizontal offsets, restrained color separation, clean composition — aspect ratio: <AR>.

Replace the highlighted text with your own details before you run the prompt.

Glitch Effect | portraymedia

Typography

Glitch effect typography featuring <SUBJECT>, broken letterforms, offset layers, pixel slicing, digital interference patterns — aspect ratio: <AR>.

Replace the highlighted text with your own details before you run the prompt.

Glitch Effect | portraymedia

Extreme Glitch

Intense glitch effect artwork of <SUBJECT>, heavy pixel fragmentation, screen tearing, visual noise overload, corrupted file appearance — aspect ratio: <AR>.

Replace the highlighted text with your own details before you run the prompt.

Which Style to Start With

Start with Minimal Glitch if you’re using a logo or portrait, since faces and letters stay readable. For wallpapers and album covers, try Data Corruption or Extreme Glitch. If it’s too messy, remove one type of damage from the prompt.

Smoke Effect Prompts

These six AI prompts add a smoke effect to your uploaded photo, from a faint haze to dense fog and swirling energy.

Smoke looks most natural when it sits behind or around the subject and catches the existing light. Start with Minimal Soft Haze if you’re working with a portrait, because heavy smoke can hide the face.

Smoke Effect | portraymedia

Cinematic Drift Flow

Use the uploaded image as base, apply smoke effect with soft drifting motion moving diagonally across frame, semi-transparent layers with varying density, edges dissolving naturally into background, subtle light catching on thinner areas, maintain depth separation, cinematic atmosphere, aspect ratio [AR]

Replace the highlighted text with your own details before you run the prompt.

Smoke Effect | portraymedia

Dense Fog Compression

Use the uploaded image as reference, apply smoke effect with dense fog accumulation in lower areas, thick central mass with gradual fade upward, minimal visibility through core, soft diffusion at edges, controlled contrast reduction, moody depth, aspect ratio [AR]

Replace the highlighted text with your own details before you run the prompt.

Smoke Effect | portraymedia

Backlit Glow Smoke

Use the uploaded image as subject, apply smoke effect interacting with strong backlight, glowing edges where light passes through thinner smoke, deeper shadows in dense areas, soft bloom effect around light source, layered atmospheric depth, cinematic lighting balance, aspect ratio [AR]

Replace the highlighted text with your own details before you run the prompt.

Smoke Effect | portraymedia

Swirling Energy Motion

Use the uploaded image as base, apply smoke effect with dynamic swirling motion forming spiral patterns, fluid continuous movement, varying thickness across curves, subtle motion direction consistency, enhanced contrast between layers, immersive atmospheric flow, aspect ratio [AR]

Replace the highlighted text with your own details before you run the prompt.

Smoke Effect | portraymedia

Minimal Soft Haze

Use the uploaded image as reference, apply smoke effect as a very light haze across background only, low opacity, smooth gradient fade, no sharp edges, maintain subject clarity, slight depth enhancement without distraction, clean cinematic tone, aspect ratio [AR]

Replace the highlighted text with your own details before you run the prompt.

Smoke Effect | portraymedia

High Contrast Smoke Separation

Use the uploaded image as subject, apply smoke effect with strong contrast between illuminated smoke and dark background, sharp light interaction on edges, deeper shadows within dense areas, layered volumetric feel, controlled highlights, dramatic cinematic atmosphere, aspect ratio [AR]

Replace the highlighted text with your own details before you run the prompt.

Surreal Photo Manipulation Prompts

These six AI prompts turn an uploaded photo into a surreal photo manipulation, with floating worlds, a tear in reality, reverse gravity and melting scenes.

Upload a clear image, paste a prompt and generate. Results look more believable when the light on the new elements matches the original, so ask for matching shadows if something looks pasted on. Only use photos you’re allowed to edit.

Surreal Photo Manipulation | portraymedia

Gravity Collapse Floating World

Use the uploaded image as base subject, restructure the entire environment into a floating fractured landmass suspended mid-air, large chunks breaking apart with gravity-consistent downward motion, smaller debris drifting at varied speeds based on size and weight, waterfalls flowing off edges into dense cloud layers below, atmospheric depth separating each fragment with soft volumetric haze, sunlight piercing through gaps creating dynamic light shafts, subject remains anchored and sharply defined against chaos, cinematic scale, ultra-real depth layering, aspect ratio [AR]

Replace the highlighted text with your own details before you run the prompt.

Surreal Photo Manipulation | portraymedia

Reality Tear Portal Distortion

Use the uploaded image as core subject, create a vertical tear in reality slicing through the scene, one side maintaining original environment while the other transforms into an alternate dimension with altered lighting and structure, edges of the tear emitting subtle energy distortion with light bending effects, reflections aligning correctly on both sides, depth preserved across the split, soft glow accentuating separation, perspective remains consistent, seamless integration without artifacts, cinematic realism, aspect ratio [AR]

Replace the highlighted text with your own details before you run the prompt.

Surreal Photo Manipulation | portraymedia

Massive Scale Overload Scene

Use the uploaded image as reference, introduce an oversized dominant element interacting naturally with the environment, scale difference extreme yet perspective-correct, shadows cast accurately across surfaces, surrounding elements reacting proportionally, atmospheric fade increasing with distance, reflections adapting dynamically, strong foreground-midground-background hierarchy, immersive cinematic composition, aspect ratio [AR]

Replace the highlighted text with your own details before you run the prompt.

Surreal Photo Manipulation | portraymedia

Reverse Gravity Spatial Shift

Use the uploaded image as base, invert selected structures upward as if gravity has shifted direction, objects maintaining physical integrity while orientation changes, dust and particles drifting upward naturally, shadows recalculated based on new spatial logic, soft fog blending between layers, strong separation between grounded and floating elements, visually balanced composition, cinematic depth realism, aspect ratio [AR]

Replace the highlighted text with your own details before you run the prompt.

Surreal Photo Manipulation | portraymedia

Liquid Reality Melt Transformation

Use the uploaded image as subject, transform environmental surfaces into flowing liquid forms with realistic viscosity, material stretching and dripping influenced by gravity, reflections warping naturally along flow direction, highlights following curvature precisely, transition zones between solid and liquid clean and controlled, subject remains unaffected for contrast, cinematic lighting enhancing texture, immersive surreal realism, aspect ratio [AR]

Replace the highlighted text with your own details before you run the prompt.

Surreal Photo Manipulation | portraymedia

Infinite Recursive Depth Illusion

Use the uploaded image as base subject, create an infinite recursion effect where the scene repeats within itself into deep perspective, each layer scaled accurately with diminishing size, slight brightness reduction per layer to enhance depth, edges clean and distortion-free, central composition guiding eye inward, atmospheric haze increasing with distance, strong illusion of endless space, cinematic clarity, aspect ratio [AR]

Replace the highlighted text with your own details before you run the prompt.

Double Exposure Nature Prompts

These six AI prompts create double exposure nature silhouettes, where a landscape appears inside the shape of a person or animal. They include a wolf filled with mountains, a bear filled with forest and a man’s profile filled with ocean.

A clear outline is key, so choose a subject you can recognise from its shape alone. A plain background helps too. To make your own, keep the “double exposure” wording and change the subject and the scene inside it.

Double Exposure Nature | portraymedia

Mountain Wolf Fusion

double exposure of a wolf silhouette filled with layered mountain ranges and glowing sunset light, warm orange to deep shadow gradient, clean edge masking, no spill outside subject, foreground mountains sharp, background fading into mist, cinematic lighting, soft atmospheric haze, ultra detailed textures, minimal composition, high contrast, 4:5 aspect ratio
Double Exposure Nature | portraymedia

Blossom Human Portrait

double exposure portrait of a human profile filled with blooming cherry blossom trees, soft pink petals dispersing outward, delicate particle fade at edges, smooth gradient background, shallow depth of field, dreamy lighting, clean silhouette edges, no overflow, soft fog diffusion, artistic minimalism, ultra detailed, 4:5
Double Exposure Nature | portraymedia

Forest Bear Silhouette

double exposure of a roaring bear silhouette filled with dense pine forest and fog layers, monochrome black and white tones, mist drifting through trees, strong depth perspective, bottom area sharp and detailed, top softly fading, cinematic contrast lighting, clean edge masking, no clutter, 4:5
Double Exposure Nature | portraymedia

Ocean Man Profile

double exposure of a man wearing a hat, silhouette filled with ocean waves crashing and teal water textures, dynamic motion inside subject, water foam highlights, smooth gradient background, balanced composition, soft light reflections, clean edges, no spill, high detail, cinematic look, 4:5 aspect ratio
Double Exposure Nature | portraymedia

Horse Landscape Blend

double exposure of a running horse silhouette filled with desert mountains and warm sunset tones, earthy color palette, layered terrain with depth, foreground crisp, background softly blurred, glowing highlights, minimal negative space, clean masking, ultra realistic texture, 4:5
Double Exposure Nature | portraymedia

Couple Galaxy Nature Mix

double exposure of a couple silhouette filled with abstract nature and sky blend, mix of clouds, mist, and subtle color gradients (blue, teal, orange), smooth transitions between elements, soft glow lighting, emotional composition, edges clean and sharp, no repetition, depth-focused layering, artistic cinematic style, 4:5

Newborn Photo Prompts

These AI prompts improve a photo you’ve already taken of your baby. They adjust light, colour and clarity, and ask the AI to keep your baby’s face, pose and background as they are.

Most home baby photos have the same problems: uneven light, dull colour and indoor shadows. You don’t need a studio to fix them. Upload your photo to an image tool such as Nano Banana, paste a prompt and compare the result with the original.

Before you upload a photo of your child, read the tool’s privacy settings. Look closely at the result too, because AI can still change small details like eyes, fingers and skin even when told not to. Keep your original.

The One Rule for Every Prompt

Every prompt follows one rule: your original photo stays recognisable.

  • No pose changes
  • No facial changes
  • No new background
  • No added props

One Prompt for Every Milestone Month

Use one prompt across the first 12 months, changing only the month number, to give your milestone photos a matching look.

Newborn Skin Tone & Texture Correction

Using the uploaded baby picture, gently balance newborn skin tones. Reduce redness, blotchiness, or yellow tint naturally. Maintain realistic skin texture and softness. Avoid sharpening, plastic smoothing, or artificial glow. Keep baby and background unchanged.

Sleepy Newborn Calm Enhancement

Enhance the uploaded baby picture showing a sleeping newborn. Lower contrast slightly, soften lighting, and add gentle warmth. Preserve the peaceful, quiet mood. Do not brighten excessively or introduce strong highlights.

Swaddled Baby Comfort Enhancement

Using the uploaded baby picture, enhance a swaddled baby photo. Improve fabric color accuracy and softness. Keep folds, shadows, and textures natural. Do not alter the wrap, baby position, or surroundings.

Baby Held in Parent’s Arms

Enhance the uploaded baby picture where the baby is held by a parent. Soften shadows on hands and arms. Gently guide visual focus toward the baby’s face. Do not blur or remove the parent. Keep the moment intimate and real.

First Smile Preservation

Using the uploaded baby picture, enhance a natural baby smile. Improve clarity and light balance without exaggeration. Keep facial expression exactly as captured. Avoid whitening teeth or over-enhancing eyes.

Emotional Warmth Enhancement

Enhance the uploaded baby picture by adding subtle warmth and softness. Maintain original lighting direction. Do not alter details or introduce stylistic effects.

Tummy-Time Balance Enhancement

Enhance the uploaded baby picture during tummy time. Balance lighting and color gently. Keep background simple and unchanged. Avoid energetic edits or dramatic contrast.

Quiet Play Discovery Moment

Enhance the uploaded baby picture showing gentle play or exploration. Improve lighting and clarity subtly. Keep colors soft and non-distracting. Do not add toys or decorative elements.

Crawling Motion Cleanup

Using the uploaded baby picture, reduce slight motion blur carefully. Preserve natural movement without artificial sharpness. Keep background and baby unchanged.

Why This Prompt Keeps Photos Consistent

  • Changes stay small, so the baby remains the focus.
  • There are no bright or busy elements.
  • You only change one number for each month.

More Newborn Photo Prompts

How to Know When to Stop

A good edit is one you don’t notice. If you see the editing before you see the baby, use a gentler prompt or go back to the original.

Antique Portrait Prompt

This AI prompt turns a portrait photo into an antique portrait with a vintage engraved look, giving it the faded tones and aged paper of a very old picture.

Use a clear photo with one face and even light. Only upload photos of yourself, or of people who have agreed.

Upload the photo to ChatGPT or Nano Banana, paste the prompt and generate. Compare the result with your original, because AI can change facial features. If it no longer looks like the person, try again and ask it to keep the face unchanged.

Antique Portrait Engraving Prompt

Begin with [Uploaded Image] only as a visual reference for the person.Then reinterpret the subject as a completely hand-drawn Antique Portrait engraving from the 19th century. The final artwork must NOT look like a photograph or a photo filter.Instead, redraw the portrait entirely using pen-and-ink engraving techniques: fine linework, etched contours, and dense cross-hatching shading. Facial structure, hair, and clothing should be constructed from engraved ink strokes rather than photographic gradients.Next remove all photographic lighting, skin texture, and digital realism. Replace them with traditional illustration shading made of ink lines and engraved hatch marks.Then render the Antique Portrait artwork in monochrome cyanotype blue, resembling an antique scientific portrait plate printed on textured archival paper.Finally add subtle imperfections such as paper fibers, faded edges, and printing irregularities so the portrait looks like an authentic museum antique engraving rather than a modern digital image.

Replace the highlighted text with your own details before you run the prompt.

Mixed-Media Doodle Overlay Prompts

I really like the way Mixedmedia Doodle Photo Overlays can make an ordinary photo feel more personal. The photo stays realistic, while the handwritten marks, little sketches, arrows, notes, and playful shapes make it feel as if someone has taken a pen to the image afterward.

That balance is what makes this style work for me. If the doodles become too perfect, the design starts looking like a regular digital graphic. If there are too many of them, the photo gets lost. The better results usually come from keeping the photograph natural and letting the hand-drawn elements interact with it.

For the images in this article, I used ChatGPT’s image-generation tools. You can also try these ideas with other image-generation tools such as Midjourney, Gemini, Firefly, Ideogram, Leonardo, or Stable Diffusion. The results will not be identical across platforms, but the same creative direction can be adapted to whichever tool you prefer.

I also kept the prompts fairly detailed because small things—such as the texture of the lines, where the doodles sit, the amount of empty space, and how they interact with the person—can make a noticeable difference.

Mixedmedia Doodle Photo Overlays AI Prompts

Mixedmedia Doodle Photo Overlays | portraymedia

Coquette Dreams Soft Editorial Style

Use [UPLOAD IMAGE HERE] as the main subject, transformed into a premium mixed-media editorial poster with soft pastel pink studio background, realistic natural skin texture, authentic fashion-magazine composition, subtle handcrafted paper texture, elegant handwritten typography saying “[YOUR TEXT HERE]”, surrounded by organically drawn white doodles like bows, sparkles, ribbon swirls, tiny hearts, and notebook-style sketches wrapping naturally around the subject instead of floating randomly, luxury Pinterest aesthetic, handcrafted scrapbook energy, expensive social-media branding feel, soft cinematic tones, realistic lighting falloff, imperfect hand-drawn marker strokes, ultra-authentic commercial photography look, avoid AI-generated plastic textures, avoid fake glossy skin, extremely believable human-made editorial artwork

Replace the highlighted text with your own details before you run the prompt.

Mixedmedia Doodle Photo Overlays | portraymedia

Master Your Day Productivity Editorial Poster

Create a clean modern mixed-media branding poster using [UPLOAD IMAGE HERE] as the central subject, placed against a matte mint-green studio background with realistic shadows and subtle texture, confident and natural body posture, premium startup-commercial atmosphere, large expressive handwritten typography saying “[YOUR TEXT HERE]”, surrounded by white hand-drawn productivity doodles including arrows, checkmarks, calendars, diagrams, UI wireframes, planning notes, and brainstorm sketches interacting naturally with the body and hands, authentic dry-marker illustration style with imperfect handcrafted lines, modern LinkedIn-meets-editorial-magazine aesthetic, realistic human skin details, cinematic commercial realism, minimal but visually powerful composition, handcrafted design agency quality, no overprocessed HDR, no obvious AI styling

Replace the highlighted text with your own details before you run the prompt.

Mixedmedia Doodle Photo Overlays | portraymedia

Future Astronaut Cinematic Imagination Style

Turn [UPLOAD IMAGE HERE] into an emotional mixed-media storytelling poster with deep midnight-blue background and cinematic atmosphere, playful realistic pose filled with imagination and wonder, handwritten typography saying “[YOUR TEXT HERE]”, surrounded by layered white chalk-style doodles including rockets, planets, stars, constellations, orbit paths, technical notebook sketches, and space-themed illustrations partially wrapping behind and in front of the subject for real layered depth, authentic chalk-marker texture with imperfect handmade strokes, emotional Pixar-meets-editorial mood, realistic shadows and fabric details, handcrafted premium poster design, cinematic depth, believable human-created artwork with absolutely no fake AI smoothness

Replace the highlighted text with your own details before you run the prompt.

Mixedmedia Doodle Photo Overlays | portraymedia

City Explorer Travel Creator Poster

Design a vibrant editorial-style travel branding poster using [UPLOAD IMAGE HERE] as the main subject, placed naturally against a rich mustard-yellow backdrop with subtle urban texture and realistic studio depth, energetic candid pose with joyful explorer personality, bold handwritten typography saying “[YOUR TEXT HERE]”, surrounded by white hand-drawn doodles including city maps, metro lines, travel arrows, passport stamps, location pins, route sketches, urban notebook scribbles, and playful street-style graphics integrated naturally around the subject, premium Pinterest creator aesthetic, handcrafted marker illustration feeling, authentic commercial campaign realism, realistic facial details and natural imperfections preserved, stylish but believable mixed-media design without artificial AI rendering

Replace the highlighted text with your own details before you run the prompt.

Mixedmedia Doodle Photo Overlays | portraymedia

Find Your Zen Minimal Wellness Editorial Style

Create a calm luxury wellness poster using [UPLOAD IMAGE HERE] as the central subject against a soft sage-green matte background with subtle natural gradients and organic texture, peaceful balanced composition with elegant posture and calming energy, handwritten typography saying “[YOUR TEXT HERE]”, delicate white hand-drawn doodles surrounding the subject including lotus flowers, breathing lines, botanical sketches, meditation symbols, mindfulness circles, and flowing organic illustrations with realistic handmade imperfections, soft cinematic wellness tones, premium yoga-magazine aesthetic, realistic skin and fabric rendering, natural light feeling, handcrafted editorial branding style, clean negative space, deeply human and authentic visual storytelling with no artificial AI appearance

Replace the highlighted text with your own details before you run the prompt.

Mixedmedia Doodle Photo Overlays | portraymedia

Leveling Up Dark Gaming Editorial Poster

Transform [UPLOAD IMAGE HERE] into a dark modern gaming-inspired mixed-media editorial poster with textured graphite-gray background, cinematic moody atmosphere, intense focused expression and immersive gaming energy, bold rough handwritten typography saying “[YOUR TEXT HERE]”, layered white doodles inspired by gaming notebook sketches including HUD graphics, XP bars, motion lines, stat icons, controller arrows, gaming symbols, level indicators, and hand-drawn interface elements integrated dynamically around the subject, premium esports campaign aesthetic, realistic shadows and contrast, gritty handcrafted illustration texture, believable commercial realism, subtle screen-light mood, authentic human-made mixed-media design without fake neon cyberpunk AI effects

Replace the highlighted text with your own details before you run the prompt.

Which AI Tool Did I Use?

I used ChatGPT’s image-generation tools to create the images shown in this article.

You don’t have to use ChatGPT to experiment with the prompts. You can try the same creative direction in Midjourney, Gemini, Adobe Firefly, Ideogram, Leonardo, Stable Diffusion, or another image generator you already use.

Just keep in mind that different models interpret the same prompt differently. One might give you better photographic realism, while another may handle the hand-drawn elements or composition in a way you prefer.

More in AI Photo Editing Prompts and Guides

This guide is part of our AI Photo Editing Prompts and Guides hub, where you’ll find every related guide, along with tips and common questions.

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