What photos work best for AI video? The pre-upload checklist

Why the photo matters more than the prompt

AI video builds motion from what it can see. Every blurry edge, crushed shadow or cropped limb is something it has to guess about, and guesses are where weird hands and melting backgrounds come from. A great photo with no prompt usually beats a mediocre photo with a perfect prompt.

Run through this checklist before you upload and you will waste far fewer credits.

1. Sharp, not soft

Zoom in on the eyes. If they are crisp, you're good. Motion blur, missed focus and heavy compression from screenshots or messaging apps all get more obvious once things start moving.

• Use the original file from your camera roll, not a screenshot or a photo saved from a chat.
• Avoid photos taken in very low light, where phones smear detail.
• Skip beauty filters that smooth skin into plastic; the AI needs texture.

2. Even, readable light

Soft daylight, open shade and overcast skies are ideal. Hard midday sun is fine if the face isn't half in shadow. Strong backlight that turns you into a silhouette gives the AI almost nothing to animate. Night photos work when there is a clear light on the subject, like a flash or a neon sign.

3. Leave room to move

This is the one most people miss. If your head touches the top of the frame or your hands are cut off at the edge, any movement pushes important parts out of view and the AI has to invent them. Give the subject a bit of breathing room on every side.

• Portraits: keep the top of the head and both shoulders in frame.
• Fit pics: include your shoes. Seriously.
• Hands: either fully in frame or fully out, not half-cropped.

4. Faces the AI can read

Faces looking roughly toward the camera animate most faithfully. Extreme profiles, faces covered by hair or hands, and big sunglasses can all make expressions harder to keep consistent. The face should take up a reasonable part of the image too; a person who is a tiny figure in a wide shot is really a landscape photo.

One person is the most reliable. Two works well for couples and best friends. Bigger groups are possible but less predictable, so crop in if you care about a specific face.

5. Simple backgrounds win

Busy patterns, crowds, fences and lots of small text in the background can shimmer or warp when the scene moves. A plain wall, sky, beach, street at dusk or out-of-focus background keeps the attention on the motion you actually want.

6. For landscapes, include something that can move

A landscape needs moving parts: sky, water, trees, grass, mist, lights. A photo of a brick wall has nothing to animate. Wide shots with a big sky or water in the frame give the most satisfying results. See the animate landscape photos effect for examples.

Quick checklist

• Original file, sharp eyes, no heavy filter.
• Soft or clear light on the subject.
• Head, shoulders, hands and shoes not cropped.
• Face mostly toward the camera, one or two people.
• Simple background.
• Vertical photo, or the subject centered if it's wide (clips are 9:16).
• JPG, PNG or WebP under 8 MB.

Ready? Upload it to AI Video and pick a look, or borrow a line from our image-to-video prompts. If you want to restyle the photo before animating it, our selfie tips for AI portraits cover the image side.