Why Great AI Product Images Still Start With Great Product Photography

AI is rapidly changing what brands can do with their product imagery. From placing clothing onto virtual models to creating entirely new environments and campaign concepts, businesses now have access to creative possibilities that would have required significantly larger photoshoots just a few years ago.

But there is an important part of the process that can easily be overlooked: the quality of the original product photography still matters.

We recently saw a great example of this through our work with AWB Textiles, a specialist supplier of scrubs, uniforms and professional clothing. Having photographed AWB’s garments using ghost mannequin photography over a number of years, the business has built up a substantial library of clean, consistent and professionally produced product imagery.

AWB Director James Cook has now started using those photographs as source material for AI-generated imagery – taking the original product photography and using it to explore different models, environments and audiences.

From Ghost Mannequin Photography to AI-Generated Models

Ghost mannequin photography is designed to give customers a clear view of a garment without a model or visible mannequin distracting from the product.

The garment is carefully prepared, positioned and photographed before the mannequin is removed during post-production. The result retains the three-dimensional shape and structure of the clothing while keeping attention entirely on the product.

For ecommerce, this creates a consistent way of presenting everything from fashion and workwear to uniforms and medical apparel.

But AWB has started finding another use for these images.

James has been experimenting with AI tools using the professional product photography created for AWB over approximately five years. The resulting images can place garments onto AI-generated models and into environments designed around particular audiences or applications.

“Yes, based upon cost and expertise required to create them. Plus the technology is moving so fast that the results will only get better.”

James Cook, Director, AWB Textiles

However, James also identified something particularly important about the process.

“I think the AI images are only as good as the quality of the input images.”

James Cook, Director, AWB Textiles

That relationship between the original photograph and the eventual AI-generated image is important. AI can create an environment, model or visual concept, but it still needs good information about the product it is being asked to represent.

Examples of AI-generated imagery created by AWB Textiles using its existing professional product photography as source material.

Why the Original Product Image Matters

Professional ghost mannequin photography isn’t simply about photographing a garment against a plain background.

Careful preparation is required to accurately show its shape, proportions and construction. Fabrics behave differently, garments need to be positioned consistently, and details such as collars, sleeves, stitching and fit all contribute to how the finished product appears.

For businesses with large ecommerce catalogues, consistency is particularly important. A product photographed today needs to sit naturally alongside products photographed several months or even years earlier.

That same consistency can become valuable when those images are subsequently used by AI.

A clear source photograph gives the technology better visual information to work with. If the original imagery accurately represents the garment, there is a stronger foundation from which to create additional visual content.

For AWB, investing in professional product photography over several years means that it now has a growing library of high-quality digital assets that can be repurposed in ways that weren’t necessarily envisaged when the original photographs were taken.

Creating Different Looks for Different Customers

One of the areas James sees particular potential is the ability to adapt imagery for different audiences.

“As we have invested in excellent input images, we are agile and can combine input images with customer logos to create different looks, in different settings with AI-generated models which respond to the desired target audience.”

James Cook, Director, AWB Textiles

For a uniform supplier such as AWB, there are some interesting possibilities here.

The same professionally photographed garment could potentially be presented on different models, in different workplace settings or adapted to demonstrate how a customer’s branding could look when applied to a uniform.

A garment, for example, might originally have been photographed using a ghost mannequin to provide a clean and accurate ecommerce product image.

That original photograph can continue doing its primary job on the product page while also becoming source material for additional creative imagery.

Rather than choosing between accurate ecommerce photography and more aspirational lifestyle content, businesses are beginning to find ways of using the two together.

AI allows an established library of consistent garment photography to be explored across different models, settings and target audiences.

Getting More Value From a Product Photoshoot

This changes the potential lifespan of professional product photography.

Traditionally, the main objective of an ecommerce shoot might have been relatively straightforward: photograph the products and create a consistent set of images for the website, catalogue or marketplace.

Those requirements haven’t disappeared. Customers still need to see an accurate representation of what they are buying.

But the same photography can increasingly become the starting point for other marketing applications.

This is particularly valuable for businesses managing large clothing ranges, where consistent clothing photography can provide a dependable foundation for both immediate ecommerce requirements and future marketing activity.

What About Image Quality and Printing?

AI-generated imagery also introduces questions around resolution and where the resulting images can realistically be used.

For AWB, James says the current output is already sufficient for many of the company’s requirements.

“The DPI is OK for our use, i.e. e-com, onscreen A5 brochures, etc.”

James Cook, Director, AWB Textiles

Larger-format print is an area where he would currently be more cautious.

“If I was doing a banner, I would be more worried, but I suspect upscaling an AI-generated image in the same platform as it is created won’t be a problem soon.”

James Cook, Director, AWB Textiles

It’s a useful reminder that the appropriate workflow depends on where the final image will appear.

For ecommerce, online brochures, presentations and digital marketing, AI imagery can already offer interesting possibilities. For applications where precise product reproduction or very high-resolution output is required, professionally produced photography continues to provide the reliable master asset.

Is AI Replacing Product Photography?

It’s easy to frame the discussion around AI and photography as one replacing the other.

Our experience with AWB suggests a more interesting relationship.

AI is giving businesses new ways to use their existing imagery, but those possibilities can actually increase the value of having high-quality original photography.

Ghost mannequin photography provides an accurate, consistent representation of the garment itself. AI can then potentially take that visual information and create additional contexts around it.

The two therefore serve different purposes.

For an ecommerce retailer, the professionally photographed image remains the dependable representation of the product customers are purchasing. AI-generated imagery can then complement it by helping businesses explore different audiences, scenarios and creative ideas.

Building Product Photography for What Comes Next

Nobody knows exactly how quickly AI image technology will develop over the next few years.

What is already becoming clear, however, is that businesses with strong existing visual assets are well placed to experiment with it.

AWB’s experience demonstrates the longer-term value of investing in consistent professional product photography.

The ghost mannequin photographs originally created to present its garments clearly online now have another potential role: providing the source material from which entirely new marketing imagery can be developed.

And perhaps that is the biggest opportunity.

Professional product photography is no longer necessarily the end of the image creation process. Increasingly, it can be the beginning.