AI’s Interpretation of Nature

It all started with an Instagram reel. The kind that makes you believe you, too, can achieve effortless perfection in mere seconds. I watched, wide-eyed, as Google’s ImageFX created a high-fashion, ad-worthy shot of LOEWE soap encased in ice—the kind of image that belongs in a luxury campaign, or at the very least, framed on my wall.

Naturally, I thought this was my moment. I’m working on a brand identity project in the environmental sustainability space, so I dove in, hoping ImageFX could generate hyper-realistic nature visuals I could use. I normally work with Midjourney but am always on the lookout for non-subscription-based options. I struggled navigating the prompt and couldn’t tell if more specificity was leading to better images. The result was a very curated version of nature—too polished, too structured, almost too perfect. It gave me pause, and a moment of appreciation for the randomness and beauty that makes the natural world so captivating. While it was fun to experiment, I’m not sure it’s going to replace my current tools but I did have a few discoveries, including Notebook LM which is going into my workflow today!

Have you tried Google ImageFX? Was it your soap-in-ice moment, and what do you think of the images below?