Nano Banana 2 Image Generator

It is Google's image generation model, and MakeViral runs it as one of three options inside the AI photo generator. Nothing to install, no API key. Open the photo tool, pick the model, write a prompt, press generate.

The specifics, so you can plan around them.

Eight aspect ratios is more than the other two offer, and 4:5 matters most: it is the tallest crop the Instagram and Facebook feed shows without cropping you.

The prompt box counts characters against the 4,000 ceiling, and the chips put 9:16 first. Your images are listed newest first with Download, Use as reference, Remix and Delete.

Three jobs, in order of how far they separate it from the alternatives.

People. Faces, hands and skin are where image models give themselves away, and this is the one to reach for when a person is in the frame. It is the default behind the persona portraits on the AI influencer generator, where a creator portrait costs 2 credits.

Product shots. It holds material and finish well: brushed metal, frosted glass, matte cardboard, worn leather. With reference images of your real packaging it is the practical choice for the whole product photo and UGC photo workflow.

Edits with references. The real reason to pick it. Fourteen slots takes a product, a person, a room and a style board in one prompt, or one photo and a single change.

Where it is not the answer: legible text inside the image. If your poster or price tag has to be readable word for word, GPT Image 2.5 is the better bet. And if you only need a background, paying 2 credits for what Z-Image does for 1 is waste.

Drop images into the reference zone and the run switches to the edit path. The prompt then describes what to do with them, not what to invent. Three recipes cover most of it.

One reference, one change. Say what changes and, more importantly, what stays. "Keep the face, hair, pose and background exactly as they are" stops an edit becoming a new image.

Two to four references, one composite. Number them: reference 1 is the product, reference 2 the person, reference 3 the room. Then say where each goes and which sets the light.

Six to fourteen references, one consistent look. The front, back and cap of your packaging, two shots of your model, a few style frames. This is how a set looks like one campaign.

Any generated image can become a reference with Use as reference, so you can chain: the persona, then the product shot, then the slide.

A credit is about $0.10 on the $49.99 plan for 500 credits, and about $0.067 on the $199.99 plan for 3,000 credits.

Pick 1K for a feed post, a story, a thumbnail or a slideshow slide. At those sizes the extra pixels do nothing and you pay 50% more for them.

Pick 2K when the image gets cropped in hard, sits behind text, or is printed small. The extra credit is insurance against a soft crop.

Pick 4K for a banner, a print piece, or a shot where texture is the subject. It doubles the run cost, so use it on the winner, not on the search.

The efficient path: draft on Z-Image at 1 credit, find the composition, then re-run the winning prompt here at 1K with references attached. Plans are on the pricing page.

Written for this model at 1K unless noted. The ones that say "using the attached" belong on the edit path.

1. A creator portrait "A 24-year-old woman with freckles and shoulder-length curly auburn hair in a cream ribbed sweater against a sunlit apartment wall, soft window light from the left, eye level on a 50mm lens, shallow focus, calm half smile, 9:16." Why: age, hair, garment and lens give you a person you can reproduce later.

2. The same person, a second scene "Using the attached portrait as the reference for the face, hair and sweater: the same woman at an outdoor cafe table with a coffee cup, late afternoon side light, other tables blurred behind, same expression, 9:16." Why: naming the attributes to carry over keeps a persona consistent.

3. Product in hand, from two references "Using reference 1 for the product and reference 2 for the person: she holds the tube at chest height facing camera, label toward the lens and readable, warm kitchen light, blurred background, natural skin texture, 9:16." Why: numbering the references tells the model which one is the product.

4. Outfit swap on a photo you own "Using the attached photo: replace the jacket with an oversized olive canvas chore coat with visible stitching and two chest pockets, keep the face, hair, pose and background exactly as they are, same lighting direction, 9:16." Why: the preserve clause is what separates an edit from a new image.

5. Relight a shot you already have "Using the attached product photo: keep the bottle, label and proportions identical, replace the lighting with hard low afternoon sun from the right, a long shadow to the left across a concrete ledge, cool shadow tones, 9:16." Why: relighting a photo you own beats describing the product again.

6. Composite a product into a room "Using reference 1 for the product and reference 2 for the room: place the diffuser on the wooden shelf at the left third, match the room's soft morning light and its shadow direction, add a faint contact shadow under the base, 4:5." Why: matching the shadow direction makes a composite read as one photograph.

7. Two people, candid "Two friends in their late twenties on an apartment balcony at golden hour, one leaning on the railing holding a can, the other laughing mid-sentence, warm backlight with a soft flare from the right, framed left of center, 9:16." Why: a separate action each prevents two identical figures standing still.

8. Texture at 4K "A ceramic pour-over dripper on a raw concrete plinth in an empty gallery, one hard overhead skylight beam, deep falloff into shadow, fine dust visible in the light, centered with large negative space above, 4:3, at 4K." Why: 4K costs 4 credits, so spend it where texture is the subject.

Read the second column first. How many of your own images can go into the prompt is the axis these three really differ on.

The verdict: pick Nano Banana 2 whenever the image must contain something that already exists. Your product, your model, your room, your last frame. One slot handles an edit, fourteen handles a campaign.

Switch to GPT Image 2.5 when words inside the image must be readable, and to Z-Image when the image is scenery nobody will inspect.

At 1K both Nano Banana 2 and GPT Image 2.5 cost 2 credits, so that choice is never about money. It is references versus text rendering.

The limits are the same across all three models here. Know them before you build a workflow on them.

• No background removal on an uploaded photo. No cutout tool, no transparent PNG export. You can describe a plain white studio scene and generate into it, which is a new image rather than your photo stripped out.
• No brand font control. You cannot upload a typeface. Lettering is the model's guess at a shape.
• No exact color matching. No hex field. Generated color drifts between runs, so treat it as a mood.
• No guarantee a logo or a label renders correctly. Check every time. Read every word at full size and regenerate when it is wrong. Three attempts is about 60 cents on the $49.99 plan.

MakeViral also does not upload, schedule or post anything, does not connect social accounts and offers no API.

Where the images go next: the AI slideshow generator builds TikTok photo-mode posts and carousels, and the AI influencer generator turns a portrait into a product-in-hand still. The Shopify product photo guide covers listing images, and the TikTok guide covers what to do with them.