Contextual image editing models

Lately, I’ve been integrating Nano Banana and Flux Kontext more into my matte painting workflow. These image editing models work great for a number of tasks. From extending environments seamlessly to making lighting and time of day changes. 

I wanted to show a quick workflow of establishing a quick and solid base for a matte painting.

As my plate, I'll use one of my photos from my library:

A temple nestled in a forest canopy.

I want to extend the temple downward, and have it sit on the edge of a cliff in the forest.

Using Gemini's Nano Banana, I drafted a starting prompt.

For a first pass, I'm happy with the temple extension, but I want the rocks to blend in with the forest more.

This conversational approach makes it possible to split a task into steps if you want to focus on a specific step at a time.

Rocks blended in with foliage more:

Next, prompting for some clouds:

Using Guide Lines

As a next step, I want to extend the temple further, but specifically around the cliff side. I drew some loose guide lines for placement. This way, you still have control over your image and what you want to achieve.

The prompt I put into Nano Banana:

Temple extension further down on the right side:

I provided additional guide lines for the temple to be extended lower to the left:

The final pass with all extensions added:

Lighting changes

Flux Kontext works great for lighting changes. For example here, I asked  to change the light direction from the right to the left with a simple prompt:

Lighting changed to coming from the left:

Changing the time of day to sunset:

Result:

Camera changes

Prompting for camera angle changes is a great way to get a seamless environment extension.

Camera pivoted slightly to the left:

Mood variations

This is very helpful, for example, in achieving quick turnarounds during the visual development stages to establish the look of a scene.