Previsualize a shoot with reference images in Firefly

Rob de Winter shows how to preview lighting, location, and angle before the camera comes out.

Published August 20, 2026

00:01

Introduction and meet Rob de Winter

[Adobe Firefly displays a generated image of a man seated at a piano in a large industrial warehouse.]

[Rob de Winter]: Before a photo shoot it can be really useful to get a feel for how a concept works.

In Firefly, you can combine a few reference photos [The Firefly workspace shows a prompt field and reference image thumbnails in the left panel.] into one image to test your lighting, your location, and your composition before you even pick up a camera.

[Cut to Rob de Winter in his studio.]

I'm Rob de Winter, Adobe instructor, designer, and author from the Netherlands, and in this video, I'll show you how to combine reference photos in Firefly to previsualize a shoot, test different lighting scenarios, and change the location entirely.

In this example, I'm working with the shoot concept for a musician.

I have three reference photos: the man himself, his Hammond organ, and a vintage warehouse location.

Let's combine them.

[The Generate image workspace opens, with generation settings in the left panel and an empty results area.]

Go to firefly.adobe.com and click Generate iImage.

For combining photos, I always go straight to Gemini 3.1 (w/ Nano Banana 2) [The model and generation settings are adjusted in the left panel.] or FLUX 2 (pro).

Both are excellent and merging multiple reference images into one coherent result.

In this video, I'll use Gemini 3.1 (w/ Nano Banana 2) to combine the photos into a base image, and then use FLUX 2 (pro) to change the setting or mood from there.

01:03

Combine reference photos into one scene

Let's start with Gemini 3.1 (w/ Nano Banana 2).

I set the Aspect ratio to Standard (4:5), and the Resolution to 1K.

Then I drag the three reference photos into the Reference image area, the photo of the Hammond organ, the photo of the man, and the photo of the warehouse.

You can upload up to six reference photos with Gemini 3.1 (w/ Nano Banana 2), so three is more than enough.

Now I type the prompt where I describe the man sitting behind the Hammond organ on a stage with LED lighting.

Then click Generate.

This is the result.

[Firefly generates an image of a man seated at a piano inside a tall industrial warehouse.]

The model has combined all three reference photos into one image.

If something isn't quite right, you can adjust the prompt and generate again.

But if you're happy with this, you can start building on it.

[The same image of the pianist centered on a brightly lit platform.]

01:51

Adjust lighting, mood, and perspective

Click on the generated image to open it in the Edit workspace.

Your current image is automatically selected as the reference, so anything you described in the prompt now will be applied to this image.

I want to see what this looks like as a night shot.

I'll switch to FLUX 2 (pro), because FLUX is really good at changing the mood and lighting of an existing image.

Let's paste in the prompt and click Generate.

[A generated variation returns the pianist to a dark industrial interior surrounded by haze.]

The daytime setting has shifted to night while the composition stays intact.

Still working from the night image, I now want to see what the top down perspective would look like.

I'm going to do this again with FLUX 2 (pro) because Flux handles perspective changes very well.

Let's paste in the prompt again and click Generate.

As you can see, we now have a completely different angle from the same setup.

[A variation shows the pianist shot from above framed by mist and lights.]

Great to have as an option when you are planning the shoot.

Now I want to go back to the original daytime image and try something completely different - swap the warehouse for a beach.

You can navigate back to any earlier results using the generation history at the bottom of the screen.

Click on the daytime image and continue from there.

03:03

Swap the location entirely

[The prompt is adjusted.]

Choose FLUX 2 (pro) again, and use this prompt.

Then click Generate.

The stage and musician stay exactly the same, but the whole location has shifted to a moody beach at blue hour.

That's a completely different shoot concept and very good to investigate different settings.

If you look closely at details, like the keys of the organ, [The image changes to the industrial scene from above filled with heavy smoke around the pianist.] you'll sometimes spot small inconsistencies.

I think that's okay because these images aren't the final photos.

They are a way to think through your shoot in advance, show your client what you have in mind, and arrive on location knowing exactly what you want.

[Cut back to Rob in his studio.]

That's how you can use reference photos to plan an entire shoot in advance, test different settings and perspectives, and show your client what you have in mind.

Now give it a try yourself.

Again, I'm Rob de Winter, and I'll see you in one of the next videos.

Note: Stock assets provided are for practice purposes only. See terms.

What you’ll learn

Combine reference photos into one scene

Upload photos of your subject, prop, and location, and Firefly merges them into a single cohesive image. It's a way to test how different elements come together before a shoot.

Adjust lighting, mood, and perspective

Once you have a base image you can shift it to a night scene, add atmosphere like mist, or view the composition from a completely different angle. Each version builds from the last, so the core setup stays consistent.

Swap the location entirely

You can also return to an earlier version and swap out the background, like trading a warehouse for a beach at blue hour. The subject and staging stay the same while the setting changes completely.

Instruction by: Rob de Winter
Adobe Stock Contributors: Bert-Jan; Fxquadro; Sved Oliver

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Cookies are small text files stored by your web browser when you use websites. There are also other technologies that can be used for similar purposes like HTML5 Local Storage, web beacons, and embedded scripts. These technologies help us do things like remembering you and your preferences when you return to our sites, measure how you use the website, conduct market research, and gather information about the ads you see and interact with.

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View transcript

What you’ll learn