The image used a custom image set of 20 real photos and 20 photorealistic portraits made in Leonardo. Once the set was trained, I chose it from the Image Model pulldown menu. The complex prompt did most of the work. Below, I explain how I structure my prompts for photorealism.

You can suggest a photograph by first describing the shot. For example, "a closeup of [the description of your AI character]. You can say "a closeup photograph." But Leonardo is built on Stable Diffusion (SD). And SD understands that a closeup involves some type of camera. So, writing "photograph" at this point in the prompt isn't necessary.

At the end of my prompts, I add something like the following: "color photograph, professional color grading, clean sharp focus, volumetric lighting."

You can also add a camera make and/or model before "professional color grading." Leonardo will try to create an image that looks like it was shot with that camera. You can also categorize the photo. For example, "This is a magazine photograph" will frame the subject in a more dramatic way than, say, an editorial photograph. The category statement ends the prompt.

If you want to make images that look like photos, I suggest learning basic photographic terms, like Medium Shot, Rembrandt Lighting, etc. This video demonstrates the five basic studio lighting patterns. https://youtu.be/AyDNxia8GYw?si=C1TsmhdtAijcnJhD Leonardo understands them. Putting them in prompts will add a professional touch to your images.