AI Image Generation in Post-Production

AI image generation is great for building style and mood boards, and it can speed up several stages of post-production. The tools change every few months, but as of late 2026 these are the ones worth knowing:

1. Midjourney: Known for the look of its images, which makes it a favorite for style frames and mood boards. Runs in a web app as well as Discord, on a paid subscription.
2. GPT Image (OpenAI): Built into ChatGPT. Strong at following detailed prompts and rendering legible text, and you can refine an image just by asking for changes.
3. Adobe Firefly: Built into Photoshop and other Adobe apps. Adobe trains it on licensed content and pitches it as safe for commercial work, which matters for client deliverables.
4. Google Imagen and Gemini: Google's image models, available in the Gemini app and through Google Cloud. Good at photorealism and at editing an existing image from plain-language instructions.
5. FLUX (Black Forest Labs): Photorealistic models you can use through an API or run yourself from the open-weight releases.
6. Ideogram: The usual pick when the image needs readable text, like titles, posters, or signage.
7. Stable Diffusion: Open source and free to run on your own hardware, usually through ComfyUI. The most customizable option if someone on your team likes to tinker.

Which one fits depends on what you need it for: quick concepting, mood boards, or a step inside a larger post-production pipeline.