How do I generate AI photos for multiple sizes of the same product without reshooting each one?

Quick Answer

Generate each size as its own output rather than cropping or reshooting. In Nightjar, set the aspect ratio (1:1, 4:5, 9:16, 16:9, and seven others) and the resolution (1K, 2K, or 4K) on the Create form, keep every other setting the same, and run the brief once per size. For sizes you only realise you need later, the Reframe shortcut in the Edit tab takes an existing image and produces a new aspect ratio from it.

Two paths, depending on when you decide

A DTC catalog usually needs the same product in five or six shapes: a 1:1 PDP tile, a 4:5 Meta feed image, a 9:16 vertical for Stories and Reels, a 16:9 banner for email and web, and often a 2:3 Pinterest pin. Recropping one source into all of them is the path that ships off-centre subjects and empty phone screens. The cleaner approach is to treat the size as a setting on the Generation, not as a post-production step.

Nightjar gives you two ways to do that, and the right one depends on whether you knew you needed the size before generating or after.

Path A: known in advance, set at generation time

This is the default. In the Create tab, the aspect ratio and resolution are explicit output controls, not prompt language.

1. Upload the product image (or pick it from your Library, which is Nightjar's term for your Team's stored Assets and reusable ingredients).
2. Choose the visual ingredients you want held constant across sizes. Nightjar separates the photographic look (camera, lighting, mood) into a reusable Photography Style and the framing, angle, and pose into a Composition. Keep both the same across every size so the catalog reads as one shoot.
3. In the output settings, pick the aspect ratio for the size you need. Supported ratios are Default, 1:1, 4:3, 3:2, 2:3, 5:4, 4:5, 3:4, 16:9, 9:16, and 21:9.
4. Pick resolution: 1K, 2K, or 4K. Marketplace zoom and high-DPI storefronts usually need 2K or 4K.
5. Generate.
6. Repeat for the next size. Keep every ingredient identical, change only the aspect ratio.

To avoid rebuilding the brief every time, save the setup. Nightjar has a feature called Recipes: a Team-owned saved Create-form setup that captures the ingredients, the written direction, image count, aspect ratio, resolution, and output format together. Most brands build one Recipe per channel size ("PDP square 2K", "Reels vertical", "Email banner 16:9"), then apply each one in turn to the next product.

Path B: derived from an image you already have

Open the source image in the Edit tab. Click the Reframe Edit Shortcut and pick the target aspect ratio, either from the swatches or by typing /ratio 4:5 inline. Generate. The output is a new size of the same image rather than a regenerated brief, which is useful when the source is already approved and you only need the new shape.

Reframe is the right choice for one-off size adds. If you find yourself reframing every product into the same five shapes, build Recipes for those shapes instead and apply them at Create time. The result is more consistent, because every size starts from the same brief rather than from a single source biased toward one composition.

Typical sizes by destination

The pattern is the same across all of them: one brief, one set of ingredients, one Recipe, and the size becomes a flag rather than a separate production cycle.