Photo and Chinese Shadow-Puppet Poster

Format

Text Parameterized

Inputs

reference_photos (image) · Required

Outputs

individual_posters (image)

Replace the ${…} placeholders with your values before using this prompt. See parameters and defaults below.

Turn each of my uploaded photos (${reference-photos}) into a separate, sophisticated design poster. Do not combine multiple photos into a collage; output one poster per photo. Use a vertical 3:4 composition, divided into upper and lower sections with a strict 1:1 height ratio, each occupying 50% of the image.

In the upper half, retain the original photograph, preserving the subject's identity, structure, pose, realistic texture, natural light and shadow, and original color atmosphere. Apply only subtle, refined color grading to give it the quality of fine-art photography and imagery from an Eastern art exhibition. If necessary to fit the format, naturally extend the environmental background, but do not stretch, distort, or alter the subject.

In the lower half, extract the photograph's most recognizable subject, silhouette, pose, and narrative relationships, and reconstruct them as a single traditional Chinese shadow puppet performing against a translucent rice-paper screen illuminated by warm light. Whether the original image depicts a person, animal, building, plant, object, or landscape, interpret it as a character that can be manipulated: divide the subject into a small number of articulated parts connected with rivets, take its pose from the most expressive moment in the original photograph, and add one or two slender bamboo control rods extending into the image from below.

Do not depict it realistically or turn it into a cartoon. Instead, reinterpret it through the visual language of shadow puppetry: profile views, flattened forms, decorative cutouts, cloud motifs and geometric carved patterns, and selective translucent color staining. Preserve the original subject's most recognizable features so viewers recognize it immediately, while feeling that an experienced craftsperson has reinterpreted and carved it.

Light and shadow are the soul of this work. A warm lamp behind the screen lets warm points of light shine through the puppet's cutouts. The stained areas display translucent vermilion, indigo, olive green, and amber yellow. Give the puppet's edges softly blurred cast shadows and a slight halo, as though it is moving slowly. A very subtle double shadow or motion ghosting may suggest a fleeting moment in the puppet's performance.

Base the composition on one scene, one puppet, and abundant negative space. The screen is a warm field of creamy beige or pale amber light that naturally darkens around the edges. The subject occupies only about 25%–35% of the image and may sit off-center or at a golden-section point. Keep the remaining space quiet, like the pause before a performance begins. Do not include an audience, a panoramic view of the stage, or elaborate props.

Extract the two or three most emotionally evocative colors from the upper photograph and translate them into translucent stains on the puppet, harmonizing them with the warm field of lamplight. Use deep brown and warm ink tones for shadows rather than cold black.

Use text sparingly. You may place a play title or a short phrase in small vertical lettering in one corner of the screen, quietly resembling a handwritten theater-troupe program. Any language is acceptable.

The overall visual effect should unite carved shadow-puppet cutouts, translucent color staining, a warmly illuminated screen, soft cast shadows, and Eastern negative-space aesthetics. The core principle is to invite the photograph's protagonist onto the screen and let a single pose perform an entire play. Avoid fully realistic depiction, overcrowded scenes, cheap Chinese-trend styling, plastic textures, 3D rendering, cartoon aesthetics, and formulaic poster layouts.