Should We Be Excited For Nano Banana?
People are excited about the mysterious Nano Banana AI art model that dropped in recent days.
With heavy rumors the model is linked to Google Deepmind, and some AI art and video platforms, such as Freepik, preparing to launch it to the world - why are people so excited?
It all comes down to making the most from a single art image. With the slot machine of text-to-image, being able to make seamless adjustments with just a simple prompt means you can get the result you want, even if not at first.
The true depth of Nano Banana is still unknown, but here are some basic use-cases that show it's potential.
Scene and Storyboarding
Original image from Midjourney, other images are from nano banana from LM Arena.
The original image is on the top left, a basic cinematic shot of a woman looking at her phone on a subway train.
With just some simple prompts, I was able to consistently bring the character into new scenes, such as her standing up, on the platform or even in a coffee shop.
This is a powerful way to storyboard, just with text prompts, that skips the traditional steps of using Photoshop to iterate.
It means as the artist and creator, you can continue to expand your scene in infinite ways until they work with the story you are trying to tell.
Object Change
Original image from Midjourney, other image is nano banana from LM Arena.
Another basic example is altering objects, such as a person's clothes. Impressively, nano banana keeps the composition, color/filter and character consistent whilst seamlessly changing their clothes.
This can also be applied to the background, removing unwanted things from your image, and again giving you the power to take control of your image.
Camera Angle Change
Original image from Midjourney, other image is nano banana from LM Arena.
Adjusting the camera angle whilst keeping the same character and composition is powerful. For marketing and advertising shots, especially those that feature people, this gives you unlimited opportunities to reimagine your work in new ways.
If Nano Banana is able to consistently do this, just with text prompts, this would help everyone get the most out of their images.
What Should We Do?
Stress-test this.
We need Nano Banana to be released on a more accessible platform (as of this article it's still only on LM Arena), where creatives can dive in and truly see the depth of it.
Some online have called this a 'Photoshop-Killer', but the new tool will really need to go beyond current technologies to achieve that level of precision.
But this is the true test now - precision.
With alternative models such as Flux Kontext and Runway References, that can edit static images in similar ways, will Nano Banana give us that specific precision we need to successfully remove traditional editing tools?
We will have to wait and see.
