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I thought merging two photos with AI would be a weekend project. Nope

Show HN: I thought merging two photos with AI would be a weekend project. Nope

45 AI Score
Show_hn other Added Apr 3, 2026

Details

Sector
other
Total Funding
$0
Last Round
$0

About

At a friend&#x27;s gathering, someone mentioned wanting to add her late father into a family photo. I figured this would be trivial — modern image models are powerful, just send two photos and ask the AI to merge them. She said she&#x27;d tried, but the results were weird and unstable, and she didn&#x27;t know how to describe what she wanted.<p>I went home and tried it myself. With a well-written prompt and two good photos, it works. But real-world use cases aren&#x27;t two good photos — it&#x27;s a modern family photo plus a damaged old portrait, or two old photos from different decades. That&#x27;s when things fall apart.<p>I looked at existing tools. Most showcase merges between clean, well-lit, modern photos. Nobody was solving the hard version: mismatched eras, damaged sources, different poses, different formality levels.<p>I thought it would be a weekend project — one system prompt and done. After 200+ test iterations I realized stable results require much more than prompt engineering. The main challenges:<p>The AI subtly changes faces during merging. The result looks &quot;similar&quot; but isn&#x27;t the same person. For someone trying to add a deceased loved one, that&#x27;s a complete failure.<p>Posture and scale need to match. If the group is sitting on grass and the added person is standing like a giant, it&#x27;s obviously fake.<p>Casual accessories from a reference photo break formal scenes — sunglasses on the head at a wedding, sportswear at a ceremony.<p>Old photos have low resolution, damage, and no color. Merging, restoring, and colorizing at the same time makes everything harder.<p>It supports headshots, half-body, and full-body reference photos. Old and damaged photos work too — with optional colorization and restoration.<p>Still an MVP. Free to use once per day, no login required.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;animateoldphotos.org&#x2F;add-loved-one-to-photo" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;animateoldphotos.org&#x2F;add-loved-one-to-photo</a><p>Would love to hear about edge cases that break it.

AI Score Reasoning

This is a compelling technical solution to a high-intent emotional problem, but it currently functions more as a niche utility than a venture-scale business. While the founder demonstrates strong attention to detail regarding identity preservation and scene consistency, the project faces significant 'feature-vs-product' risk and competition from established giants like Adobe and MyHeritage.

Source

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