Question
What is a reference image in AI image generation?
A reference image is a picture you give an AI image tool to show what you mean, such as a texture, color, light, shape, style or character. The model uses it as guidance for the new image rather than as the picture to edit, and the result follows it more or less closely.
References replace words that are hard to write. "This pleated fabric", "this exact orange", "light like this" are easier to show than to describe. Google's Gemini documentation describes several kinds, such as object images and character images used for consistency.
A reference is different from the source image, which is the picture being changed. Telling the model what each reference is for ("use this for the jacket texture only") keeps it from spreading into everything.
In ImageQuarry you can add one or more reference images to show a direction such as a texture, color or light. References guide the result, so you review each version to see how closely it followed them.
Source: Google's Gemini image generation documentation and the ImageQuarry homepage, checked October 20, 2026.
Related questions
Last reviewed October 20, 2026 by ImageQuarry
Create an image. Edit it with words. Keep refining.
Show it instead of describing it
Add a reference for the texture, color or light you have in mind and say what it is for.
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