AI Image Tools You Should Be Using in 2025

Dear Techies,

AI image creation has moved beyond hype into practical, everyday use. Whether you are a content creator, small business owner, or someone who wants to play with visuals, there are tools that help you design faster and edit smarter.

This week, I’ll break down the current leaders in AI image tools, including newer releases and older ones that are still worth your time. I’ll also share sample prompts so you can try them out right away.

🚀 Tools Worth Your Attention

1. Google Nano Banana (Gemini 2.5 Flash Image)
The new kid on the block. Great for photo editing with natural language: You can prompt it to “change hairstyle,” “replace background,” or “merge two photos.” It keeps subjects consistent across edits.

2. Adobe Firefly
Part of Photoshop and Illustrator. Features like Generative Fill and Generative Expand let you remove, add, or extend images. Their Bulk Create tool helps with batch editing for product photos or social content.

3. MidJourney
Not new, but still popular for artistic styles, surreal visuals, and mood-driven images. Strong community, lots of prompt inspiration. Great if you want a polished, “designer” look without heavy editing.

4. Stable Diffusion & Flux
Open-source models with strong flexibility. They allow text+image prompts, custom fine-tuning, and improved realism. Best if you like experimenting.

5. Ideogram
Specializes in text-within-images (posters, covers, graphics). If you’ve struggled with tools spelling text correctly, this one solves that.

6. Microsoft Designer
Beginner-friendly with templates and drag-and-drop editing. Perfect for non-designers who still want polished visuals.

7. Radiant Photo 2
Focused on photo enhancement: tone, lighting, sharpness. Great for quick clean-up, less about generative fantasy edits.

🎨 Prompts You Can Try Today

Start small. Here are some examples you can paste into your tool of choice:

1. Style swap
   Turn my selfie into a cinematic portrait, soft golden lighting, film grain, teal-and-orange tones.

2. Background change
   Replace the background with a beach at sunset, warm tones, soft glow on the subject.

3. Fashion experiment
   Change outfit to a modern Ankara print dress, bold colours, natural folds in fabric.

4. Merge images
   Combine my portrait with a starry night sky, glowing constellations, surreal mood.

5. Add or remove objects
   Remove the chair in the background, add a small plant on the table.

6. Poster with text (best with Ideogram)
   Create a poster of a hiker on a mountain. Add text at the bottom: ‘Adventure Awaits’ in bold block letters.

💡 Tips for Better Results

• Be specific: use words for lighting, colours, styles.

• Edit one thing at a time when learning.

• Use high-quality base images.

• Don’t expect perfect results on the first try—prompting is practice.

Why This Matters

These tools give you speed, flexibility, and creativity without needing years of design experience. Whether you’re building your brand, creating for clients, or experimenting for fun, AI makes visual editing more accessible than ever. These tools speed up your workflow and expand what’s possible.

👉 Over to you: Which tool are you most curious to try—MidJourney’s creative edge or Google’s Nano Banana edits? Reply and let me know

Your Tech Partner,
Ijeoma Ndu, PhD

P.S. I tried out the newest tool and I’m sharing one of my results. Tell me what you think and try it yourself.

P.S.S. Did you know I wrote a book? Tech Savvy Starts Here is available on Amazon—a practical, engaging guide for families and educators helping kids build confidence with technology. Check it out here.

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🧠 Keep learning. | 💬 Keep questioning. | 💥 Keep growing.