Justin Jireh Johnson

One Practice,
Many Interfaces

Choose your door

AI Imaging

Art-directed generation

Photorealistic imagery produced with generative AI under precise art direction — lighting, composition, and material behavior specified at the prompt, output curated against commercial standards, and finished work corrected by hand in Photoshop.

Midjourney / OpenAI / Grok / Nano Banana / Kling / Seedance / Stable Diffusion · LoRA workflow knowledge → Photoshop compositing & retouch → human QA

Generative studies — raw output, direction only

Uncorrected generations, shown as prompt and lighting direction: each frame executes a named studio technique or art-direction brief exactly as specified.

Glass decanter as bright line work on black — dark-field illumination study — **Dark-field illumination**Hidden edge lights render cut glass as white line work on black.

White ceramic pitcher on pure white — high-key study — **High-key**Three-light setup, background held at pure white, shadows nearly erased.

Chrome vase on a smooth radial gradient backdrop — gradient background study — **Gradient backdrop**Feathered strip light behind the sweep; reflections controlled on chrome.

Dark armchair traced by rim light on black — low-key rim study — **Low-key rim**Two rim lights only; the form survives on edge highlights alone.

Hand-hammered silver tea service on charcoal seamless — auction catalog study — **Auction lot — silver service**Reflective-metal control brief in catalog style: overhead diffusion, side cards shaping every surface.

Three stoneware vessels on limestone in soft north light — minimal ceramics study — **Minimal ceramics**North-light brief: ascending forms, restrained glazes, generous negative space.

Unbleached linen falling in one broad sculptural fold against warm plaster — textile study — **Textile — linen fold**Fabric as sculpture: side light revealing warp, weft, and natural translucency.

Dark velvet draped over a form, low-key side light — textile study — **Textile — velvet drape**Low-key drape study: pile absorbing light, edges holding the form.

Charcoal Adirondack chair on a foggy coastal bluff at dawn — atmosphere study — **Atmosphere — coastal fog**Product clarity held inside heavy atmosphere, dawn palette as directed.

Beauty close-up of a woman in soft even light with natural skin texture — portrait lighting study — **Beauty — soft key**Portrait lighting brief: soft frontal key, natural skin texture and specular control held at close crop.

Glass perfume bottle backlit with warm amber glow against dark gradient — fragrance advertising study — **Fragrance hero**Backlit amber liquid, controlled edge reflections on glass, dark-atmosphere advertising register.

Teal Adirondack chair in a flooded concrete gallery under a skylight beam — editorial study — **Editorial — flooded gallery**Surreal brief executed with physical rigor: single skylight, still-water reflection.

Directed iteration — one scene, seven instructions

The same fire-bowl scene refined through seven reference edits, one directed change per step — composition, key light, construction, grounding, materials, grade. Drag to compare the first generation against the final; the sequence below documents each step.

Fire-bowl scene — final version after seven directed edits — **Net effect — v1 vs v7**Seven single-variable instructions between these two frames; each middle step is deliberately surgical so the scene stays stable while it improves.

Fire-bowl scene — first generation from the base brief — **Net effect — v1 vs v7**Seven single-variable instructions between these two frames; each middle step is deliberately surgical so the scene stays stable while it improves.

Fire-bowl scene, version 1 — base generation from the written brief — **v1 — base brief**Generated from the written prompt only.

Version 2 — recomposed with copy space — **v2 — composition**Camera to seat height, chairs weighted right, sky held open for copy.

Version 3 — ember key light — **v3 — light**Ember glow promoted to key; blue-hour ambient deepened.

Version 4 — chair construction corrected — **v4 — construction**Chair pair matched; slat spacing and count made consistent.

Version 5 — shadows and bounce rebuilt — **v5 — grounding**Contact shadows rebuilt; ember bounce on the chair fronts.

Version 6 — material correction — **v6 — materials**Matte lumber sheen; natural wool in the blankets.

Version 7 — final grade — **v7 — grade**Warm/cool balance finalized; copy zone protected.

Directed iteration II — one product, light only

The same stoneware pitcher with product, camera, and framing locked — only the lighting instruction changes, built one modifier at a time the way a shot is built on set. Drag to compare the flat record shot against the finished portrait.

Pitcher under finished commercial lighting — gradient background, modeled form, grounded shadow — **Net effect — flat vs finished**Six lighting instructions between these frames: key, diffusion, fill, rim, background, polish. Nothing else was allowed to change.

Pitcher in flat shadowless ambient light — record shot baseline — **Net effect — flat vs finished**Six lighting instructions between these frames: key, diffusion, fill, rim, background, polish. Nothing else was allowed to change.

Version 1 — flat even ambient, shadowless baseline — **v1 — baseline**Flat even ambient; shadowless record shot.

Version 2 — single hard key light from 45 degrees left — **v2 — hard key**One bare light, 45° camera left; hard-edged cast shadow.

Version 3 — key softened through a softbox — **v3 — diffusion**Same direction through a softbox; transitions and shadow edge soften.

Version 4 — white fill card added camera right — **v4 — fill**White card camera right lifts the shadow side to a 2:1 ratio.

Version 5 — rim light added behind — **v5 — rim**Back light traces the shoulder and spout, separating product from ground.

Version 6 — background lit into a radial gradient — **v6 — background**Radial gradient behind the product; subject lighting untouched.

Version 7 — final polish with deepened contact shadow — **v7 — polish**Spill flagged, contact shadow deepened; finished product portrait.

Personal spec studies — generic furniture and studio subjects; no client affiliation. Studies are shown as uncorrected raw output; delivered work always passes through hand retouching and QA.

Experience

Selected roles

Product & Studio Photographer

The RealReal — San Francisco

120+ Images DailyLuxury + HomeStudio + ModelVisual QA

2013–2017

High-volume commercial studio experience across luxury product, model, editorial, portrait, and campaign photography.

Photographed luxury fashion, accessories, jewelry, footwear, and home goods, consistently producing 120+ sale-ready images per day.
Created ecommerce product photography, editorial imagery, marketing assets, model shoots, headshots, and detail-focused campaign content.
Directed models using poses, framing, and movement appropriate to each garment, brand, and intended marketing channel.
Maintained precise standards for lighting, exposure, colour accuracy, composition, and image consistency across large daily volumes.
Styled and positioned luxury products to preserve accurate silhouette, proportion, texture, construction, and designer-specific details.
Collaborated with stylists, art directors, production teams, models, and retouchers to execute briefs and meet tight deadlines.
Adjusted lighting setups, backdrops, lenses, and camera angles for editorial, catalog, social, lookbook, portrait, and promotional work.
Captured clean headshots and model portraits with attention to flattering light, natural posing, wardrobe, and brand alignment.
Reviewed images during production for focus, garment fit, reflections, colour, continuity, and retouching requirements.
Balanced creative quality, technical precision, and strict turnaround expectations within a fast-paced studio workflow.
Translated visual quality into repeatable capture rules for lighting, pose, crop, product placement, and category-specific exceptions.
Diagnosed production failure modes early and supplied clear retouch notes for reflections, garment fit, construction, colour, and continuity.
Built the real-world material, optics, and lighting judgment now used to assess AI-generated imagery for physical plausibility and product truth.
Balanced standardization with human judgment, recognizing when a repeatable workflow was sufficient and when an image required individual creative intervention.

Founder & Creative Director

Archive Print Co.

Brand SystemsArt DirectionCampaign + CommerceAI Creative Systems

2016–Present

Creative direction for a restoration-led print brand, connecting archival material, product presentation, and commerce through one visual system.

Built and evolved the brand identity across storefront, packaging, product imagery, campaigns, and customer touchpoints.
Directed image selection, archival restoration, colour, crop, scale, framing, and final presentation for print and digital use.
Established art-direction standards that keep products historically grounded while making the collection feel current.
Created product photography, room mockups, collection launches, social assets, and marketing systems across channels.
Connected curation, copy, merchandising, web design, and production decisions into a coherent customer experience.
Developed repeatable creative workflows that support growth without losing the judgment and specificity of the brand.
Developed campaign concepts, visual briefs, shot lists, and reference systems that translated collection goals into clear production direction.
Built collection narratives from archival research, deciding how works should be grouped, named, sequenced, and introduced to customers.
Directed product positioning, frame selection, prop styling, lighting, and environmental context so scale, colour, texture, and historical character remained credible.
Designed modular visual systems for banners, product pages, email, social, editorial content, and print collateral without making every channel feel identical.
Led production review from restoration and print proofing through final crop, export, accessibility, channel specifications, and launch-ready quality control.
Used merchandising performance, customer feedback, and brand goals to refine creative direction while protecting a consistent long-term point of view.
Build multimodal concept workflows that combine archival research, brand context, reference imagery, copy direction, and generative exploration before production.
Translate brand standards into reusable prompt systems, visual constraints, and review rubrics that keep AI-assisted assets recognizable and on-brand.
Evaluate emerging image, video, and design models through rapid proofs of concept, judging creative value alongside consistency, controllability, cost, and production readiness.
Establish responsible AI practices for authorship, source provenance, rights, transparency, and human approval while protecting the value of original creative judgment.

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Founder & Ecommerce Operator

Archive Print Co. — 500+ five-star customer reviews

Shopify500+ ReviewsEnd-to-End OperationsAgentic Commerce

2016–Present

Built Archive Print Co. as a complete product and operating system rather than a conventional online shop.

Created the brand, collection strategy, visual language, storefront, photography, copy, and customer experience.
Operate Shopify merchandising, catalog structure, pricing, launches, fulfillment, service, and performance review.
Restore archival artwork and translate it into consistent, print-ready products and persuasive ecommerce imagery.
Develop social content, email, campaign assets, and collection stories from the same underlying brand system.
Built Python and AI-assisted workflows for SKU creation, metadata, mockups, listings, and multichannel publishing.
Use customer feedback and more than 500 five-star reviews to refine products, presentation, and operations.
Built multimodal listing workflows that connect master images, archival context, product metadata, mockups, copy, and channel requirements in one production flow.
Orchestrate human-and-agent workflows for research, SKU creation, listing preparation, quality checks, and publishing, with approval gates before customer-facing changes.
Structure catalog data and product context for conventional search as well as emerging conversational discovery and AI-assisted shopping experiences.
Evaluate automation by measurable business value—time saved, error reduction, catalog quality, customer clarity, and conversion—rather than novelty alone.

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Independent Developer & Creative Technologist

Self-directed

Python-FirstAI WorkflowsDesktop + CommerceAgents + Evals

Ongoing

Creative technology work focused on removing repetitive production steps while preserving deliberate human review.

Built ListingLab, a Python desktop application that turns master artwork into structured, reviewable marketplace packages.
Developed perspective-composited mockups, LLM-assisted copy, SKU minting, catalog tools, and multichannel publishing flows.
Created reusable scripts for compositing, batch image preparation, metadata, validation, and delivery.
Designed batch systems with exception handling, progress tracking, recoverable state, and human approval checkpoints.
Work across Python, JavaScript and JSX, Rust, SQL, GraphQL, CSS and Qt style sheets, HTML, and Windows automation.
Translate visual-production language—lighting, lens, pose, material, crop, and composition—into constraints software can apply.
Use AI as an orchestrated production component while keeping brand judgment and final quality control human-led.
Design context-engineered workflows that ground models in catalog data, brand rules, reference examples, and task-specific constraints instead of relying on generic prompts.
Orchestrate agentic workflows that call tools and APIs, validate intermediate results, handle exceptions, and pause for human approval at consequential steps.
Build evaluation frameworks that compare models and prompts for accuracy, visual fidelity, consistency, latency, cost, and reliability before production use.
Make AI pipelines observable and recoverable through logging, versioning, provenance, fallbacks, and documented failure patterns that improve future runs.

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Multidisciplinary
by necessity.

I work in the space where visual craft, commerce, and technology converge — because the most compelling work lives there.

Equal parts retoucher and developer, brand builder and systems thinker. I have built ecommerce stores, scripted compositing and batch-production workflows, created AI-assisted tools, and directed photography — often for the same project.

The through-line is precision: knowing exactly what something should look like, and knowing how to make it.

Working Method

I use AI as a controlled part of visual production: translating lighting, posing, lens, composition, anatomy, material, colour, and brand direction into precise constraints, then evaluating and finishing the result with a photographer’s and retoucher’s judgment. Human review remains the final gate.

Available for retouching, photography,
ecommerce, and creative technology.

One Practice,Many Interfaces