One of the things I always struggle with when writing blog posts is the issue of the eye-catching image.
Even if you can write the text, doesn't it take a surprisingly long time to find images that match it? I spent years going back and forth between free stock image sites, only to end up settling on photos with similar compositions. And even when I searched, I often found myself thinking, "Oh, I've seen this somewhere before." Which is understandable, since everyone is using the same sites.
Around last month, I decided to try creating images using AI. The reason was that I saw an image on a blog by a reader I'm close with, who said, "This is an eye-catching image I created myself," and it had such a great atmosphere. I was genuinely surprised, thinking, "Wait, this isn't from a stock image site, you made it yourself?" That's where it all started.
I realized after trying them out that different tools are completely different in what they're good at.
At first, I thought that "creating images with AI = they're all the same," but when I actually tried it, I found they were completely different.
For example, when trying to create an image with text (like when you want to directly embed a blog title into an image), some AI programs might scribble the text into illegible symbols, but tools that are good at rendering text will display it nicely. Conversely, when you want to create an image with a specific atmosphere in mind (like a soft, dreamy world or a cinematic image), choosing a tool that excels in that area will overwhelmingly produce better results.
Another surprisingly useful tool is one that lets you create photos for various situations based on your own face. I think it would be great for people who like to change their profile picture frequently (I haven't had the courage to try it yet, though...lol).
Trying them all is honestly a lot of work, so I recommend comparing them before making a choice.
However, there are honestly just too many AI image generation tools, and I felt it would be a waste of time to register for and try each one individually. Even if I only use the free tiers to see how they work, comparing multiple tools is quite a hassle.
So, I first looked at a list summarizing the features of each tool, and then narrowed it down to only those that seemed closest to my purpose (in my case, "I want to add text and create a nice atmosphere for blog eye-catching images") to try. The AI image generation tool list page had a brief summary of what each tool was good at, so I think it would save time for anyone interested to check that out first before trying them out.
By the way, I'm gradually replacing the featured images on this blog with AI-generated ones. I'm still getting used to it and experimenting, but I think I'll finally be able to move beyond just reusing the same free stock images.
If you're someone who's struggling with the same problem of "using the same kind of image for your eye-catching content every time," I think it's worth giving this a try.