5 AI mistakes we caught

Hands: count everything with fingers.

One NORTHE shot came back with three hands on one bottle. AI builds hands from patterns, not anatomy, so the more a pose overlaps (a hand holding a dropper over a palm), the more likely an extra one appears.

• Count hands and fingers in every image, at full size.
• Write it into the prompt: “natural hand anatomy, one thumb and four fingers on each hand”.
• If a hand is wrong, crop it out or make the shot again. Never post it hoping nobody looks.

Spelling: read the label letter by letter.

The NORTHE beard oil label came back as “BEARO OIL”. Small print is where AI slips most: it draws letters as shapes, so a D turns into an O and nobody notices at thumbnail size.

• Attach the real packshot to every prompt, so the model copies the label instead of inventing it.
• Zoom to 200% and read every word against the packshot.
• Add text such as callouts and prices afterwards in Canva or Figma, not in the prompt.

Physics: act the shot out.

In one DUSK cold brew shot, the model drank from the side of the can. It looked fine for a second, then it didn’t. AI knows what drinking looks like, not how a can opens.

• For every action (drinking, pouring, wearing, opening), ask: would a real person do it like this?
• Describe the mechanics in the prompt: “drinking from the opening at the top of the can”.
• Check that the product really touches what it stands on: a contact shadow, no floating.

Process: know how the product is made.

For the KESTREL film, the first craft shots had the lenses already in a frame that was still being cut. The AI doesn’t know the build order; a buyer who knows eyewear does.

• Before any behind-the-scenes shot, write the real steps in order (cut, polish, hinge, lens).
• Say what is not there yet: “an empty front, no lenses fitted”.
• Ask someone who knows the product to look at the board before you animate it.

Drift: keep only the clean seconds.

In the KESTREL video, green lenses appeared in an empty frame a couple of seconds into the clip. Image-to-video models drift: the longer the clip runs, the further it moves from the first frame.

• Start every clip from a checked still, never from text alone.
• Watch each clip frame by frame and mark the second it changes.
• Cut before the drift and build the film from short clean pieces.

Five questions, every image.

AI is fast. Checking is the job. This is the list we run before anything is delivered; copy it and use it on your own images. The longer version is in the AI product image checklist.