I built the first MVP of CozAIPhoto in about two weeks of late nights and weekends, because every AI photo tool I tried still looked obviously “AI” — plastic skin, flat lighting, weird backgrounds. None of them gave me photos I’d actually feel good using on a dating profile or LinkedIn.

I’m not a photographer, just a solo indie maker who’s obsessed with photos that look like they were shot with a real camera — golden hour light, street candids, natural skin texture, real lens blur. I wanted that look, but without spending $300–500 on a photoshoot and forcing myself to pose in front of a camera.

So instead of giving up, I hacked together CozAIPhoto: a tiny AI photo studio focused on camera‑realistic portraits. You upload a few clear photos of yourself, pick a style like street, studio, travel, dating, or events, and it generates images where people’s first reaction is more “who took these for you?” than “is this AI?”.

It’s still an MVP — sometimes the hands are weird, sometimes the lighting isn’t perfect — but it’s already good enough that friends often can’t tell the photos are AI‑generated. That’s the bar I care about.