Lighting, Shadows & Materials · Image Editing
Elo rankings from blind votes across 5 challenges in this category.
Highlights
10 imagesBest models, by
Best Image Editing Models by Price
1 model without pricing omitted.
Best Image Editing Models by Speed
20 models waiting for enough speed data.
Best AI Models for Lighting, Shadows & Materials
| # | Model | Elo |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1274 | |
| 2 | 1256 | |
| 3 | 1255 | |
| 4 | 1254 | |
| 5 | 1253 | |
| 6 | 1250 | |
| 7 | 1248 | |
| 8 | 1245 | |
| 9 | 1239 | |
| 10 | 1237 |
| 11 | 1234 | |
| 12 | 1233 | |
| 13 | 1230 | |
| 14 | 1227 | |
| 15 | 1224 | |
| 16 | 1216 | |
| 17 | 1210 | |
| 18 | 1207 | |
| 19 | 1207 | |
| 20 | 1202 | |
| 21 | 1199 | |
| 22 | 1199 | |
| 23 | 1190 | |
| 24 | 1188 | |
| 25 | 1187 | |
| 26 | 1185 | |
| 27 | 1184 | |
| 28 | 1179 | |
| 29 | 1176 | |
| 30 | 1171 |
Google dominates this category with Nano Banana Pro holding the top position at 1274 Elo, though OpenAI’s GPT Image 2 achieves a significantly higher win rate of 84.2% despite its slightly lower 1255 Elo. While Google and OpenAI lead here, the results diverge from the overall leaderboard as Black Forest Labs' FLUX.2 [klein] 9B provides a highly competitive 1253 Elo at a fraction of the cost and 14 times the speed of the category leader.
Rivalries
Aggregate head-to-head across the arena
Highlighted challenges
Man and Car in California
Combines two references (a person and a car) into one believable driving scene. It checks whether the model keeps the man’s identity and the car’s appearance while placing them convincingly on the coastline with matched lighting and perspective.
Bald man challenge
A targeted edit test. Adding a realistic head of hair requires a believable hairline and texture while keeping the face, expression, and lighting unchanged. Common failures are wig-like or pasted-on hair and subtle changes to the underlying face.
Keep the arena honest
Cast your vote
Pick winners in blind matchups. Every vote nudges the Elo and shapes these rankings.
Cast Your VoteSuggest a prompt
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