Short answer
For a small agency producing ecommerce product shots with consistent shadows and materials, Leonardo AI usually wins for predictable, editable batch output and workflow controls. Midjourney can produce stunning single photoreal frames with excellent surface detail, but it’s less convenient for repeatable, editorial-style product sets and iterative edits.

Recommendation
- If your priority is consistent product sets, fast iteration, masking/inpainting and lower cost-per-image: choose Leonardo AI.
- If you need the occasional ultra-polished hero shot with rich texture and you can tolerate manual workflows for each image: consider Midjourney for those shots and use Leonardo (or traditional retouching) for the bulk of SKUs.

Why (decision criteria)
- Realism: Both are capable. Midjourney often produces richer micro-detail and “wow” textures; Leonardo produces reliably accurate materials and controlled lighting when you use image-to-image plus material prompts.
- Editing controls: Leonardo has stronger in-app inpainting, region edits, and template pipelines—better for iterative retouching and consistent variations. Midjourney has limited native masking/edits (though newer versions improved), so you’ll need external tools for fine control.
- Batch output & consistency: Leonardo is easier to automate/batch (templates, export options, seed control). Midjourney can batch via repeated prompts and rerolls but is more manual and less consistent across many SKUs.
- Cost & speed: Leonardo tends to give a better control-to-price ratio for production runs; Midjourney subscriptions can be faster for single-image generation but become expensive at scale.
- Post-processing: Expect to do final color/mask/shadow cleanup in Photoshop or a compositor either way.

Best-for / Avoid-if
- Best for Leonardo AI: bulk ecommerce catalog work, consistent lighting and shadow passes, teams needing inpainting and quick variations. Avoid if you need occasional highly stylized hero art where hand-tuned photoreal texture is the aim.
- Best for Midjourney: single hero images with cinematic texture/lighting. Avoid if you need hundreds of consistent product images with exact shadows and camera matching.

Practical checklist to run a photoreal product shot pipeline
1. Brief & references: collect product photos, material close-ups, target camera angle, and shadow style. Include a color/gray card if possible.
2. Choose base image: use a neutral studio photo or high-quality render as init-image for consistency.
3. Prompt template: include camera (e.g., 50mm, f/8), lighting (softbox left, rim light right), material keywords (matte rubber / polished chrome), shadow keywords (soft shadow on white surface, contact shadow), and color profile.
4. Use seeds & batch settings: lock seed where consistency is required, vary only camera angle token. Export a CSV of prompts for automation.
5. Inpainting: fix labels, reflections, or add consistent shadows via region edits (Leonardo excels here).
6. Upscale & refine: run 1–2 upscale passes, then export layered PSD or PNG + alpha for compositing.
7. Post-pro: match colors, add accurate drop shadows, check scale/white-balance on several monitors. Replace background if needed.
8. QA checklist: correct scale, consistent shadow length/direction, label/readability, file naming, and metadata.

When your choice depends
- Budget: Leonardo is better for lower cost per image at scale. Midjourney is fine for a few high-end hero images.
- Skill level: Leonardo’s GUI and inpainting are friendlier for retouchers; Midjourney rewards strong prompt skill.
- Team size / workflow stage: small teams needing repeatable batches should prefer Leonardo; creative directors wanting standout hero shots can use Midjourney selectively.

If you want, I can write a starter prompt template and a sample CSV for batch runs (tell me target camera, surface color, and whether you’ll provide init images).

Compare Leonardo AI and Midjourney