Recommendation
Use Leonardo as your primary tool for photoreal product mockups when your top goals are consistency, minimal manual retouching, and batch output for 50 SKUs. Use Midjourney only when you need a more artistic/textured look for hero images or concept exploration.

Why (short):
- Leonardo gives more product-oriented controls (inpainting, reference-image conditioning, template/batch workflows) so you can lock camera/lighting and iterate with fewer surprises. That reduces retouching. Midjourney can produce very high‑quality textures but tends to introduce stylization that needs more cleanup.

Decision criteria (pick which matter most for you)
- Consistency across SKUs: favor Leonardo (reference images, strict seeds, templates).
- Lowest retouch time: favor Leonardo (inpainting + background control).
- Highest artistic texture or mood variety: favor Midjourney.
- Budget: check both pricing; batch generation/inpainting costs and export limits can swing total cost.
- Team skill & tooling: if your team already scripts Midjourney, that matters; small teams may prefer Leonardo’s GUI-driven templates.

Practical checklist to run a 50-SKU shoot with minimal retouch
1. Gather or create 1–3 reference images per SKU (top/3/angled) with consistent framing. If possible, photograph a physical sample for color and material reference.
2. Define a strict visual spec: aspect ratio, camera focal length (e.g., 50mm), lighting (softbox front + rim), background color, shadow strength, exact crop box.
3. Create a prompt template (see examples below). Fix seeds, camera and lighting phrases, and negative prompts to ban unwanted artifacts.
4. Use reference-image conditioning for each SKU (upload the SKU photo or a neutral model) and keep the same seed for each view type to lock composition.
5. Batch-generate per SKU (3 views). For any small flaws, use inpainting to correct—don’t re-generate whole image.
6. Export in original resolution and run a single automated pass of color/white-balance + small sharpening. Manual retouch should be spot fixes only.
7. QC: compare against your reference for color delta and shadow placement; iterate prompt/template if multiple SKUs fail the same check.

Prompt templates (use placeholders)
- Core photoreal template (works for Leonardo/Midjourney with minor param tweaks):
"Studio photo of [PRODUCT_NAME], isolated on pure white seamless background, accurate materials and true-to-life color, softbox lighting from front-left with subtle rim light, natural soft shadow, 50mm lens, f/8, ISO 100, high detail, realistic specular highlights, centered composition, no text, no props, neutral mood. Seed=12345. Guidance=7-8. --no watermark --quality high"
- Add negative tokens as needed: "--no grain, --no extra limbs, --no logos, avoid stylized brush strokes"

Best-for / Avoid-if
- Best-for Leonardo: end-to-end product catalogs, tight brand consistency, quick iteration with inpainting.
- Avoid Leonardo if you want maximal painterly/artistic textures that Midjourney produces by default.
- Best-for Midjourney: hero shots, lifestyle/artful renders where you accept more retouch.
- Avoid Midjourney if you need pixel-perfect, identical crops across hundreds of SKUs.

Final tips
Lock seeds, use a single prompt template per view, rely on reference images, and prefer inpainting for fixes. If you want, I can generate tuned prompt variants for Midjourney and Leonardo specifically (tell me which you’ll run and whether product photos or 3D renders are your references).

Compare Midjourney and Leonardo AI