GPT Image 2.5 Flare might be the most realistic model that's dropped this year... tested it against the hype myself, here's what actually stood out: - skin texture holds up close, pores, peach fuzz, uneven tone, the stuff that usually breaks realism - lighting reads as genuinely photographed, not rendered... warm daylight, indoor ambient, both hold correctly - phone-camera artifacts nail themselves, grain, natural dynamic range, no filter look - depth of field behaves right, sharp subject, soft background, no obvious falloff error - long, detailed prompts actually get followed, outfit details, jewelry, expression, all landing - candid poses look candid, not the usual stiff AI-generated symmetry the lighting and texture out of the box is what actually surprised people, not the prompt-following