Utah dunes: one photo to a five-piece social kit

A public-domain photo of the Little Sahara dunes became an Instagram square and story, a link card, a Twitter card and an X header, all with the same headline.

The original photo: rippled sand dunes at dusk below a snow-dusted peak catching the last light. — Before

The graded master: deeper ripples and a vignette, with the headline Chase the last light and the line Little Sahara, Utah. — After

AskedTurn one desert photo into a matching set of social cards with the same headline.
What the AI didNothing. No AI step ran: every step used hand tools, which cost no credits.
Your callsClarity, vignette, vibrance and contrast, the headline and where it sits so every crop keeps it, and the X header crop.
Cost0 credits (0¢)
Time168 seconds driven by a script; about 5 to 8 minutes for a person clicking the same path, most of it on the type.
SourcePublic domain (PD-USGov-BLM, a work of a U.S. federal employee)

The recipe

Every step ran in the production editor unless it says otherwise. Menu paths are as the editor names them.

Open the editor, no accountLanding pageOpen paintbox.bike4mind.com and click Open the editor, no account.
Open the photoFile > Open…Open the 4000 x 2628 BLM photo.
Clarity and vignetteImage > FiltersClarity at 0.25 for the dune ripples and ridgelines, then a soft vignette that holds the eye on the peak.
Vibrance and contrastLayer > Adjustment LayerVibrance +0.30 and contrast +0.12, both non-destructive, so the lit peaks separate from the sky.
HeadlineText tool, Move tool"Chase the / last light" in Serif 500 at 210 px, warm white, centred at (2000, 820) inside the strip every card keeps.
Lift the typeLayer > Layer Style… > Drop ShadowA drop shadow lifts the headline off the mountains. Then "LITTLE SAHARA · UTAH" in Sans 600, tracked wide, on the dark valley floor.
Export the masterFile > Export > JPEGExport the graded 4000 x 2628 master.
Export the social cardsFile > Export For > Social CardsOne preset makes four cards, previewed live, and downloads them as one zip.
Make the X headerImage > Image Size…, Image > Crop…, ExportResample to 1500 wide, crop 1500 x 500 with the peak in the top third, and export.

Credit ledger

One credit is $0.0006. Hand tools run in the browser and cost nothing.

Action	Model	USD
Open, filters, adjustment layers	none, in the browser	$0.000
Headline, drop shadow, location line	none, in the browser	$0.000
Master, social cards, X header	none, in the browser	$0.000
Generative Expand	not run: needs sign-in	$0.000
Total		$0.000 (0¢)

Source and license

Utah Dunes Landscape - West Desert District, Bob Wick, Bureau of Land Management
License: Public domain (PD-USGov-BLM, a work of a U.S. federal employee)
Credit line: Photo: Bob Wick, Bureau of Land Management. Public domain.

What came out

Instagram square, 1080 x 1080
Instagram story, 1080 x 1920
Open Graph link card, 1200 x 630
Twitter card, 1200 x 600
X header, 1500 x 500
Graded master JPEG, 4000 x 2628

Rough edges we hit

Written down, not smoothed over.

The AI step needs a Bike4Mind sign-in, so the run stopped there and the kit was finished by hand.
After Image Size, the viewport kept drawing a stale full-size copy beside the canvas. Exports were clean.
The Social Cards preset has a Twitter card but no X header, so the header took three manual steps.
Every card is a centred crop, so the type has to sit in the middle.

Run on 2026-11-06. More recipes · Open the editor · How AI works