The Burning Newspaper Noir

Use the uploaded user photo as the **ONLY source of the main subject’s identity**. Preserve the user’s exact recognizable identity with maximum fidelity: facial structure, face shape, proportions, forehead, hairline, eyebrows, natural eye shape and spacing, nose, lips, cheeks, cheekbones, jawline, chin, skin tone, natural skin texture, facial hair if present, and every distinctive facial characteristic. **Do not copy the identity of the reference subject. Do not beautify, reshape, slim, masculinize, feminize, age, de-age, or otherwise reinterpret the user’s face.** The user’s identity and natural gender presentation always remain unchanged. Treat the user photo strictly as **WHO THE PERSON IS**, while this reference image controls **HOW THE PERSON appears and behaves in the scene**.
Recreate the reference as closely as possible: a dramatic, photorealistic cinematic editorial portrait of the user standing indoors against a wall completely covered with overlapping vintage newspaper pages. Frame the subject in a vertical **4:5 composition**, as a centered medium-full shot extending from approximately the upper thighs to above the head. Keep the camera positioned around eye level with a subtle intimate cinematic perspective, straight-on/front-facing composition, moderate portrait lens perspective, and minimal distortion. The subject occupies the central portion of the frame while the newspaper-covered wall fills the entire background.
The subject stands upright with a controlled, serious, mysterious posture. Both arms are bent forward and outward, with both hands gripping the left and right edges of a large unfolded newspaper held horizontally across the lower torso. The newspaper is open wide and positioned prominently in the foreground, partially obscuring the subject’s chest, abdomen, and waist. Reproduce the exact hand placement, arm positioning, newspaper height, body orientation, and overall posture from the reference. The newspaper should feel physically natural, with realistic folds, creases, overlapping pages, printed columns, headlines, photographs, and dense small text.
The reference subject wears a formal dark outfit: a crisp light-colored dress shirt with a structured collar, a narrow dark necktie, and a fitted black/dark waistcoat or vest over the shirt. Recreate this formal styling faithfully while adapting naturally to the user’s own identity and proportions. Add dark rectangular/aviator-style sunglasses with realistic reflective lenses and thin metallic frames. Preserve the user’s facial identity underneath the glasses rather than replacing facial proportions.
Match the reference facial behavior precisely: the subject has a **serious, restrained, contemplative expression**, with relaxed but slightly tense facial muscles and a closed, neutral mouth. The head is angled slightly downward while remaining generally facing forward. The eyes are directed downward toward the newspaper rather than toward the camera, creating the impression that the subject is reading or observing the burning pages. **The user’s original expression, gaze, and head pose must not influence the result; reconstruct the reference expression, gaze direction, eye position, and head angle on the user’s preserved identity.**
A small lit cigarette is held naturally between the subject’s lips, angled slightly downward/outward, with a subtle glowing ember and a thin stream of smoke. Keep it secondary to the main composition and make it physically realistic.
The most important visual element is the **newspaper actively burning across its upper-middle/front section**. Create bright natural flames rising from multiple points along the top and central folds of the newspaper, with irregular tongues of fire, glowing orange-yellow cores, darker orange edges, tiny sparks, embers, and subtle smoke. The fire should appear physically connected to and consuming the paper, with realistic blackened edges, curling pages, glowing embers, singed holes, and subtle ash. The flames should illuminate the subject’s hands, shirt, vest, tie, lower face, and newspaper with a strong warm orange glow. Keep the fire dramatic but photorealistic, not fantasy-like.
The entire background wall is layered with old newspapers arranged in a dense collage, creating a vintage newsroom/archive atmosphere. The papers should be aged beige, brown, muted gray, and sepia-toned, with visible columns, photographs, headlines, borders, folds, and slight discoloration. Keep the background recognizable but somewhat subdued and darker than the foreground so the subject and flames remain dominant.
Lighting is strongly cinematic and low-key. Use warm amber/orange firelight as the primary illumination from the burning newspaper, creating dramatic highlights across the face, sunglasses, shirt collar, tie, vest, hands, and paper while leaving portions of the subject and background in deep brown-black shadow. Add subtle soft ambient fill so facial structure and clothing remain visible without flattening the contrast. Preserve realistic directional shadows, natural falloff, warm reflections, atmospheric smoke, and a moody brown-orange color grade.
Create shallow-to-moderate depth of field: the subject, hands, newspaper, and flames remain sharply detailed while the distant newspaper wall becomes slightly softer without becoming completely blurred. Maintain realistic skin texture, fabric texture, paper fibers, flame transparency, smoke diffusion, and photographic detail. Use high dynamic range, natural exposure around the flames, realistic highlights and shadows, subtle film grain, cinematic contrast, and premium high-end editorial photography aesthetics.
**Identity priority:** the final person must unmistakably remain the person from the uploaded user photo. **Reference priority:** transfer the reference’s expression, emotion, gaze, head position, body pose, hand placement, newspaper position, clothing style, sunglasses, cigarette, fire interaction, camera perspective, framing, lighting, environment, color palette, atmosphere, and cinematic visual language. Do not introduce extra people, alternate poses, different scenery, additional objects, logos, watermarks, captions, or decorative text. The final image should look like a professionally photographed, photorealistic cinematic editorial portrait captured at the exact dramatic moment of a person reading a newspaper engulfed in flames.

Copy the complete prompt and use your own reference photos where requested.