Christmas light installer: house preview images with Ideogram edit

A holiday-lights installer can send each lead a preview of their own house with lights on by editing the photo with Ideogram 4.5. Three style previews (warm white roofline, multicolor, icicle drape) cost $0.225 per lead at medium quality on Sume, so 40 leads cost $9.00. A quote that includes a picture of the finished look is easier to say yes to than one with a price alone.

How does the edit work?

With input references, Ideogram 4.5 edits the first image and treats up to four more as references. Send the homeowner's photo as the first reference and describe only the change: add a warm-white string along the roofline and the front windows, keep the house, sky and landscaping unchanged. An edit without an aspect ratio keeps the shape of the source photo.

Ask the homeowner for a daylight or dusk photo taken straight on, from the street. A photo at an angle gives the model less roofline to work with.

What does a lead cost across the quality levels?

Medium is a good default for previews. High costs more than three times as much per picture and is worth it only for the final photo you put in a flyer. Prices are Sume's catalog numbers (provider list times 1.25), read 2026-10-11.

What should you tell the customer?

Label the image as a preview, not a measured plan. The model draws lights where it decides to, so the real layout, bulb count and extension cords come from your site visit. A short caption, such as "preview, final layout confirmed on site", avoids a dispute later.

Get the homeowner's permission before you edit their photo, and do not post it publicly without asking. Send the previews in the same message as the written quote, with the price for each style next to its picture, so the customer compares the look and the cost together.

How do you keep it from getting expensive?

Cap the run at three previews per lead and review them before sending. Keep a note of the prompt that worked for each style so the next lead gets the same look. If a result is wrong, a single retry costs $0.075, so a handful of retries per week is a small line against the work they help to win. If a result changes the house itself, for example a different roof color, reject it and retry with a firmer instruction to keep everything but the lights unchanged; a preview that misleads the customer is worse than none.