What is the creative direction and intended use
Name the direction before you select a source portrait. A Studio series for a professional profile, an Art project, and a Travel-inspired concept each create different expectations for the image and its audience. State one purpose in ordinary language, including whether the result is only for private review or may later appear on a particular platform. A narrow purpose is easier for everyone involved to understand.
Do not combine several unrelated plans under a broad request to make something creative. If the use changes from a private experiment to a public portfolio, return to the conversation and ask whether that change is welcome. The more clearly the direction and audience are named, the less likely a portrait will be used in a context the person did not expect.
Whose image is it and who can decide
Use a source portrait only when you are entitled to submit it for the specific creative purpose. When the person depicted is someone else, explain the proposed direction, how the result may be used, and where it could be seen before you ask them to agree. Access to a camera roll, a group picture, or a previously public post is not the same thing as agreement to a new creative request.
Make space for a refusal or a change of mind. The person may agree to one direction, one audience, or a private review while declining another use. That is useful information, not a problem to work around. A respectful creative process treats the person depicted as a participant with a real choice, even when the idea seems informal or the image is already convenient to select.
What happens when you choose to generate
Selecting a photo in FocalYou creates a local preview. A creative request begins only when you review the per-request confirmation and choose Send to OpenAI & Generate for the selected template. That screen identifies the services involved, so use it to make sure the source, direction, and permission still match the plan. You can choose Cancel when something has changed or needs another conversation.
For a confirmed creative request, FocalYou sends the selected complete portrait and the fixed instruction for the chosen template to its backend services, Supabase, and OpenAI to create and deliver the requested series. This is separate from FocalYou's local ID-photo layout tool. Read the current privacy information if you need detail, and pause instead of assuming that a creative processing choice has already been made for a future request.
How long should the images remain available
Decide what you want to retain before you start. FocalYou normally deletes the creative source portrait when a job succeeds or fails and deletes residual source images within 24 hours. Generated photos remain in the private FocalYou Gallery for up to 30 days unless you delete them sooner. These time limits give you a clear review window, but they do not decide which images are appropriate to keep.
If an image includes another person or now feels too personal for the original plan, choose a private review, delete it, or ask what they prefer before sharing. You can delete individual generated photos in Gallery or use Settings to remove FocalYou data more broadly. A retention decision should follow the agreed purpose rather than letting a saved file silently become a reason to reuse an image later.
What needs to be clear before any sharing
Before you post, send, or add a result to a portfolio, check whether the intended audience and caption match the discussion you had. If the image is an AI-created Studio, Art, or Travel direction, do not present it as a conventional photograph from a real session or place. A concise disclosure can help where the production context matters and lets viewers interpret the work without misplaced assumptions.
FocalYou provides a creative generation workflow after per-request confirmation; it does not grant public-use permission for someone else's likeness or determine how a result will be received. Answering these creative portrait privacy questions before an upload keeps ownership, processing, retention, and sharing connected. If any answer is uncertain, stopping is a complete and responsible choice.