Which Image is Real? Ocean Sunrise

Below are 2 images.

Only one is real. I know this because I took it myself.

My photo is of the sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean near Melbourne, FL.

The other image is AI-generated. I created it using Ideogram.ai.

Which one do you think is the real image? See the answer below!

The real image of the sunrise is:

Image #1

Some clues that give away the AI images:

🌅 1. Sky and Cloud Realism

#1 (REAL):
The cloud"The cloud" refers to storage and services that are accessed over the internet instead of being stor... More formations are irregular, with scattered density and realistic depth. You can see subtle shadowing and color variation across the sky — from cool purples to warm oranges — that happens naturally during a real sunset.

There’s also uneven glow where the sun has dipped below the horizon, and the clouds show translucent areas as light filters through. The messiness is the giveaway.

AIArtificial Intelligence (AI) is basically when computers get smart—really smart. Imagine if your c... More (#2):
The clouds look too soft and fluffy — almost like someone brushed them in with a pastel crayon. The distribution is symmetrical and lacks randomness. The glow on the horizon is too evenly spread and doesn’t fade the way real light does. It’s scenic, sure — but too smooth to be real.

🌊 2. Water Texture and Movement

#1 (REAL):
The water has micro-ripples and wavelets, each catching light in slightly different ways. The foam near the shore is irregular, with jagged, uneven shapes, and the shoreline has that slightly chaotic overlap you see in real surf.

Reflections in the water vary in brightness and pattern, depending on the waves — a strong sign of natural movement.

AI (#2):
The water is too calm and glowy — like it’s been ironed. The surface doesn’t show enough granular variation, and the reflections are too consistent. The foam on the shore is oddly symmetrical and rounded, like decorative icing rather than salty sea froth.

📷 3. Lighting and Color Blending

#1 (REAL):
There’s uneven exposure — brighter near the sun, darker in the corners — and the colors blend with that slightly grainy, low-light haze typical of real beach photos taken without a tripod or lighting rig.

Shadows in the clouds and sand are directional and change subtly across the frame.

AI (#2):
The colors melt together too smoothly, like a filter was turned up to 11. There’s no realistic falloff of light or depth. Everything is glowing equally, which is more like a wallpaper than a photo. The tones are vibrant but suspiciously polished.

🏖 4. Shoreline and Sand Details

#1 (REAL):
The sand shows scattered textures — darker wet patches, uneven edges where waves have receded, and subtle ridges formed by water. There are imperfections everywhere.

The foam trail is inconsistent and randomly broken, which is what real water does when pulling back from shore.

AI (#2):
The sand is clean — too clean. It’s smooth and uniform, with perfect wave edges that look like they were designed, not created by nature. No shell bits, no variation in sand grain color, and the waterline is implausibly tidy.