> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.ltv.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Image Library

> The imagery LTV.ai builds heroes from, and why lifestyle photography matters most

The Image Library is the pool of imagery LTV.ai can build emails from. It is on for every brand, and it feeds generation directly, which makes it one of the highest leverage things you can invest in.

Find it in the sidebar under **Image Library**.

## Two sources

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Product images" icon="box" href="/brand/product-catalog">
    Pulled automatically from your synced product catalog. No work needed.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Lifestyle images" icon="camera">
    Photography of your brand in context: models, settings, styling, seasonal shoots. Added by you.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## How images get chosen

Every image is analysed and tagged automatically. LTV.ai records the visible objects, dominant colours, **setting and scene**, product category, **mood**, and **season**.

Those tags are the selection mechanism. When LTV.ai builds a hero for a campaign, it searches the library for imagery whose scene and mood match the brief, then works from what it finds.

## Why lifestyle images matter most

Product shots tell LTV.ai *what you sell*. Lifestyle images tell it *how your brand looks*: how you light a scene, how you style a set, what a winter campaign should feel like next to a summer one.

A library of packshots on white produces heroes that look like packshots on white. This is the single biggest lever on how generated campaigns look.

### What to add

* Campaign and editorial photography from past shoots
* Seasonal imagery, so autumn briefs get autumn scenes
* Products in real settings rather than isolated on a background
* A spread of moods, if your brand shifts tone across the year

<Note>
  [Proactive campaigns](/proactive/proactive-ideas) lean on this hardest. When a [daily briefing](/proactive/daily-briefing) builds an email without you asking, the library is what keeps it looking like your brand. A thin library is the most common reason unprompted campaigns come back looking generic.
</Note>

## Image Library or hero references?

Both feed hero imagery, and they do different jobs.

|                  | Image Library                                 | Hero references                            |
| ---------------- | --------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------ |
| What it is       | The broad pool LTV.ai searches                | A pinned shortlist                         |
| Where it lives   | Its own sidebar page                          | A card on [Brand DNA](/brand/brand-dna)    |
| How it is filled | Catalog sync, plus lifestyle images you add   | You pin specific images                    |
| When it is used  | Any generation, including proactive campaigns | Up to three per hero you generate yourself |

In practice: keep the library broad so LTV.ai has range, and pin hero references when you want a particular look repeated.