How to Cite an Adobe Firefly Image
Updated October 2026 · Reviewed October 2026
Citing an image from Adobe Firefly? Here's the format in APA, MLA, and Chicago.
List Adobe as the author, describe the image, name the model (e.g. Firefly Image 3), add the [AI-generated image] label, and finish with the link from Firefly or Creative Cloud.
The format
APA does not currently publish a dedicated example for this exact source type. The format below applies APA's current AI citation principles to this source.
What APA does publish is two worked AI forms: an AI tool — Google. (2025). Gemini 3 Flash [Large language model]. https://gemini.google.com — and an AI chat, which adds the day and a title and moves the tool's name after the brackets. See APA's AI references examples page and its reference-formats post and judge for yourself. The entry below is APA's chat form element for element — company, full date, a description in the title slot, a bracketed label, the tool and the link. What is ours is the label itself: [AI-generated image] appears in no APA example. APA permits the swap in so many words — "other descriptions are possible; use the description that best fits the type of AI model or tool used", and, of the chat form, "Adapt the wording within square brackets as needed" — so treat [AI-generated image] as the wording Citation[Z] chose under that permission, and use your instructor's if they prefer another.
Adobe → date → image description → [AI-generated image] → Firefly Image 3 → link. Build it in the generator under Manual Entry → AI-generated image.
Adobe. (2026, April 2). Minimalist geometric travel poster [AI-generated image]. Firefly Image 3. https://firefly.adobe.com
In-text(Adobe, 2026)
"Minimalist Geometric Travel Poster." Firefly Image 3, Adobe, 2 Apr. 2026, https://firefly.adobe.com.
In-text("Minimalist Geometric Travel")
Adobe. "Minimalist Geometric Travel Poster." Firefly Image 3. April 2, 2026. https://firefly.adobe.com.
In-text(Adobe 2026)
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Citation style
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition (2020). The 7th dropped the publisher location and the "Retrieved from" prefix that the 6th required.
What Adobe Firefly is — and why citing it matters
Adobe Firefly is Adobe's family of generative-image models, built into Photoshop, Illustrator, and Adobe Express. Adobe markets Firefly as trained on licensed and public-domain content and designed to be commercially safe — which is exactly why it's popular in classrooms and design programs, and why instructors still expect it to be disclosed and cited.
Even "commercially safe" AI imagery needs a citation: it records the tool, the model, and the date so your use is transparent.
Firefly-specific tips
- Author is Adobe. Firefly is the product/model; Adobe is the maker and goes in the author slot.
- Name the model (e.g., Firefly Image 3) — Adobe iterates these, and the model is what pins your result. It is a model name, not a version number, so it goes where the tool's name goes rather than in a parenthetical: APA retired the version parenthetical as a default in September 2025 and asks for the model instead.
- Generated inside another app? If you made it via Generative Fill in Photoshop or in Adobe Express, say which app in a note — the underlying model is still Firefly.
- Commercial-safe ≠ uncited. The licensing story is about usage rights, not attribution; you still cite it.
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Go Premium — $5/monthFrequently asked questions
- Who is the author of a Firefly image?
- Adobe. Firefly Image 3 is the model name, and it belongs in the source slot where the tool's name goes — not in a version parenthetical, which APA retired as a default in September 2025. Adobe is the company, so it's the author.
- Do I still cite Firefly if it's 'commercially safe'?
- Yes. Firefly's licensed-training claim is about usage rights, not attribution. You still disclose and cite AI-generated images.
- How do I cite a Firefly image made with Photoshop's Generative Fill?
- Same format, with Adobe as author and the Firefly model named as the source; note in your text that it was created via Generative Fill in Photoshop.