There are three basic guidelines for creating prompts:
- Text description of the desired image(s). The maximum length is 1000 characters.
- You can be as specific or as vague as you want, but anything you leave out will be randomized. Being vague is a great way to get variety, but you may not get what you’re looking for.
- Try to be clear about any context or details that are important to you.
Visually well-defined objects.
Visually well-defined means something with many photos on the internet.
Try:
wizard, priest, angel, emperor, necromancer, rockstar, city, queen, Zeus, house, temple, farm, car, landscape, mountain, river.
Strong feelings or mystical-sounding themes.
Try:
a sense of awe, the will to endure, cognitive resonance, the shores of infinity, the birth of time, a desire for knowledge, the notion of self.
Describing a style.
Examples: “a cyberpunk wizard” “a surreal landscape” “a psychedelic astronaut”.
Try:
cyberpunk, psychedelic, surreal, vaporwave, alien, solar punk, modern, ancient, futuristic, retro, realistic, dreamlike, funk art, abstract, pop art, impressionism, minimalism.
Unique artists get a unique style.
Examples: “Temple by James Gurney” “Father by MC Escher.”
Try:
Hiroshi Yoshida, Max Ernst, Paul Signac, Salvador Dali, James Gurney, M.C. Escher, Thomas Kinkade, Ivan Aivazovsky, Italo Calvino, Norman Rockwell, Albert Bierstadt, Giorgio de Chirico, Rene Magritte, Ross Tran, Marc Simonetti, John Harris, Hilma af Klint, George Inness, Pablo Picasso, William Blake, Wassily Kandinsky, Peter Mohrbacher, Greg Rutkowski, Paul Signac, Steven Belledin, Studio Ghibli.
Avoid negatives.
Language models often ignore negative words (not, but, except, without).
Avoid:
- a hat that’s not red
- a person but half-robot
Try:
- a blue hat
- a half person half-robot
Specify what you want clearly.
Avoid:
“monkeys doing business”
Try:
“three monkeys in business suits”
Too many small details may overwhelm the system.
Avoid:
“a monkey on roller skates juggling razor blades in a hurricane”
Try:
“a monkey that’s a hurricane of chaos”
Try some fun words
Punk style list: cyberpunk, nanopunk, biopunk, cyber noir, steampunk, clockpunk, dieselpunk, decopunk, coalpunk, atompunk, steelpunk, islandpunk, oceanpunk, rococopunk, stonepunk, mythpunk, raypunk, nowpunk, cyberprep, postcyberpunk, solarpunk, lunarpunk, elfpunk, atompunk, neonpunk.
Tarot Cards (Major Arcana): The Fool, The Magician, The High Priestess, The Empress, The Emperor, The Hierophant, The Lovers, The Chariot, Strength, The Hermit, Wheel of Fortune, Justice, The Hanged Man, Death, Temperance, The Devil, The Tower, The Star, c, The Sun, Judgment, The World
Combine names for new styles: “A temple by Greg Rutkowski and Ross Tran”.
- Try invoking a particular medium. If the style is unspecified, it will lean toward photorealism.
Examples: “a watercolor painting of a landscape” “a child’s drawing of a home”.
Try:
painting, drawing, sketch, pencil drawing, w, woodblock print, matte painting, child's drawing, charcoal drawing, ink drawing, oil on canvas, graffiti, watercolor painting, fresco, stone tablet, cave painting, sculpture, work on paper, needlepoint.
- Try taking two well-defined concepts and combining them in ways no one has seen before
Examples: “cyberpunk shinto priest” “psychedelic astronaut crew” “river of dreams” “temple of stars” “queen of time” “necromancer capitalist”.
- Try to use singular nouns or specific numbers
Vague plural words leave a lot to chance (did you mean 2 wizards or 12 wizards?).
Avoid concepts that involve significant extrapolation.
| Try | Avoid |
| “three cyberpunk wizards” | “cyberpunk wizards” |
| “psychedelic astronaut crew” (implies a crew shot) | “psychedelic astronauts” |
| “a solarpunk city filled with holograms” | “an optimistic vision of an augmented reality future” |
| “wildly futuristic clothing with glowing and colorful decoration” | “clothes humans will wear 12,000 years into the future” |
Make the photo look true to life
When writing prompts, add elements that can help the photo look true to life. Think of these significant elements:
| Element | Item |
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Composition: How has the photo been composed? |
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Emotional Tone: What emotions does the image evoke? |
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Depth of Field: What is the depth of field in the photograph? |
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Equipment: Which camera and lens were used? |
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Lighting: How is the subject illuminated? Where does the light originate, and how intense is it? |
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Angle: From what angle are we to the subject? |
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Publication Context: In what context was this photo eventually published or used? |
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Location: Was the photo taken in a studio or in an outdoor setting? |
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Here is an example of average prompts:
- A peaceful portrait of a young woman, background slightly blurred. The woman is at the beach. Wide angle shot, Sunbeams fall from the upper left corner. In the style of 1960's vogue cover.
- Children engaged in playful activities in a vibrant outdoor setting, capturing their exuberance and energy, long shot, bright light with a gentle yellow hue.
- A peaceful photo of cats playing in the kitchen under gentle blue light, C-41 photo, aerial view, renaissance painting.