Prompt engineering isn’t just for text models. Writing prompts for image generators like Midjourney v6, OpenAI DALL-E 3, Stable Diffusion 3, and Google Imagen 3 Flash is a completely different discipline that requires a mix of descriptive language, art history knowledge, and technical parameters.

If you write a simple prompt like “A dog in a park,” older generation engines or DALL-E might give you a generic stock photo, whereas Google Imagen 3 Flash or Midjourney will generate highly detailed but unpredictable scenes.

To get the exact image you see in your mind, you need to structure your image prompts. Here is the formula.

The 5-Part Image Prompt Formula

To get consistent, high-quality AI art, structure your prompts using this five-part formula:

[Subject] + [Environment & Action] + [Style & Medium] + [Lighting & Color] + [Technical Parameters]

1. Subject (What is in the image?)

Be extremely specific about the main focus of your image. Avoid abstract terms. Instead of “a happy man,” describe how he shows happiness:

Abstract: “A successful businessman.”
Descriptive: “A 40-year-old man in a tailored charcoal suit, smiling warmly, holding a leather briefcase.”

2. Environment & Action (Where is the subject?)

Describe the background, depth, and actions taking place. This sets the mood and context.

Examples:
- “…standing on a rainy cobblestone street in Paris at night, neon lights reflecting in puddles.”
- “…sitting in a cozy, sunlit cabin library, dust motes floating in shafts of morning light.”

3. Style & Medium (How is it drawn or shot?)

Define the artistic medium. Is it a photograph? A watercolor painting? A 3D render? A vector illustration?

For Photos: Specify the camera type, lens focal length, and era (e.g., “Shot on 35mm film, Fujifilm Superia, street photography style”).
For Paintings: Mention the artist style or period (e.g., “Watercolor and ink wash illustration in the style of Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints”).
For Digital Art: Use terms like “isometric vector illustration” or “retro 16-bit pixel art”.

4. Lighting & Color (What is the mood?)

Lighting is the secret key to professional-looking AI images. Avoid buzzwords like “photorealistic.” Instead, describe the physical lighting:

Golden Hour: Warm, soft, low-angle sunlight.
Volumetric Lighting: Heavy rays of light passing through mist, fog, or dust.
Cyberpunk/Synthwave: High-contrast blue and hot pink neon lighting.
Chiaroscuro: High-contrast dramatic lighting with deep shadows.

5. Technical Parameters (Midjourney Specifics)

Midjourney supports specific command-line arguments added to the very end of your prompt:

Aspect Ratio (--ar): Default is 1:1 square. Use --ar 16:9 for landscape (web banners, wallpapers) or --ar 9:16 for portrait (mobile, stories).
Stylize (--s): Controls how artistic Midjourney is. Range is 0-1000 (default is 100). E.g., --s 250.
Chaos (--c): Controls how varied the grid results are. Range is 0-100. High chaos leads to wilder, more unexpected compositions.

Putting It All Together: A Before & After Example

The Zero-Shot Prompt

Prompt: “A cat astronaut.”
Result: A standard, flat, cartoony illustration of a cat in a spacesuit.

The Structured Formula Prompt

Prompt: “An orange tabby cat wearing a detailed NASA spacesuit inside a retro-futuristic spaceship cockpit. Looking out of a round window showing the glowing curved horizon of Earth. Detailed digital painting style, cinematic lighting, dramatic shadows, warm console dashboard reflections, deep blue and orange color palette —ar 16:9 —s 200”
Result: A breathtaking, high-detail, cinematic wallpaper with correct lighting, reflections, and composition.

Elevating Your Creative Workflows

Writing complex image prompts requires practice and memorizing art terms.

If you want to quickly brainstorm descriptors and build formulas for image prompts, try writing a basic idea in PromptCraft on our homepage. It will help expand your ideas, structure them logically, and generate ready-to-run prompt scripts for Midjourney, Google Imagen 3, or DALL-E 3.

Head to the homepage to check out the prompt builder and start creating stunning AI art today.

How to Write Prompts for Image Generation (Midjourney, Imagen 3, & DALL-E 3)