The Complete Midjourney Prompt Guide for 2024

Everything you need to know about writing prompts that consistently generate stunning, professional images in Midjourney V6.

What is a Midjourney prompt?

A Midjourney prompt is a text description you provide to the AI that tells it what kind of image to generate. The more specific and well-structured your prompt, the more likely you are to get exactly the image you have in mind.

Unlike search engines, Midjourney doesn't look for exact matches — it interprets your prompt as a set of visual concepts and combines them into a unique image. This means the way you phrase your prompt matters enormously.

The anatomy of a great Midjourney prompt

A well-structured Midjourney prompt has four key components:

1. Subject — What or who is in the image
2. Style/Medium — How it looks (oil painting, photorealistic, anime, etc.)
3. Lighting & Atmosphere — The mood and light quality
4. Technical parameters — --ar, --v, --style

Example: A lone samurai standing on a misty mountain peak at sunrise, cinematic lighting, dramatic shadows, 8k photography, volumetric fog --ar 16:9 --v 6

Essential Midjourney parameters

Parameters are special commands added at the end of your prompt that control technical aspects of the image.

• --ar [ratio] — Aspect ratio. Use --ar 16:9 for landscape, --ar 9:16 for portrait (TikTok/Reels), --ar 1:1 for square
• --v [number] — Model version. Always use --v 6 for the latest and highest quality
• --style raw — Less stylized, more photorealistic output
• --q [.25/.5/1/2] — Quality. Higher quality = more detail but slower
• --chaos [0-100] — Variation between results. Higher = more unpredictable
• --no [thing] — Negative prompt. Exclude things from the image (e.g. --no text, watermark)

Lighting terms that transform your prompts

Lighting is one of the most powerful elements in any image. Adding specific lighting terms can dramatically improve your results:

• Golden hour lighting — Warm, soft light just after sunrise or before sunset
• Rembrandt lighting — Classic portrait lighting with dramatic shadows
• Volumetric lighting / god rays — Light beams visible through fog or dust
• Chiaroscuro — Strong contrast between light and dark
• Bioluminescent — Soft glowing light, great for fantasy scenes
• Studio lighting — Clean, professional, even light
• Neon-lit — Cyberpunk-style coloured neon glow

Style keywords by category

Photography styles

Add these to get photorealistic, professional-looking images: 35mm film photography, shot on Canon EOS R5, macro photography, street photography, editorial photography, product photography on white background.

Art styles

For artistic interpretations: oil painting, watercolor illustration, charcoal sketch, digital art, concept art, Studio Ghibli style, Alphonse Mucha art nouveau, ukiyo-e woodblock print.

Cinematic styles

To get that movie look: cinematic still, film noir, anamorphic lens, shallow depth of field, 35mm film grain, epic wide angle, IMAX quality.

10 proven prompt templates

Copy and adapt these high-performing templates:

• [subject], [art style], [lighting], [mood], [camera/medium] --ar 16:9 --v 6
• Portrait of [person/character], [detailed features], [lighting type], shot on [camera], bokeh background --ar 3:4 --v 6
• [scene description], [time of day], [weather], cinematic, epic composition, ultra detailed --ar 2.39:1 --v 6 --style raw
• [product] on [surface/background], product photography, studio lighting, white background, commercial quality --ar 1:1 --v 6
• [subject], [anime studio] style, vibrant colors, detailed linework, [emotional tone] --ar 9:16 --v 6

Common mistakes to avoid

• Being too vague — "A beautiful landscape" gives poor results. "A misty Scottish highland at dawn with a lone pine tree, golden hour light, wide angle" is much better.
• Contradictory terms — Don't mix conflicting styles like "realistic anime". Pick one direction.
• Forgetting aspect ratio — Always add --ar to avoid the default square format unless you want it.
• Ignoring --v 6 — Older versions produce noticeably lower quality. Always use the latest.
• No lighting specification — Lighting transforms images. Always mention it.

Using PromptForge to generate Midjourney prompts

Writing the perfect prompt manually takes practice. PromptForge automates this process — simply describe your idea in plain language, and our AI generates an optimized Midjourney prompt with all the right parameters, lighting, and style keywords included.

You can also upload a reference image and we'll reverse-engineer the prompt that would recreate it in Midjourney.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Midjourney version should I use?
Always use V6 (--v 6) for the best quality. V6 has dramatically better text rendering, photorealism, and prompt understanding than older versions.

How long should my prompt be?
Aim for 20-60 words for the descriptive part. Too short and the AI has too little to work with. Too long and later words get less weight. The most important concepts should come first.

Can I use artist names in prompts?
Yes. Referencing artists (e.g. "in the style of Van Gogh" or "Makoto Shinkai inspired") can strongly define the visual style. Combine multiple for unique hybrid styles.

What's the difference between --style raw and default?
Default applies Midjourney's aesthetic processing, making images more visually polished. --style raw prioritizes your prompt more literally and produces less stylized, often more photorealistic results.