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AiTechWorlds
AiTechWorlds
Midjourney produces some of the highest quality AI generated images available. It has a distinctive aesthetic painterly, detailed, and often breathtaking and a dedicated community that has developed sophisticated prompting techniques. This guide covers everything from first generation to professional quality results.
Midjourney is a text to image AI: you describe what you want, it generates an image. Unlike Stable Diffusion (which runs locally), Midjourney is a cloud service all generation happens on their servers.
The current Midjourney experience: Midjourney moved from Discord only to a web interface (midjourney.com). New users primarily use the web app; Discord is still supported for community and advanced usage.
What it excels at:
What it struggles with:
The core workflow:
A Midjourney prompt has several components:
[Subject] [Environment/Setting] [Artistic Style/Medium] [Lighting] [Mood/Atmosphere] [Technical Parameters]Weak prompt: a cat
Strong prompt: A sleek black cat sitting on a rain soaked Tokyo street at night, neon reflections in puddles, cinematic photography, shallow depth of field, atmospheric fog, high contrast
The difference isn't more words it's more specific instructions on what type of image you want.
Specifying an artistic medium dramatically changes the output:
oil painting textured, classical painting stylewatercolor illustration soft, flowing, translucentdigital art clean, modern illustration stylecinematic photography film quality realism, dramatic framingpencil sketch hand drawn aestheticconcept art polished illustration for games/filmsflat design illustration clean vector like stylephotorealistic ultra realistic photography style outputLighting has enormous impact on mood:
golden hour lighting warm, soft, sunset qualitydramatic studio lighting high contrast, professional photographysoft diffused light gentle, flattering, no harsh shadowsvolumetric lighting beams and atmospherebacklit subject illuminated from behind, silhouette effectneon lighting cyberpunk, urban, colorful glowcandlelight warm, intimate, flickering qualitywide angle shot broad environmental contextclose up portrait tight framing on face or subjectaerial view looking down from aboverule of thirds compositional balancebokeh background blurred background, focused subjectDutch angle tilted camera, tension and uneasemacro photography extreme close up detailAdd these to consistently improve output quality:
highly detailed, 8k resolution, award winning photography, masterpiece, trending on artstation, professional photograph
Midjourney parameters go at the end of the prompt with --:
Aspect ratio: --ar 16:9 (landscape), --ar 9:16 (portrait/mobile), --ar 1:1 (square)
Model version: --v 6 (latest Midjourney model), --niji 6 (anime/illustration focused)
Stylize: --s 0 to --s 1000 how strongly Midjourney applies its aesthetic. Lower = closer to prompt; higher = more artistic interpretation. Default is 100.
Weird: --weird 0 to --weird 3000 adds unusual, unexpected elements. Good for abstract or creative work.
Quality: --q 1 (standard), --q 2 (more detailed, slower, uses more GPU)
No: --no [element] exclude specific elements. --no text to remove any text, --no watermark, --no background
Example: A sleek product shot of wireless earbuds on white background --ar 16:9 --s 150 --no shadow
[Product name/description] on [surface/background], studio product photography,
clean white background, professional lighting, commercial photography style,
sharp focus, 8k resolution --ar 3:2[Abstract concept or visual metaphor], [brand colors if you have them],
flat design illustration, clean modern style, suitable for social media
header image --ar 16:9[Concept to illustrate], digital illustration, clean editorial style,
pastel color palette, simple composition --ar 16:9[Scene or concept], concept art, cinematic composition, dramatic lighting,
highly detailed, professional illustrationProfessional headshot of a [age] [gender] [profession] person,
business casual attire, neutral studio background, soft professional lighting,
Canon EOS photography --ar 2:3Note: Avoid generating images of real people without permission.
Getting good images is iterative:
Don't expect the first generation to be perfect. Three to five iterations is typical for professional quality results.
You can use an existing image as a reference:
--iw (image weight) to control how much the reference influences the output: --iw 0.5 (slight influence) to --iw 2 (strong influence)[image URL] portrait in the same artistic style --iw 1.5Midjourney Pro subscribers get full commercial rights to their generations. Basic subscribers have more limited commercial rights. Check current terms at midjourney.com licensing policy has evolved.
Important: Midjourney (and all AI image generators) learn from images including copyrighted work. Don't use AI generated images as direct substitutes for specific copyrighted artwork, and be thoughtful about style mimicking specific living artists.
Next lesson: DALL E 3 and Adobe Firefly understanding AI image generation for commercial and enterprise use.
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