Writing image prompts that work

When you finish, you can describe an image clearly and improve it in rounds.

Say what you see in your mind

An image tool turns words into a picture. Vague words give vague pictures. Weak prompt: "A nice picture of a market." Strong prompt: "A bright morning in a street market in Oaxaca, a woman arranging orange marigolds, soft sunlight, warm colors, photo style."

The strong one names who, where, when, light, colors and style. You do not need fancy words. You need clear ones.

A simple recipe

Try this order: subject, setting, mood or light, colors, style, and what to leave out. For example: subject (an old fisherman mending a net), setting (a harbor in Vietnam at sunrise), light (golden), style (a watercolor painting), leave out (text and logos).

Different tools react differently, so test. Some are good with photo styles, some with drawings, some with text in pictures. Check the tool's current help pages for tips.

Improve in rounds

Your first result is a draft. Change one thing at a time: the angle, the light, the colors, or the style. If the hands look strange or the text is garbled, ask again, crop it out, or choose a different view.

Keep a note of prompts that worked. A small personal library saves time. Some tools let you start from a reference picture or edit parts of a result, depending on the tool and plan.

A worked example

Rosa runs a bakery in Cebu and needs a poster image for a pan de sal morning sale. Her first prompt, "bread poster," gives a generic picture. She changes it to "warm bakery window at dawn, a tray of soft rolls, steam rising, cozy yellow light, space at the top for text."

The second image works. She adds the words and prices herself in a design tool, because some image tools still misspell words and she wants every letter and price to be right. She also labels the poster as illustrated to avoid confusion.

Practice now

Pick a real need, like an invitation or a blog header. Write a weak prompt and a strong prompt and compare the results in a free image tool.
Change one thing in your best prompt, such as the light, and note how the image changes.

Use any AI assistant you have. Do not paste private, client or patient information into it.

Check yourself

1. Which prompt is stronger?

2. What should you do if your first image is not right?

3. Why add text to a poster in a design tool?

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Next lesson: Editing photos with AI

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