On this article, you will see a series of tried and true Midjourney prompts. All you have to do is replace “SUBJECT HERE” with the subject of choice and you will have a perfect starting point. With any luck, you’ll slam dunk your prompt on the first try but as with anything AI generated, sometimes it will require a bit of tweaking and adjusting.
How to make studio lighting portraits in Midjourney
In order to make studio lighting portraits in Midjourney, you need to start with the following prompt:
front close-up view photo, SUBJECT HERE, in a room, low key lighting, ultra sharp –ar 4:5 –style raw
In this case, I used Princess Ariel as my subject. As you can see, it created a realistic portrait with a dark background and heavy shadows. The reason this happens is because of the “low key lighting” prompt.
So let’s break down the aspects of this prompt and then play around with the defining characteristic of it’s style:
front close-up view photo – This defines the type of photo. You’re looking for a portrait and this is the best way midjourney defines a portrait in full detail.
in a room – This defines where it is. You can replace this with any location you can think of.
low key lighting – This is the lighting variable. This is the most important variable in this example – we will see the kind of difference this prompt will make when changed.
ultra sharp – This helps define the “realistic” portion of the portrait. Think of a camera lens focusing on its subject.
–ar 4:5 – This is the aspect ratio.
–style raw – This is typically for longer prompts that require more precise descriptions.
So simply changing that part to “high key lighting” you get the opposite effect.
front close-up view photo, SUBJECT HERE, in a room, high key lighting, ultra sharp –ar 4:5 –style raw
If you change that part to “color lighting techniques” you get a set of unique lighting effects which is often randomized unless additional prompts are added.
front close-up view photo, SUBJECT HERE, in a room, color lighting techniques, ultra sharp –ar 4:5 –style raw
How to make cyberpunk lighting effects in Midjourney
A great way to make cyberpunk lighting effects in Midjourney is to use the following prompt.
cinematic shot, SUBJECT HERE, shot from movie, cinema composition shot, vibrant neon lighting, cyberpunk style, sharp focus, film grain, high dynamic range, atmosphere, majestic, night –ar 4:5 –style raw
There’s a lot going on in this prompt but let’s break down the parts. In this case, I used “man with sunglasses” as the subject.
cinematic shot – This helps define what kind of shot it is. Cinematic gives a more “powerful” feel.
shot from movie – Combined with “cinematic shot”, it helps define style of photo used. Helpful for live-action “real” looking photos.
cinema composition shot – Same as the aforementioned descriptions. You can play around with including all three or removing one. No more than three of these prompt descriptions is recommended.
vibrant neon lighting – This is the most important description as it pertains to lighting.
cyberpunk style – Midjourney knows what cyberpunk looks like and when combined with “vibrant neon lighting,” it gives the AI plenty of information to work with.
sharp focus – This also helps define the “realistic” portion of the portrait. Think of a camera lens focusing on its subject.
film grain – This isn’t necessary but it adds a bit of that “movie” feel to it
high dynamic range – Helps provide subtle foreground and background details in lighting, shading, and effects.
atmosphere – Blends the background effects with the foreground effects so it doesn’t look as much like a green screen
majestic – This is the part of the prompt that makes the picture look more movie-poster-esue.
night – This gives the direction for overall lighting. “Night” makes it more dark, as if the picture was taken at night, while “day” makes the picture more light as if it’s taken during the day. It’s intuitive.
–ar 4:5 – This is the aspect ratio.
–style raw – This is typically for longer prompts that require more precise descriptions. In this case, it’s definitely recommended.
How to make outdoor cinematic portrait shots in Midjourney
You can take any of the previous prompts and adjust once portion of it and change the entire dynamic. Take this for example:
cinematic shot, SUBJECT HERE, shot from movie, cinema composition shot, professional color grading, epic volumetric lighting, sharp focus, film grain, high dynamic range, atmosphere, majestic, masterpiece, day –ar 4:5 –style raw
In this case I used Prince Eric as the subject. The difference between this prompt the other aforementioned prompts is that it included “Day” in it.
However, combining “Day” with all of the “cinematic” descriptions, the AI will want to dramatize the picture to make it more “epic” as well as more like a movie poster.
NOTE: It’s worth mentioning that since, in this case, there is enough known information about the general look of Prince Eric, that it required very little further description of the subject. If you needed to make a Prince Eric from scratch you would have to describe him more thoroughly:
cinematic shot, handsome dark hair man, early 20s, on a ship in the ocean, shot from movie, cinema composition shot, professional color grading, epic volumetric lighting, sharp focus, film grain, high dynamic range, atmosphere, majestic, masterpiece, day –ar 4:5 –style raw