AI image prompt guide: how to write better prompts
A prompt is the text description that tells the AI what to draw. Good prompts are specific, put the main subject first, and describe the scene, the light and the style in plain words. This guide shows you how to write prompts that give you the picture you have in mind.
What makes a good AI image prompt?
A good prompt reads like a clear description you'd give a photographer or illustrator. It names the subject, adds the details that matter, sets the scene, and says how the picture should look. You don't need special keywords or code. The FLUX model understands normal sentences, and it follows longer, detailed descriptions better than older image models did.
Most strong prompts contain some of these parts, roughly in this order:
| Part | What it answers | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Subject | What is the picture of? | an old fisherman |
| Details | What does it look like? | grey beard, yellow raincoat, holding a lantern |
| Setting | Where is it? | on a wooden pier in a storm |
| Lighting | What is the light like? | lit by the warm lantern glow against a dark blue sky |
| Composition | How is it framed? | close-up portrait, eye level |
| Style and mood | How should it feel? | cinematic, moody, rain streaks |
Put together: an old fisherman with a grey beard and yellow raincoat holding a lantern, on a wooden pier in a storm, lit by warm lantern glow against a dark blue sky, close-up portrait, cinematic and moody, rain streaks.
Weak prompts versus strong prompts
| Weak | Stronger | Why it's better |
|---|---|---|
| a dog | a golden retriever puppy asleep on a red velvet sofa, afternoon sunlight | Breed, action, place and light remove the guesswork. |
| a city | a narrow Old Dhaka street at dusk, rickshaws and string lights, wet pavement reflecting neon | A real place and specific objects give the scene character. |
| a beautiful landscape | misty tea gardens on rolling hills at sunrise, soft pastel sky, wide shot | "Beautiful" is vague. Describe what makes it beautiful. |
| logo for coffee shop | minimal flat logo of a coffee cup with a leaf for steam, two colours, plain white background | Shape, colours and background tell the model it's a logo, not a photo. |
Put the main subject first
The model pays most attention to the start of your prompt. Lead with the thing you care about most, then add supporting details. If you write a sunset over the sea with a small sailboat, the sunset dominates. Write a small red sailboat on a calm sea at sunset if the boat matters more.
Describe what you want, not what you don't
Saying "no people" or "without trees" often has the opposite effect, because the model still notices the word "people" or "trees". Instead, describe the scene as you want it: an empty beach at dawn works better than a beach with no people.
Lighting words that change everything
Light sets the mood more than any other detail. Try adding one of these to a prompt you've already written:
- Golden hour: warm, low sunlight with long shadows.
- Soft window light: gentle, flattering light for portraits and still life.
- Overcast: even, shadowless light that suits product shots.
- Neon at night: bright pinks and blues with strong reflections.
- Backlit or rim light: a glowing outline around the subject.
- Candlelight: warm, intimate, with deep shadows.
Framing and camera words
Composition words tell the model where to place the camera. Close-up and portrait focus on a face or object. Wide shot and aerial view show the whole scene. Low angle makes a subject look powerful, and top-down or flat lay suits food and products. For photo-style images, terms like shallow depth of field and 35mm photograph add a realistic camera look.
Adding text inside images
FLUX can often draw short words, like a shop sign or a one-word title. Put the exact words in quotation marks, for example a neon sign that says "OPEN". Keep it to one to three words. Longer sentences usually come out misspelled, so add long text afterwards in a design app.
Using style presets with your own words
A style preset adds tested style wording to the end of your prompt. You can still add your own style words on top. For example, choose Watercolor and add muted autumn colours to steer the palette. If your own style words clash with the preset, choose No style and describe the look yourself. See all presets in the style guide.
Iterate one change at a time
Treat each run as a draft. Pick the image closest to what you want, then change one thing in the prompt, such as the lighting or the camera angle, and generate again. Changing several things at once makes it hard to tell what helped.
Common mistakes
- Too short: one or two words leave every decision to the model.
- Contradictions: "a bright, dark room" or "photorealistic cartoon" confuse it.
- Too many subjects: five characters each doing something different rarely works. Focus on one or two.
- Long text: paragraphs of on-image text won't render reliably.
- Prompts in other languages: English gives the most reliable results with this model.