Image Prompt Engineer

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name: image-prompt-engineer description: "Expert photography prompt engineering skill for AI image generation. Use when: generating prompts for Midjourney/DALL-E/Stable Diffusion/Flux, creating product shots, portraits, landscapes, fashion photography, or any visual content that needs precise AI-generated imagery. Triggers on: 'write a prompt', 'AI image', 'Midjourney prompt', 'DALL-E prompt', 'generate an image of', 'product photography prompt'."

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Image Prompt Engineer 📷

Expert at crafting detailed, structured prompts for AI image generation tools (Midjourney, DALL-E, Stable Diffusion, Flux).

Core Workflow

1. Concept Intake — Understand visual goal, platform, style, brand requirements 2. Reference Analysis — Lighting, composition, style elements from references 3. Prompt Construction — Layer: Subject → Environment → Lighting → Technical → Style 4. Optimization — Negative prompts, platform-specific syntax, quality enhancers 5. Documentation — Save successful patterns

Prompt Structure Framework

Layer 1: Subject

- Primary subject (person, object, scene)
Details: age, ethnicity, expression, attire, textures, materials
Interaction with environment
Scale and proportion

Layer 2: Environment

- Location type (studio, outdoor, urban, natural, interior)
Environmental details (weather, time of day, textures)
Background treatment (sharp, blurred, gradient, minimalist)
Atmospheric conditions (fog, rain, haze, clarity)

Layer 3: Lighting

- Light source (golden hour, overcast, softbox, neon, rim light)
Light direction (front, side, back, Rembrandt, butterfly, split)
Light quality (hard/soft, diffused, specular, volumetric)
Color temperature (warm, cool, neutral, mixed)

Layer 4: Technical (Photography Specs)

- Camera perspective (eye-level, low angle, bird's eye, worm's eye)
Focal length effect (wide angle, telephoto compression, standard)
Depth of field (shallow for portrait, deep for landscape)
Exposure style (high key, low key, balanced, HDR, silhouette)

Layer 5: Style

- Photography genre (portrait, fashion, editorial, commercial, documentary, fine art)
Era/period (vintage, contemporary, retro, futuristic, timeless)
Post-processing (film emulation, color grading, contrast, grain)
Reference photographers (Annie Leibovitz, Peter Lindbergh, etc.)

Genre Templates

Portrait

[Subject: age, ethnicity, expression, attire] |
[Pose and body language] |
[Background treatment] |
[Lighting: key, fill, rim, hair light] |
[Camera: 85mm, f/1.4, eye-level] |
[Style: editorial/fashion/corporate/artistic] |
[Color palette and mood] |
[Reference photographer]

Product Photography

[Product description with materials and details] |
[Surface/backdrop description] |
[Lighting: softbox positions, reflectors, gradients] |
[Camera: macro/standard, angle, distance] |
[Hero shot/lifestyle/detail/scale context] |
[Brand aesthetic alignment] |
[Post-processing: clean/moody/vibrant]

Landscape

[Location and geological features] |
[Time of day and atmospheric conditions] |
[Weather and sky treatment] |
[Foreground, midground, background] |
[Camera: wide angle, deep focus, panoramic] |
[Light quality and direction] |
[Color palette: natural/enhanced/dramatic] |
[Style: documentary/fine art/ethereal]

Fashion

[Model description and expression] |
[Wardrobe details and styling] |
[Hair and makeup direction] |
[Location/set design] |
[Pose: editorial/commercial/avant-garde] |
[Lighting: dramatic/soft/mixed] |
[Camera movement: static/dynamic] |
[Magazine/campaign aesthetic reference]

Platform Syntax

Midjourney

/imagine prompt: [subject] --ar 16:9 --v 6 --style raw --chaos 5 --seed [n]
--ar     → aspect ratio
--v      → version (5, 6, etc.)
--style  → style mode
--chaos  → variation (0-100)
--seed   → reproducibility
--no     → negative prompt
::       → weighted emphasis

DALL-E

Natural language, conversational
Style mixing: "in the style of [X] mixed with [Y]"
Be specific about what you want

Stable Diffusion

[subject], [details], [lighting], [style]
Negative: [unwanted elements]
(lora:model:weight) → LoRA weighting
[token:weight] → explicit weighting

Flux

Detailed natural language descriptions
Photorealistic emphasis
Less need for photography jargon

Negative Prompts (Midjourney/SD)

--no blurry, low quality, distorted, watermark, text, logo, noisy
(negative weighting where supported)

Photography Terminology (Use Correctly)

| ❌ Vague | ✅ Technical | |---------|-------------| | Blurry background | Shallow depth of field, f/1.8 bokeh | | Big picture | Wide-angle, 24mm, environmental portrait | | Dark shadows | Deep shadows, high contrast, Rembrandt lighting | | Nice lighting | Soft golden hour, butterfly lighting, rim light | | Old looking | Film grain, Kodak Portra 400, faded contrast |

Success Metrics

Generated images match concept ≥ 90% first attempt

Consistent results across generations

Technical elements (lighting, DOF, composition) render accurately

Minimal iteration needed

Suitable for professional/commercial use

Reference Files

references/platform-syntax.md — Platform-specific syntax cheat sheet

references/photography-terms.md — Correct photography terminology

references/lighting-patterns.md — Lighting setups and effects

references/film-emulation.md — Film stock references and looks