Most bad AI images come from prompts that name a subject and stop. "A coffee shop" gives the model everything and nothing, so it fills the gaps with an average of every coffee shop it has ever seen.
Good image prompts are descriptions, not keywords. Here is the structure.
The six blocks of an image prompt
- Subject — exactly what is in frame, including how many and doing what.
- Setting — where it is, time of day, what surrounds it.
- Style — photograph, 3D render, flat illustration, oil painting, product shot.
- Lighting — soft window light, harsh midday sun, neon, studio softbox, golden hour.
- Composition — close-up, wide shot, eye level, overhead, shallow depth of field, negative space on the left.
- Constraints — what to exclude, aspect ratio, where text should not go.
Before and after
Before: "A coffee shop"
After: "Interior photograph of a small independent coffee shop at 8am, one barista pouring milk into a cup on a wooden counter, warm morning light through a large front window, steam visible, shallow depth of field, eye-level shot, empty space on the right side of the frame, natural colors, no text, no logos."
Same tool, different information.
Style words that carry real weight
Vague style words like "beautiful," "amazing," or "4k" do very little. Words that describe an actual technique do a lot:
- Photography: "35mm lens," "backlit," "high-key studio lighting," "film grain"
- Illustration: "flat vector," "line art with one accent color," "children's book gouache"
- 3D: "isometric," "soft clay render," "matte plastic materials"
Prompts for common business needs
Product shot: "Studio product photograph of [product] on a seamless [color] background, soft even lighting, subtle reflection under the item, centered, front three-quarter angle, high detail, no props, no text."
Website hero image: "Wide photograph of [scene relevant to your service], natural light, real people not posed, muted color grade, large area of empty space on the left for headline text, 16:9."
Social graphic background: "Abstract geometric background in black and electric cyan, subtle gradient, clean and modern, no text, square format."
How to fix an image instead of starting over
When something is close, change one variable at a time:
- Wrong mood: change lighting only.
- Wrong focus: change composition and lens.
- Too busy: add exclusions ("no extra objects on the table").
- Wrong feel: change the style block, keep everything else.
Rewriting the whole prompt every time is why people feel like image tools are random. They are not — they are just responding to everything you changed at once.
About text inside images
Image models are unreliable with text. If you need words on a graphic, generate the image clean and add the text afterward in any design tool. It will look better and stay editable.
The short version
Describe it the way you would describe a photo to someone who has to recreate it without seeing it. Subject, setting, style, light, framing, and what to leave out. That is the whole method.