Best Prompts for Midjourney V5 (many styles & applications)

Only 5 months after the release of Midjourney V4, Midjourney V5 was released on March 16, 2023.

So what's new?

• Resolution has increased considerably.
• Prompting is more important than ever before, because the model picks up on a lot more nuances in natural language
• Art style knowledge is critical. Many users think Midjourney V5 is 'generic' but that's only because they don't know how to push their results with aesthetics and styles. More explanation below.
• Use-case breath and depth: the new model "knows" about many more use cases, as well as most important characteristics for each use cases: vectors are cleaner, flat designs are flat, environments have more depth and scale, realism is... well much more realistic.
• Upscaling is much faster! Seriously, try upscaling anything.
• Any Aspect Ratio: You can now set any aspect ratio, and that includes making your images super tall or super wide. Here's a full list of up-to-date Midjourney parameters and commands to use in your prompts.

I create free prompting handbooks that cover general and specific uses, if you find this guide useful check these out as well!

Download Midjourney Prompt Book [V4]

Download Midjourney Fantasy Art Prompt Book [V5.1]

Newer Versions

Midjourney V5.1 was released on May 3, 2023. It pushes aesthetic improvements even further, while making short prompts more effective.

Just a month after that, V5.2 was released on June 13, 2023 and features improved aesthetics and sharper images. It also introduces cool new features like Zoom, Shorten, and High Variation Mode.

David Holz, Midjourney CEO and Founder has implied that Midjourney V6 will be released in August 2023, however this is not for certain.

Getting Started

Before you get started, make sure V5 is your default.

To set V5 as your default, type /settings and then select MJ version 5 as your default version. Otherwise, you'll have to include "--v 5" after every prompt.

In the examples below, you won't see the "--v 5" command in any prompt because I've set it as the default.

Let's get into it.

Photorealistic People

Midjourney V4 was a huge jump up from V3 in terms of realism. It's fair to say V5 is an even bigger jump.

As with before, people mainly prompt in 2 ways and they both work:

• Comma separated words
• Long, flowing, grammatically correct sentences

Take note of the prompt lengths here. Shorter prompts are fine, but they tend towards generic results. Camera and lighting phrases work wonderfully:

21years chinese girl, in school, beauty, long black hair, sun light，insane detail, smooth light, real photography fujifilm superia, full HD, taken on a Canon EOS R5 F1.2 ISO100 35MM --ar 4:3 --s 750 --q 2

elderly man with wrinkles and warm smile enjoying his morning coffee at a diner, portrait photography, beautiful, morning sunlight through blinds, smooth light, shot on kodak portra 200, film grain, nostalgic mood --ar 4:3 --chaos 10 --s 250

scandinavian girl, by the sea, portrait photography, beautiful, sunlight, smooth light, real photography fujifilm superia, full HD, taken on a Canon EOS R5 F1.2 ISO100 35MM --ar 4:3 --s 750

Editorial Photography

Prize-winning photos win prizes not because they're pretty, but because they tell stories about the human experience.

photograph from 2018s China: a young couple in their 20s, dressed in white, stands in their home, displaying a range of emotions including laughter and tears. Behind them is a backdrop of a cluttered living space filled with white plastic trash bags and torn white paper rolls. Captured with a film camera, Fujifilm, and Kodak rolls, the image conveys a strong cinematic and grainy texture. This artwork uniquely documents the complex emotions and living conditions faced by the young people of that era. --ar 4:3

Real People/Famous People

V5 has knowledge of many more people and gets their likenesses very accurately:

You can also be a bit more creative:

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak as young men discussing the schematics of the Apple I in their garage, hyperrealistic, golden hour, kodak portra 800, 105 mm f1. 8 --ar 16:9 --q 2

Stock photos

Midjourney is officially a stock photo website killer. Sorry, Shutterstock.

Realistic japanese girl, 22 years old, working on a laptop, new Macbook Pro 16” 2022 on a White Clear Background with a lot of light from the ceiling. Real photo, cinematic image taken with the high key mood and tone, very detailed face and very sharp eyes. Super Realistic image with High Dynamic Range and very high resolution and no watermark.

stock photo of a man and women shaking hands after an interview, both wearing suits in an office, well lit, white background, taken with Canon --ar 3:2

Fictional characters in real life

A true Midjourney staple. Turn your favorite fictional characters into real life and other styles.

Technique: Multiple Angles

Try generation multiple images from the same prompt. It's scary how good Midjourney is at creating multiple angles of the same person or thing now.

realistic portrait photography of beautiful girl, pale skin, golden earrings, summer golden hour, kodak portra 800, 105 mm f1. 8; image split into 2, different angles of the girl --ar 2:1

More: Camera and Lighting Effects Prompts List

Environments / Interior Design

One thing that people don't take advantage of enough: lighting conditions. As photographers and painters know, light has a huge effect on the final impression an image creates.

Describe the type of light you want to see and the time of day it is. You don't need complex vocabulary either, sometimes "large windows" is all it takes to create light pouring into a room:

More: Interior Design Prompts

A living room of a beautiful bright modern Scandinavian style house with large windows opening onto a swimming pool. The room is globally well illuminated and the photograph is taken with a Canon EOS 5D with a wide aperture lens set to F/8 and ISO set to 400. --ar 16:9

Hall of a magnificent baroque palace filled with golden statues of skulls and paintings of skulls, beautiful staircase, Renaissance paintings, marble columns, high plants, large windows --ar 16:9 --s 1000

Interior by Kengo Kuma, Harmonious blend of natural elements and modern design in an eco-friendly apartment complex, falling water --ar 16:9 --c 1

cinematic masterpiece, spring equinox festival, ancient cyberpunk celtic village, stunning architecture, jubiliant mood, cernunnos temple, aerial view, photorealistic --ar 4:3

Design

Let's get into some practical use cases:

Web Design

pink shopify page for japanese product site,shopify,ui,ux,ui/ux,3d design,simple,clean and bright,pastel color,full page,website

More: Web Design Prompt Guide

Logo Design

The most striking thing about V5 design: vectors graphics look like vector graphics.

Try specifying what text you want. It's so close (but so far).

More: The Complete Logo Design Prompt Guide

Marketing/Blog Illustrations

As I've mentioned, vectors are super clean. These could go straight on a brand website:

Illustration

In the home office, kids and a cat and a dog sit in front of the laptop screen. On the laptop you can see a construction drawing. The coffee mug on the table is knocked over. A potted plant are all over the room. The office walls are painted with felt-tip pen. Cinematic lighting, 16k, in cartoon style, intricate details, GLSL, raytracing, FXAA, bokeh, --ar 3:2 --s 800

Fantasy Art

Check out more fantasy art & DnD prompts.

A valiant knight, clad in gleaming armor, stands at the precipice of destiny. Donato Giancola, craig mullins, parth, masterful strokes legendary --ar 16:9 --v 5.1

merchant, peddling eclectic glittering wares from faraway lands, a crowd, ancient city roman, craig mullins, sparth, masterful strokes legendary --ar 16:9 --v5.1

Anime

In December 2022 Midjourney released Niji Mode, it's specialized anime model (type /settings and look for Niji Node). It's safe to say that V5 is as good at, if not better than Niji Mode than anime (likely that Niji's model was absorbed into the new V5 model).

Portrait of an attractive young woman with a gun on abstract sideways city background with copy space and sunlight. Illustration Line Art, Stipple, comic, dark fantasy cyberpunk Sci-Fi, distant future, highly detailed, elaborate, Double exposure, Shirow Masamune and Ghost in the Shell and Granblue Fantasy style, dot matrix, risograph --ar 3:2 --c 10 --s 500 

More: Niji Journey Prompts

Architecture

Here's our in-depth architecture prompting guide. You can push the results of your architectural generations by not only referencing architects, but also architectural photographers in your work.

Structure by Calatrava, Stunning photography in the style of Thomas Struth, --ar 3:1 --chaos 10

multiple perspectives of a monolithic skyscraper by zaha hadid, inspired by hellenic architecture, magazine photography --s 1000 --ar 3:2

balcony of a hotel design by eero sarinen, atmospheric background style of blade runner 2049, photography in the style of Thomas Struth --ar 3:2 --chaos 10

More: 100+ Architecture Prompts for Midjourney V5

img2img

img2img works better than ever before!

If you've never done this: Midjourney takes image links as part of the prompt. If your image is from online, you can right click > Copy Image Address. If your image is not online, you can send it to the Midjourney Bot, then right click (tap the 3 dots on mobile) > Copy Link.

Stylize images

Prompting Tips

Midjourney V5's default is the photographic style.

If you don't specify any other style you'll get a realistic, photography, aesthetic style.

In --v 5, to generate something other than a photographic image, you will need to reference art movements, artistic techniques, genres, media types, games titles, directors, artist names, influences, time periods, etc.

To create an aesthetic, try referencing two or more of these:

• Art movement: Identifying the art movement in the prompt will introduce its style and techniques. Examples include Impressionism, Surrealism, or Pop Art.
• Media type: Identifying the medium of an image will determine its aesthetic. Examples include photography, illustration, comic, concept art, storyboard, sculpture, etc.
• Media title: - Identifying a media influence will influence its look. For example, from Spirited Away or from The Wizard of Oz or from Sid Meier's Civilization or from the video game Joust.
• Artist name: Referencing the name or the work of a specific artist will roughly invoke their unique style. Examples include Vincent van Gogh, Frida Kahlo, or Banksy.
• Technique: Referencing techniques will add that style to the image. Examples include impasto, pencil sketch, watercolor, or digital art.
• Time period: Identifying the historical context of an image will invoke its aesthetic. For example, images from the Renaissance, Baroque, or Modernist periods.
• Geographic location: Referencing regions and countries will influence style. Examples include Japanese Ukiyo-e prints, African tribal art, or American Abstract Expressionism.

Remember, --v 5 has more powerful styling and aesthetic potential than any other model, especially if you set --s to a low value such as --s 50 to get Midjourney's strong bias out of your way.

Happy prompting, and I'll see you all in V6!

FAQ