← Back to Experimenting with AI
Understanding Midjourney Prompts
I've generated over 1,000 images in Midjourney. Most people don't understand just how much control you can leverage to get near exactly what you can imagine.
Here are 8 pillars of Midjourney prompts that you MUST know:
Tokens
Tokens are the text that you input in a prompt. Each token that you use has a weight assigned it, the combination of which make the final generation.
You can see just how the tokens in the prompt are weighted by using the /shorten command --> Show details
Prompt Decay
Be careful when creating long prompts! The effectiveness of the prompt has diminishing returns the longer you make your prompt.
This can be seen in this dragon anatomy prompt I made in v3. Makes some good dragons, but might not be the most efficient token use
Multiprompting
To solve the issue of prompt decay, we can reset the strength of a prompt by layering it on top of another.
This can be done by separating multiple prompts with the command :: The base weight of a prompt is set to 1. You can change this number! Ex - ::2
Seeds
Midjourney is like a self generating movie theater. You tell it a combination of tokens, and it can produce the movie that you want to see.
The seed is the theater that it chooses to play in. If you reuse that seed with the same tokens, it will play the same movie.
Reinforcement
Reinforcement is the idea that a specific token can be made stronger by manipulating aspects of the prompt that make it more prominent. There are several ways of doing this, but here's a basic application:
Green Apple Green Green Apple
Green is reinforced.
Negative Prompting
Negative Prompting in Midjourney is different than any of art generator. Put shortly, it's more abstract. There are two ways to negative prompt in Midjourney...
...by extension --no [add what you don't want]
...by multiprompting lion:: cute, anime::-0.5
Artist Mixing
Why limit yourself to an artist's style when you can mix more than one artist to make your own style!
Bonus points if you learn how to multiprompt artists with specific weights for that extra layer of precision.
Scaffolding
The true bread and butter of my process. Scaffolding is the idea that we can give Midjourney a screen to look at to help it build upon. This is done by giving Midjourney an image and prompt. For example:
https://s.mj.run/naRWd4R5b9M — racecar
Reach Out
Always open to discussing tech, design, opportunities, or just life in general. Feel free to connect via Email, LinkedIn, or Twitter.
More about me
I’ve completed two online Computer Science courses from Harvard, a professional certificate from Meta on Front-end technologies, a Generative AI course from Microsoft and I'm on track to earn a UX Design certification from Google. My academic background also includes a Business degree from the reputable Tec de Monterrey.
I aspire to lead a balanced life, where every domain aligns harmoniously, enabling me to give my best to the world. I’m currently exploring Generative AI, the potential of audio as the next-gen computer interface, and the evolving landscape of AI Companions.