How to Create Stunning Photorealistic Images with Midjourney

A Comprehensive Guide with 175 Keywords to Master Midjourney Photorealism (along with a Primer on Photography)

A collection of photorealistic images across various genres, generated by the author (Tezan Sahu) using Midjourney

Given below are two images (A) & (B).

Which of them was generated by AI & which was clicked by a human?

(A) An Indian woman drinking coffee in a cozy café (B) The Majestic Himalayas, including snow-capped peaks

Surprise! Surprise! Both of them were generated by AI (using Midjourney).

Mind-boggling, isn’t it? AI-powered image generation has certainly reached a new level of realism and creativity. You can now create stunning images of anything you can imagine, just by typing the right set of words.

In my previous blog, I showed you how to use Midjourney, one of the most popular and powerful AI image generators, to create stunning visuals for your marketing campaigns.

How to Use Midjourney for Marketing: A Complete Guide to Creating Stunning Visuals with AI

In this blog, I want to take you to the next level of AI image generation: photorealism. Photorealism is the ability to create images that look so realistic that they could be mistaken for photographs. This is not only impressive, but also useful for many purposes, such as creating realistic mockups, prototypes, simulations, illustrations, and more.

In this article, we’ll explore how to create stunning photorealistic images with Midjourney:

• I will explain the significance of understanding how to generate photorealistic images using AI
• I’ll outline some of the common mistakes that lead to sub-par quality of images, and ways to avoid them
• We’ll then dive deep into keywords for constructing effective prompts that enable the generation of high-quality, photorealistic images.
  I’ll also try to explain some of the key terms & concepts related to photography so that you can choose the ones relevant to the type of image you intend to generate.

I will also provide you with a template for writing photorealistic image prompts and show you some examples of the amazing results you can achieve.

Are you ready? Let’s get started!

Difference in quality of the photorealistic images obtained by supplying Midjourney with Simple Prompts (artifacts such as hair through the raincoat, blurred hands, lack of depth) vs Highly Detailed Prompts

What are Photorealistic Images and Why Do You Need Them?

Photorealistic images are images that look so realistic that they could be mistaken for photographs. They have a high level of detail, accuracy, and consistency, and they capture the nuances of light, shadow, color, texture, and perspective. Photorealistic images are not just ordinary images; they are images that evoke emotions, tell stories, and inspire actions.

A high-quality DSLR kept on a sturdy rock amidst green vegetation (generated by the author using Midjourney)

But why do you need photorealistic images? What are the benefits of using them for your marketing campaigns, projects, or personal use? Here are some of the reasons why photorealistic images are valuable and useful:

• Attract attention and engagement: Photorealistic images are eye-catching and captivating, making the audience curious and interested in your message. They also encourage your audience to interact with your content, such as liking, commenting, sharing, or clicking on your call-to-action.
• Enhance credibility and trust: Photorealistic images are convincing and persuasive. They show your audience that you are professional, reliable, and authentic while demonstrating your expertise, quality, and value.
• Save time and money: Photorealistic images are convenient and cost-effective because they eliminate the need for hiring photographers, designers, or artists. They also reduce the time and effort required for creating, editing, or modifying images.

As you can see, photorealistic images have many advantages and benefits for your marketing campaigns, projects, or personal use.

3 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Creating Photorealistic Images with Midjourney

Image generation in Midjourney is more like a game of words — you just type a few words in the form of a prompt & the AI tool magically generates something based on your prompt. However, blindly doing this will never get you to unleash the full potential of Midjourney & you will end up generating mediocre images.

Here are three common mistakes that you should avoid while trying to generate captivating photorealistic images, and how to fix them:

Mistake #1: Using short, vague or ambiguous prompts

A vague or ambiguous prompt can confuse Midjourney and make it generate images that have nothing to do with what you want. For example, “a beautiful landscape” can mean anything from mountains to oceans.

Results generated by Midjourney for the prompt “a beautiful landscape” — the images are surely beautiful, but they are definitely not photorealistic! In fact, they are all over the place, and very ‘artistic’ in nature.

To fix this mistake, use specific and descriptive prompts that tell Midjourney exactly what you want, such as “a photorealistic image of a snowy mountain range at sunrise with a clear blue sky”.

Result generated by Midjourney for the prompt “a photorealistic image of a snowy mountain range at sunrise with a clear blue sky” — much more realistic in nature

Mistake #2: Using inappropriate or conflicting keywords

An inappropriate or conflicting keyword can mislead Midjourney and make it generate images that look unnatural or distorted. For example, “cartoon” is not a good keyword for a photorealistic image prompt, nor are “dark” and “bright” for the same prompt.

To address this, use appropriate and compatible keywords that match your photorealistic image prompts, such as “photorealistic”, “realistic”, “cinematic”, “unsplash”, “stock photography”, “national geographic photo”, etc.

“But how do I know which keywords to use?”
Don’t worry! I’ve got you covered…the next section is exactly going to be about these, so stick around.

Mistake #3: Using default settings or parameters

A default setting or parameter can limit Midjourney and make it generate images that are low quality, blurry, pixelated, or unrealistic. For example, the 1:1 aspect ratio may not be suitable for a photorealistic image subject, and standard mode may be too artistic for a photorealistic image style.

Difference in photorealism & quality of generation on adding the “ — style raw” & “ — ar 16:9” parameters in Midjourney

To fix this, use custom settings or parameters that optimize your photorealistic image prompts, such as changing the aspect ratio to 16:9, or changing the style to “raw”.
(More about these in a future post…stay tuned!)

As you see, when it comes to prompting in Midjourney, it is evident that “more the details, better the prompt & more powerful the image!”

Without details, your short prompts will be vague and ambiguous, and your images will be generic, unrealistic and all over the place. But with details, your prompts will be clear, specific and descriptive, empowering you to control your image and get closer to your vision.

Essential Elements of Photorealistic Image Prompt

“How can you write effective prompts that tell Midjourney exactly what you want to create, and how to create it?”
“What are the details that you need to include in your prompts to make them specific and descriptive?”

In this section, I will answer these questions and show you the most crucial elements of crafting photorealistic image prompts. These elements are the building blocks of a photorealism, and will help you communicate your vision and expectations to Midjourney.

The elements that we’ll explore are:

• Scene Descriptors
• Time & Weather Conditions
• Mood or Atmosphere
• Camera Selection
• Lens Filters
• Camera Settings
• Lighting
• Perspective

Let’s take a look at each of these elements in detail and see how they work.

Scene Descriptors

Scene descriptors are words or phrases that describe the main subject or object of your image and form the core of your prompt. They define the type of image being generated, and hence should be clear and specific.

Following is a list of keywords that you can use as scene descriptors, typically for photorealistic images. They usually set the context & genre of the image to be generated.

22 Scene descriptor keywords for Midjourney Prompts

Let’s try to spice up some of the simplistic subjects with these descriptors, to craft prompts that start unleashing Midjourney’s magic.

Wildlife photography of a Royal Bengal tiger walking in the Sundarbans Forests (generated by the author using Midjourney)

Closeup shot of a female sunglass model, fashion photography (generated by the author using Midjourney)

Product photography of a bottle of luxury perfume coming out of a splashing pool of liquid, with a dark floral background (generated by the author using Midjourney)

Time & Weather Conditions

These words or phrases describes the time when your image takes place, as well as the weather or climate of your image. Keywords indicating time affect the color, brightness, contrast, and tone of your image, while those specific to weather affect the visibility, texture, reflection, and mood of your image.

Here are a bunch of keywords that you can experiment with and see the difference.

22 Keywords for Midjourney Prompts to describe Time of the Day & Weather Conditions

Here are some examples of how adding details about the time & weather conditions can significantly alter the final image quality.

Difference b/w photos of a blue Kawasaki Ninja 1000 bike clicked during a rainy night and during the golden hour (generated by the author using Midjourney)

Difference b/w photos of a luxurious villa in a valley, clicked during the golden hour, with thin mist and during the blue hour in snowstorm (generated by the author using Midjourney)

Mood or Atmosphere

These keywords capture the essence of the emotions being conveyed through the image. It tells Midjourney what kind of mood or atmosphere you want to create your image with, such as happy, sad, angry, calm, tense, romantic, scary, or mysterious. Specifying the mood explicitly can add to the overall impact created by your generated image.

Some examples of keywords for describing the overall mood or atmosphere of your image:

33 Keywords for Midjourney Prompts to describe the Mood conveyed by the image

Let’s now visualize how these mood keywords affect the quality & impact created by the Midjourney-generated images.

A software developer working on his laptop in a tense environment (generated by the author using Midjourney)

A young Indian man overwhelmed with the technology, in a gloomy & dystopian atmosphere (generated by the author using Midjourney)

A woman in a Parisian café, with a warm, cozy & nostalgic atmosphere (generated by the author using Midjourney)

Lone figure near a stormy beach with crashing waves, atmosphere of drama, anger (generated by the author using Midjourney)

Camera Selection

Now, we start getting more into the ‘real’ of photorealism. Since Midjourney model has been trained on a plethora of images clicked by a variety of cameras, with different lenses, it can emulate these to a great extent — but only if you specify it explicitly!

Here is a list of High-Quality & Creative options for Cameras, along with the best use-cases for them. You may need to experiment with these iteratively to achieve the most compelling results.

A collection of 10 high-quality cameras & 10 creative cameras to choose for your prompt

Mentioning the camera can significantly elevate the photorealism in the results generated by Midjourney. Below are some images that I’ve generated using some of the above mentioned high-quality & creative cameras.

A Jamaican athlete, running a 100 m race, shot using Sony A1 camera (generated by the author using Midjourney)

A scientist working in a chemistry lab, clicked using Night Vision camera (generated by the author using Midjourney)

A polar bear in the Arctic next to a camera on a tripod, clicked using an Infrared Camera (generated by the author using Midjourney)

A Gothic-style fountain in a European garden clicked using Leica M10-R camera (generated by the author using Midjourney)

I personally love the photorealism in the images generated Leica M10-R camera, for its versatility across multiple genres of photography.

Lens Filters

These keywords in your prompt indicate Midjourney as to what kind of color, contrast, brightness, or tone adjustments you want to make to your image, such as warm, cool, sepia, black and white, or vintage. Lens filters affect the mood, atmosphere, and style of your image. For example:

• If you want to create a photorealistic image of a sunset over the ocean with a warm and nostalgic feel, you should use a lens filter like “warm filter” or “vintage filter”.
• But if you want to create a photorealistic image of a snowy mountain range with a cold and crisp feel, you should use a lens filter like “cool filter” or “black and white filter”.

Following are some professional grade lens filters that can enhance the photorealistic images generated by Midjourney according to your mood.

12 Lens filter keywords to include in prompts to enhance the mood of generated images

Using lens filters is totally optional — usually you may not require them, however they can give stunning results when you wish to reflect a certain kind of mood or vibrance in your images (and using simple mood keywords is not providing satisfactory results)

Old bungalow in the meadows of Scotland, shot using Fujifilm Instax camera with a vintage lens filter (generated by the author using Midjourney)

A large spicy chicken burger with extra veggies, shot using Leica M10-R camera with a polarizing lens filter (generated by the author using Midjourney)

Camera Settings

Camera settings are words or phrases that describe the settings of the camera that you want to use to create your image. They tell Midjourney what kind of aperture, focus, exposure, or shutter speed you want to apply to your image (such as f/1.8, f/16, auto focus, manual focus, overexposed, underexposed, fast shutter, or slow shutter). Camera settings affect the depth of field, blur, brightness, and motion of your image.

In the short section below, I try to explain the key settings of cameras. It can help you pick & choose the right settings for the most impactful images once you develop a deeper understanding of these. However, if you are simply interested in using the keywords, feel free to skip this section.

There are a few major camera settings that you need to know, so that you can get the most out of Midjourney while trying to emulate the high-quality cameras mentioned previously:

• Aperture: It controls how much light enters the camera (bigger the aperture, more the incoming light). Aperture is measured by a number called f-stop. The smaller the f-stop number, the bigger the aperture (for example, f/2.8 is a big aperture while f/16 is small). Aperture also affects how much of your picture is in focus (depth of field). The bigger the aperture, the smaller the depth of field. Thus, if you want to take a picture of a flower and make the background blurry, you can use a big aperture like f/2.8.

Variation in Midjourney-generated images of a toucan in a rainforest, for apertures f/2.8 & f/8

• Shutter Speed: It controls how long the light enters the camera sensor. The faster the shutter speed, the shorter the time that light comes in. It is measured by seconds or fractions of seconds. The faster the shutter speed, the more frozen or still your picture will be. The slower the shutter speed, the more blurred or moving your picture will be. For example, if you want to take a picture of a car racing by, you can use a fast shutter speed like 1/1000 to freeze its motion and make it sharp and clear. If you want to take a picture of water flowing in a river, you can use a slow shutter speed like 1/4 to blur its motion and make it smooth and silky.

Variation in Midjourney-generated images of a Moto GP Rider, for shutter speeds 1/1000 s & 1 s

• ISO: This is a camera setting that helps you take good pictures in different kinds of light. If you use a low ISO, your picture will be very dark. If you use a high ISO, although your image will become very bright, but it will make your image look grainy or fuzzy. It is best to use the lowest ISO possible that still gives you a clear picture.
• Exposure: It is like the brightness of your picture. It is determined by the 3 settings discussed above — aperture, ISO & shutter speed. The following “exposure triangle” explain this well.

Exposure Triangle Diagram in Photography

• Focus: It determines how sharp or blurry your picture is. Focus is important because it helps you to draw attention to what you want to show in your picture.

That concludes our brief digression into photography. Hope you will now understand the keywords mentioned below better and choose them appropriately in your own prompts.

Back to our keywords, here is a curated list of camera settings that you can add to your prompts to generate professional quality photorealistic images.

24 camera settings to be included in Midjourney prompts for impactful photorealistic images

We can use various permutations of these camera settings while crafting our Midjourney prompts to obtain the most appropriate visualization of the concept in our minds. Following are some examples that I generated using some extreme camera settings:

Formula One racing car speeding through the Moroccan Grand Prix track, clicked using a GoPro Hero11 camera with a graduated neutral filter, f/8 aperture, 1/4000 shutter speed, ISO 100, short exposure (generated by the author using Midjourney)

Trailing lights of cars on a winding ghat road on a hill, shot using a Sony Alpha a17 III mirrorless camera, with color-gel lens, aperture f/1.4, shutter speed 5, long exposure, ISO 1600 (generated by the author using Midjourney)

Double exposure bison with the great grass plains (generated by the author using Midjourney)

Lighting

These keywords in your prompt tell Midjourney how to illuminate your subject. They affect the shadow, highlight, contrast, depth, and realism of your image.

Here are some examples of lighting keywords to be included in your prompt, that can elevate the look & feel of your images.

20 Professional lighting conditions to include in your Midjourney prompts to make your images stand out

Let’s apply this learning to our Midjourney prompts to understand how to make the best use of some of these professional lighting keywords.

Variations of fashion photography of an Indian couple, in blue & black tones, with different lighting conditions (generated by the author using Midjourney)

Scuba diver near the great barrier reef, shot using Nikon Z9 camera with cool filter lens, with underwater lighting (generated by the author using Midjourney)

Light painting of a circle made by a young Indian girl holding a firecracker during Diwali (generated by the author using Midjourney)

Perspective & Composition

These keywords serve as guidelines for Midjourney to position the subject of your image. They affect the depth, angles, composition and point of view of the generated image, which may result in varied perceptions of the photorealistic image.

Given below is a list of some interesting perspectives & composition guidelines to try out in your next image.

11 Perspective & 11 Composition keywords to bring a sense of depth into your photorealistic generated images

Here are a few examples of how adding guidelines for perspective & composition can generate awe-inspiring images.

Variations in image of a cup of Cappuccino placed next to a piece of cake in a cafe, with different perspectives (generated by the author using Midjourney)

A single Baobab tree in a large expanse of the Savannah grasslands, composed using negative space (generated by the author using Midjourney)

The Ultimate Photorealistic Image Prompt Template

Now, it’s time to put all these learnings into practice and create stunning photorealistic images with Midjourney.

How can you do that? Don’t worry, I have got you covered. Given below, I’ve shared the ultimate photorealistic image prompt template for Midjourney:

“[Style Descriptor] of [Subject], set in a [environment — time, weather, etc.] with a [mood/atmosphere]. Include [additional details/modifiers], emulate a [specific camera] with a [lens filter] and [camera settings], use [lighting conditions], and compose with [perspective/composition guidelines].”

This template is a simple and powerful formula that will help you write effective prompts that tell Midjourney exactly what you want to create, and how to create it. Just plug in your choice of keywords from among the 175 options that I’ve shared above, to see your imagination brought to life by Midjourney!

Note: You need not fill in all the placeholders for every photo. Experiment with what works best for your creatives. Also, feel free to reposition the placeholders within your prompt — Midjourney pays more attention to the words & phrases appearing early on in the prompt.

Let’s look at some images that I created by plugging keywords into this exact template to craft my prompt for photorealistic images…

Prompt: Cinematic shot of an Indian woman through a glass window, the woman is in casual clothes, smiling and sipping coffee, photorealistic, 4k, set in a cozy cafe with a peaceful, warm, and positive atmosphere. Emulate a Hasselblad X2D 100C camera with a Fujifilm GF 110mm f/2 R LM WR lens. Use softbox lighting, and compose with a frame-in-a-frame perspective

Prompt: Editorial product photography of a modern headphone kept on a minimalistic table next to a window, during sunset, dramatic & confident atmosphere, clicked using Leica M10-R camera with polarizing lens filter, aperture f/2.8, shutter speed 1/100s, rack focus, gobo lighting from the window, composed using eye-level perspective

Prompt: Photorealistic image of a detective solving a mystery case in streets of Kolkata, set in a crowded market with colorful stalls, rickshaws, and people, with a mysterious and suspenseful mood, emulate a Nikon Z9 with a Petzval 58 Bokeh Control Art Lens, with a sepia filter, f/2.8 aperture, use natural light from the late afternoon sun, compose with a low-angle perspective and leading lines.

Prompt: Food photography of a hot plate of chicken sizzler, shot using Lomography Lomo’ Instant Wide camera with color-gel lens filter, f/5.6 aperture, 1/60 shutter speed, 800 ISO, bokeh lighting, composed using a low-angle view, dark background

Whoa! Now that’s really cool!

Now, let’s see if we can ask Midjourney to imagine certain concepts, and make it look as photorealistic as possible…

Here’s how Midjourney imagined Sheldon Cooper (from ‘The Big Bang Theory’), in a crowded India market buying vegetables.

Prompt: full body shot of Sheldon Cooper wearing a kurta and pyjama, in a crowded Indian market buying vegetables, detailed, shot on Fujifilm Pro 400H, rim lighting

Okay, I don’t know why I did that 😂, but the generated image does look really awesome!

One last attempt — this time, I’ve asked Midjourney to imagine the photoshoot of a futuristic sports car, and here’s the result:

Prompt: an award-winning photograph of a futuristic sports car designed by Bugatti standing on a deserted road in the Red Rock Valley of Mojave Desert of Nevada, fluidic & futuristic design, clicked during a bright sunny day, in a warm atmosphere, clicked using Holga 120N camera with a warm lens filter, aperture f/16, shutter speed 1/500 s, ISO 100, natural lighting, composed using a low-angle perspective with leading lines

Amazing! So now I’ve also shown you how to use the ultimate photorealistic image prompt template to unleash your creativity and generate mind-boggling images of any genre with Midjourney.

Concluding Remarks

Congratulations! You’ve made it to the end! With that, I believe you have learned how to create stunning photorealistic images with Midjourney, using the ultimate photorealistic image prompt template and the essential elements of a photorealistic image prompt.

Throughout this article, I’ve shown you how you can generate stunning photorealistic images across multiple genres of photography — wildlife, nature, product, portrait, fashion, food, editorial, architectural, sports, action, and so much more — using the right keywords in your Midjourney prompts.

You now also know how to avoid the common mistakes that can ruin your photorealistic image generation experience and result in low quality, unrealistic, or irrelevant images.

I hope you enjoyed this blog and found it useful and informative. I encourage you to try out Midjourney and experiment with different prompts, keywords, settings, and parameters, and unleash your creativity and imagination with Midjourney’s amazing photorealism capabilities.

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References

• Midjourney
• Create Photorealistic Images in Midjourney (Cheat Sheet) by Rory Flynn
• 50+ Midjourney Prompts to Create Photorealistic Images (Advanced)
• Bing Chat (for research)

About the Author

Hey folks!

I’m Tezan Sahu, an Applied Scientist at Microsoft, an Amazon #1 Bestselling Author (for the book “Beyond Code: A Practical Guide for Data Scientists, Analysts & Engineers”), and co-author of “The Vision, Debugged” newsletter.

I am passionate about helping aspiring data scientists & software developers kickstart their careers, deliver consistent impact & become differentiated professionals in the field of AI & Data Science.

If you are interested in learning more about how you can leverage AI to stay ahead of the curve and boost your results, connect with me on LinkedIn & subscribe to my newsletter.

AI-generated avatar of the author (Tezan Sahu) generated using Midjourney & InsightFaceSwap

Check out my website & follow me on LinkedIn, Instagram & Twitter for interesting content on Al, data science, marketing, leadership, and mindset.

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