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How To Get Consistently Great Results With Midjourney
How To Get Consistently Great Results With Midjourney
One of many excellent portrait results you can achieve with Midjourney
Ever wondered how some people get much better results than your own with AI image
generators? Here's some tips for obtaining photorealistic results with Midjourney.
I'm going to say right off the bat, let's park the debate about whether AI image generators are
the death of art or photography, or whether they should exist or not. The fact is, that if I want an
image that I can't get anywhere else, an AI image generator can often give me what a stock
photo site cannot. It's a tool that you can choose to use or not, and I'm going to leave the debate
there.
Instead I want to focus on how to get results from one of the most popular, and capable AI
image generators around; Midjourney.
Midjourney has built a bit of a reputation for some of the stunning images, both photoreal and
stylised, that it can produce. I'm going to focus here on results that look like they were taken
with a camera or as a still image from a movie. So here's a few guidelines and some prompts
you can use to help improve the results you're getting if you're new to this.
Midjourney works through Discord, so you'll need to create a Discord account first of all. You
can then use the system via a web browser or by downloading the Discord app. When you sign
up for Midjourney you'll get a certain number of 'processing minutes' for free. After that you'll
need to choose a subscription tier. Note that unless you sign up for the Pro account tier, all your
image generations will appear on the public message board, even if you prompt with a private
message to the Midjourney bot. Only Pro accounts have the ability to use Stealth mode. This is,
of course, a good thing because it prevents the dodgier uses of the system.
Furthermore, you don't need to be too wordy. The shorter and to the point the prompt is, the
better the results generally. At least this has been my own experience when using it.
Below is an example of a plate of food using some of those descriptions. The prompt I used was
"Close-up of a plate of food consisting of sea bass fillets sitting on a bed of broccoli with a few
capers. Natural light, global illumination, uplight f/1.8".
You can see that it still doesn't look very realistic, so what can we do to improve that?
Close-up_food_1_midjourney
Close-up_food_2_midjourney
Hmm, it's slightly better, but it's still not something you'd describe as 'photoreal'. Now, we could
specify the phase "photograph" or "photoreal", and even "extreme detail. However there are a
few other parameters we can use instead, or in addition to these.
Firstly, let's stop Midjourney generating a square image. For this I'm going to use the "--ar"
instruction. So, if I type "--ar 16:9" into my image description prompt, Midjourney will output an
image in the specified aspect ratio. I'm also going to force it to use the highest quality by using
the "--q 2" instruction. This uses double the amount of computational credits, but it gives a
hugely improved result. Additionally I'm going to add in a seed command to add in some
variation to the generations, for example "--seed 3000". Lastly, I'm going to force Midjourney to
version 5.
The result is this prompt and the image below, "Film still in the style of a 2020s cooking
programme, close up of a plate of food consisting of sea bass fillets sitting on a bed of broccoli
with a few capers. Natural light, global illumination, uplight f/1.8 --ar 16:9 --seed 3000 --q 2 --v
5".
Close-up_food_3_midjourney
I think you'll agree that this is a hugely improved result, and could be classed as a realistic
'photograph'. We can use these parameters to get some startlingly realistic results, and
Midjourney understands a vast number of styles. Want to create a still frame from a 1980s Hong
Kong comedy action film? No problem! The images below came from the prompt "Film still, style
by 1980s Hong Kong comedy action film. Starring Sammo Hung, Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao.
Eighties clothing. Sharp and detailed, film grain, Kodak 200T, no dramatic lighting, global
illumination, uplight, 16-35mm lens, f1.8 --ar 16:9 --seed 1500 --q 2 --v 5".
What's staggering about these is how it has recreated the lighting style, film look, and
characterisations extremely faithfully.
80s_Hong_Kong_Film_1
80s_Hong_Kong_Film_2
Compare these to the image below, which I specified as a more up-to-date style with "Film still,
style by 2020s Hong Kong martial arts thriller. Starring Bruce Lee. Sharp and detailed, fine
grain, Kodak 200T, global illumination, uplight, 16-35mm lens, f1.8 --ar 16:9 --seed 2000 --q 2
--v 5".
80s_Hong_Kong_Film_3
Midjourney_martial_arts_gone_wrong
We can reduce (not eliminate) such ludicrous generations by giving Midjourney a reference
image. To do this, find an image showing roughly the kind of position you want the generation to
show. This can be one from the web, or even better, one you've taken yourself, even if it's just
with your phone. Double click the "+" icon next to the prompt box and select the image from
your computer to upload, and then send the message.
Your image will appear in the list of messages you've sent. Click on it to enlarge it, then right
click and select "Copy image link". Now, when you start an image prompt, simply paste the link
at the beginning, then continue your image description. It won't give you perfect results, but you
can usually get far, far closer to what you want. You can give the system multiple reference
images, but I would say to use three maximum, preferably two. The below image was generated
using a reference still image from a Scott Adkins movie.
Midjourney_Hong-Kong_Film_Kick
Right, so those are some tips you can use all round, and it's worth experimenting with the "style
by" instruction. But, what can we do to improve portraits and more traditional imagery?
Old_surfer_midjourney2
Old_surfer_midjourney1
The image below was created with the prompt "Portrait of a female surfer with surf board on a
beach. Sand in hair. Clear facial features, 35mm lens, f/1.8, global illumination, natural light,
uplight, Ilford film stock --ar 16:9 --q 2 --v 5"
Female_surfer_midjourney
For some reason it gave her two surfboards, but this could be rectified with multiple generations,
which brings me onto...
Final thoughts
Midjourney has some incredibly powerful possibilities and I've included some of the better
results I've had below with some of the phrases used in the prompts, but it's about more than
just creating realistic images. In terms of cameras it can understand everything including
GoPros, but the "style by" parameter has some stunning potential. For example you could
specify anything from superhero comics to the photographic style of Ansel Adams. You can also
experiment with lighting styles, particularly in relation to the colour of the light and its position,
such as front lit or back lit.
As I mentioned earlier, there are some things that it doesn't do well. Another example of this
was when I asked it to produce an image of a surfer on a wave or carrying a surfboard along a
beach. Midjourney doesn't understand the relationship between a person and actually standing
on a board or holding it, so it took me a large number of regenerations before I finally got an
image that did what I wanted it to do. The key is patience, and attention to detail in how you
make your descriptions. Vary them a bit, and tweak them to see what has an effect and what
doesn't. But I hope some of the tips I have described above help you to get better results.
More examples
1970s music documentary
"Style by 1970s music documentary"
Female_portrait
"Portrait, clear facial features"
Female_pirate
"Hyperdetailed photography, photorealistic. Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L III USM lens on a Canon
EOS 5D Mark IV camera"
Surfer_on_board_Midjourney
The result of many generations of asking for a surfer on a board, followed by asking for
variations on different results.