Keen to overcome creative blocks, create marketing materials faster and cut costs by producing photorealistic images with Midjourney? Then read on. Superside’s comprehensive Midjourney image guide covers the best tips and prompts for creating realistic photos in a flash. 💥
Over the past two years, AI has seen a significant expansion, and an impressive array of AI image generators are now available.Â
The text-to-image model Midjourney is one of our favorite AI tools. With a simple text description or “prompt,” this tool can instantly produce a photorealistic image. It’s transforming the landscape for creative agencies by changing how creative projects are approached and executed.
While Superside firmly believes AI will never replace humans, we view artificial intelligence as a powerful tool to enhance creativity. Tools like Midjourney enable design innovation, helping us deliver bigger, better creative campaigns faster than ever before.
AI is now used in all our creative design processes, with Superside designers delivering everything from striking logo designs to pitch-perfect presentations with the help of bots. So far, we’ve saved our customers $1,400,000 using AI-enhanced creative and design processes—and we’re just getting started.
A case in point: We recently used Midjourney to create a campaign for a client who tapped into our design services, producing over 750 realistic images in less than 12 hours and cutting 90% of design time.
If you prefer a more hands-on approach to using AI in design—and seek valuable tips on achieving photorealism—keep reading. Emmanuel Cantón, AI-Enhanced Senior Graphic Designer and Illustrator at Superside, explains how to use Midjourney to produce stunning images and standout campaigns.
Among AI aficionados, Midjourney stands out for its ability to blend human creativity with machine precision.
In November 2023, this tool’s user base exceeded 16 million, with daily active users ranging from 1.2 million to 2.5 million. Notably, 68% of users use Midjourney for entertainment, while 32% use it for practical purposes (e.g., to create realistic photos).
Key reasons AI image generators like Midjourney are having a massive impact on the design industry include:
To get started, you’ll need to access the Midjourney Bot on Discord via a web browser, mobile app or desktop app.
Create a verified Discord account and select a subscription tier based on the monthly processing minutes you’ll need (i.e., the time used to generate or enhance images).
Once in the server, type a brief description into the chat channel, and Midjourney’s Bot will generate several image variations. To achieve the best results per image, it’s essential to understand the key components—prompts, parameters, commands and tools—influencing Midjourney’s output.
Generating realistic AI images can be a challenge for newcomers in Midjourney because the AI responds to specific languages. Prompts are the way we "talk" to Midjourney, providing detailed descriptions of what we want. To get accurate results, we need to be clear and specific. A prompt is a short phrase or sentence that describes the image you want.
Prompts are the way we "talk" to Midjourney, providing detailed descriptions of what we want. To get accurate results, we need to be clear and specific. A prompt is a short phrase or sentence that describes the image you want.
While a basic Midjourney prompt can be as simple as a single word, phrase or emoji, the structure and wording of your prompt directly impact the outcome.
Here are a few examples:
Being detailed in the light and the context will help a lot to get accurate results.
By carefully crafting prompts, you can guide Midjourney to produce more accurate and realistic images.
To produce good results, you’ll need to understand the Midjourney parameters—modifiers that help you fine-tune how the AI interprets your prompt. They control aspects like resolution, lighting or stylization.
In Midjourney, parameters allow you to fine-tune the outcome of your image prompts. For example, the --ar parameter controls the aspect ratio of the image. To use parameters, simply add them at the end of your prompt with a double dash, like --chaos 50. The chaos parameter controls variation; higher values (0-100) result in more differences between the generated images, while lower values make the images more similar. These parameters help customize the results based on your preferences.
Here are some examples of useful parameters in Midjourney:
Think of commands as instructions for Midjourney. You can use commands to create images, change settings and monitor user information. A commonly used command is “/imagine” to generate an image based on your prompt.
Commands in Midjourney are instructions that tell the AI what action to take. You access them by typing the “/” symbol in Discord, which brings up a list of available commands.
Here are some common examples:
These commands help guide Midjourney in creating and refining images.
Features within Midjourney allow you to adjust results further to create incredibly lifelike images. For example, tools like the Vary Region editor enable you to select a part of the image and modify it while keeping the rest unchanged.
In Midjourney, tools help you refine and enhance your images after they’ve been generated. They allow you to make adjustments like enlarging the image, zooming in, or modifying specific parts of it. For example, the Vary Region tool lets you make changes to a specific area of an image without altering the entire picture.
You can find these tools in the Midjourney interface, typically after an image is upscaled, and they are accessed by selecting options like "upscale" or "zoom" directly in the platform’s menu.
Note: When you upscale images, your subscription’s GPU minutes are used faster. Creating a high-resolution image can take up to twice as many GPU minutes as generating an initial image grid.
Now, let’s go over Emmanuel ’s process for getting photorealistic images with Midjourney. It all starts here:
We need to speak to Midjourney in its own language to get the results that we want. There is not just one formula to get the expected results, but there are things that tend to work better than others. You won’t always need to apply all of these but if you are struggling to get realistic images these tips will help you to improve your results.
Midjourney tends to produce vibrant and polished images that can look almost too perfect or artistic. The --stylize parameter allows you to control how much of this artistic effect is applied. By adjusting this setting, you can guide Midjourney to create more realistic images or lean into a more stylized, artistic look.
For realistic images, lowering the --stylize setting helps reduce the "artificial" or "overly perfect" look that Midjourney often adds. You can experiment with different values until you find a balance that suits your preference, but a range of 500 to 750 generally works well for realism.
In the image below you can see how the images with --s 500 and --s 1000 have a good level of realism. Images with a higher --s number have more photographic beauty. With people usually --s 1000 tends to be too much.
We as humans are used to seeing a lot of photography, and our eyes are accustomed to perceiving certain styles derived from camera angles. Images generated while taking into account lens and angle settings make it easier for us to see them as real. It's not the same as looking at an image generated in 3D or artificially as it is looking like a photo taken with a camera.
So, tell Midjourney what camera angles you want in your image, such as whether it’s taken with a telephoto or a wide-angle lens, or from above or below. This helps Midjourney understand you want an image that looks like a photograph and gives you more realistic results. It also helps to specify if you want a studio photograph, an outdoor shot, or something taken in sunlight. These details will enhance the realism of your image and give you more customized results.
You can notice in the image on the right that the skin details are more realistic. Also, the use of the telephoto makes the depth of field more obvious and natural. If you know about photography you can use your own lenses in your prompt but if not you can use any of these in the list or just ask ChatGPT which is the best lens and camera for the type of photo you want to create.
Including details about illumination (luminous, sun-kissed, cold light, warm light), angle of the shot (frontal, lateral, from below, from above), and style of photography (outdoors, selfie, studio, fashion, cinematic) they help a lot to create realistic and also accurate results.
Niji models are specialized versions of Midjourney that are designed to generate anime-style and illustrative images. They are excellent for creating hand-drawn, cartoonish, or vector-style artwork, with vivid colors and bold lines.
However, they are not ideal for producing realistic or photographic images. If you're aiming for something that looks lifelike or resembles a photograph, it's better to use Midjourney’s standard models rather than Niji, as Niji models focus more on creative, artistic rendering rather than realism.
If you want to create something that looks hand-drawn, vectorial, or similar, Niji will do a great job. But if you want to create images that look realistic and photographic, avoid using the Niji models. It would be really hard to get good results with them for this specific subject. To ensure this, go to the /settings of Midjourney and choose any of the models, preferably the most recent one, instead of the Niji model.
In the image on the left, the Niji model made the style illustration-like while the one on the right is more realistic. Also, more recent versions of Midjourney will tend to give more realistic results.
In Midjourney, --style raw is a parameter you can add at the end of your prompt to reduce the artistic enhancements that Midjourney usually applies to its images. This means the AI will stick more closely to your original description, creating images that look more natural and less stylized or beautified.
It's especially useful when you're aiming for a more realistic, less polished result, as it removes some of the artistic flair that can make images look overly perfect or exaggerated.
Using --style raw at the end of your prompts can also help you get more accurate results. This parameter helps you to get images that are not that enhanced by Midjourney, so it will give you a less beautified result, which can help your images look more realistic. For this one it is harder to detect the difference though.
In this case, the parameter --style raw helps a lot with complex poses and scenarios where Midjourney doesn’t understand well what we want to get as a result.
If you need to apply a certain style to the images you are creating or get specific face features, ensure the images have great resolution and are not pixelated. Pixelated images could bring you low-quality results and less realistic photography.
The image on the right has better realism on the skin and shades due to the higher quality of the reference.
Now, it is time to upscale the image. But what does upscaling mean? Well, usually AI images are created in relatively low resolution to save processing resources. Once you get the result you want, you'll need to enlarge the image to a higher resolution.
In Midjourney, there are two options: Upscale Subtle and Upscale Creative. In my experience, Upscale Subtle works best for faces that take up a large portion of the image, as it preserves the details without altering them much.
However, when the face or body is smaller in the image, Upscale Creative tends to perform better because it reconstructs details more effectively. Upscale Subtle can sometimes create a plastic effect on small faces since it tries to stay too close to the original, whereas Upscale Creative adds interpretation to improve resolution in those areas.
You can also get help from external upscallers like Krea.ai, Upscayl, Topaz, Magnific and many others. These bring a higher level of realism to your images, making the texture and shades of the skin more rich.
Let’s take a look at some photorealistic prompt examples by our expert, Emmanuel Canton:
Prompt: /Imagine A female scientist in a lab coat shows deep concentration as she works with test tubes, shot with a 100mm macro lens. The bright studio lighting gives this scene a crisp, analytical feel, perfect for documentary photography. --style raw --stylize 750 --v 6 |
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Prompt: /Imagine A young man with glasses has an intense focus as he works on his laptop at a desk. Captured with a 35mm prime lens, the soft ambient window light creates a calm and productive atmosphere in this documentary photography shot. --style raw --stylize 750 --v 6 |
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Prompt: /Imagine A man in his 40s shows an intense focus as he fixes a bike in his garage, shot with a 35mm prime lens. The room is illuminated by bright overhead lighting, adding a sense of purpose and determination to this documentary photography moment. --style raw --stylize 750 --v 6 |
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Prompt: /Imagine Photograph of a plain white ceramic mug placed on a beige soft concrete texture surface. The mug is positioned slightly angled to the side, showcasing its simple and sleek design. The background is light grey, creating a clean and modern aesthetic. The lighting is soft and natural, highlighting the smooth texture and pristine whiteness of the mug. The overall composition is minimalist and elegant, emphasizing the simplicity and elegance of the plain white mug. Shot with a DSLR camera using a 50mm f/1.8 lens for sharp focus and creamy background blur, enhancing the sense of depth and isolation of the subject --stylize 750 --v 6.0 |
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Prompt: /Imagine Close-up photograph of a plain white t-shirt laid flat on a beige soft cement texture surface, taken with a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 lens from a side angle to capture the texture and details of the center of the t-shirt. The natural lighting highlights the fabric texture and pristine whiteness. The composition is simple and elegant, showcasing the t-shirt in a minimalist setting. --stylize 750 --v 6 |
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Prompt: /Imagine An elderly man has a thoughtful gaze as he walks through a field, captured with a 50mm portrait lens. The scene is bathed in soft morning sunlight, creating a serene atmosphere in this lifestyle photography shot. --style raw --v 6.0 --s 750 |
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Using AI tools like Midjourney and others allows you to create customized, on-brand photography that brings consistency to your visual identity, outperforming generic stock photos.
The process starts with crafting detailed image characteristics: the color palette, the desired illumination, and the specific elements you want in each image. This approach enables the creation of cohesive prompts that align with your vision. Once you have a list of those you can recombine them to create prompts that generate consistent images.
Leveraging ChatGPT can enhance this process. For instance, you can use it to generate a list of contrasting characteristics for different image sets, giving each collection its unique feel yet aligning with an overarching theme.
Supporting this process with a mood board filled with style references—both from your own generated images and external sources—helps ensure consistency across the board. It’s about curating a visual language that speaks to your brand, making each image feel intentional and tailored.
Prompt: /Imagine Photograph a model sitting cross-legged on the floor in a cream-colored suit with a grey blouse, working on a laptop. Emphasize a low-contrast, warm color palette that enhances the cream tones against a soft beige backdrop. The lighting should be evenly diffused, as if from a large softbox, to avoid harsh shadows and give a clean, professional look. Her eyes focused on the laptop for a natural, candid effect. Use an 85mm lens at f/4 to create a slight background blur and a shutter speed of 1/60 to capture the stillness of the scene. Fashion photography, detailed skin imperfections --chaos 5 --v 6.1 --style raw --sref https://s.mj.run/1qmi6Szvins https://s.mj.run/uI_ROuQMSdI https://s.mj.run/Jc61awAZxV0 https://s.mj.run/E9X-Ag0Ggtg https://s.mj.run/BdCwL4nPvpg https://s.mj.run/4un_OoS3RXI --sw 400 |
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Prompt: /Imagine Capture a close-up of a woman’s hands delicately holding a beige ceramic coffee cup. The color palette should be warm and muted to accentuate the earthy tones of the cup and the natural warmth of her skin. Use soft, natural sunlight from a nearby window to create gentle highlights and shadows across her fingers. Shoot with a 90mm macro lens at f/3.5 to bring out the details of her skin texture and the ceramic’s surface, with a shutter speed of 1/60 to ensure a clear, still image. Focus on the fingertips and subtle creases to create a tactile, intimate mood. --chaos 5 --style raw --sref https://s.mj.run/4-TgaalHS5o --sw 20 --v 6.1 |
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Prompt: /Imagine Set up a shot of a woman in a dark emerald green blazer over a beige turtleneck, holding a neutral-toned handbag. Position her in front of a light gray textured wall, creating a muted, professional atmosphere. Use natural outdoor lighting with a slightly overcast sky to produce soft, even light on her face and outfit. Direct her to adopt a relaxed pose, perhaps one hand in her pocket and the other holding her bag, with a calm, composed expression. A 70-200mm lens at f/3.5 and a shutter speed of 1/100 would capture the details crisply while softly blurring the background --chaos 5 --style raw --sref https://s.mj.run/1qmi6Szvins https://s.mj.run/uI_ROuQMSdI https://s.mj.run/Jc61awAZxV0 https://s.mj.run/E9X-Ag0Ggtg https://s.mj.run/BdCwL4nPvpg https://s.mj.run/4un_OoS3RXI --sw 400 --v 6.1 |
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Prompt: /Imagine Photograph a woman model looking down to the side, in a light gray beige blazer and wide-legged trousers against a minimalist white background. Keep the color palette low-contrast to highlight the soft gray tones against the clean background. Use large, indirect natural light from a side window to softly illuminate her face and outfit. Capture this with a 50mm prime lens at f/3.2 and a shutter speed of 1/80, maintaining sharpness while blurring the background slightly. Fashion photography, detailed skin imperfections --chaos 5 --v 6.1 --style raw --sref https://s.mj.run/1qmi6Szvins https://s.mj.run/uI_ROuQMSdI https://s.mj.run/Jc61awAZxV0 https://s.mj.run/E9X-Ag0Ggtg https://s.mj.run/BdCwL4nPvpg https://s.mj.run/4un_OoS3RXI --sw 400 |
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Prompt: /Imagine A woman in a sage-green blazer, a blouse and and matching high-waisted trousers, leaning casually against a plain white wall. Use a muted color palette to highlight the soft green tones of her outfit against the light background. The lighting should be natural, diffused sunlight from a large window to create gentle shadows on her face and hands. The skin details are visible, hyperrealism. Neutral, confident expression. Shoot with a 50mm lens at f/2.8 for a shallow depth of field that gently blurs the background, and use a shutter speed of 1/125 to keep the image sharp and focused. --style raw --chaos 5 --v 6.1 --sref https://s.mj.run/1qmi6Szvins https://s.mj.run/uI_ROuQMSdI https://s.mj.run/Jc61awAZxV0 https://s.mj.run/E9X-Ag0Ggtg https://s.mj.run/BdCwL4nPvpg https://s.mj.run/4un_OoS3RXI --sw 400 |
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Prompt: /Imagine Frame a close-up shot of a woman writing in a minimalist beige notebook with a sleek black pen. Position the notebook and her hand on a light wooden surface to emphasize a warm, neutral color palette. Use soft, indirect lighting to avoid glare and enhance the pen’s metallic accents and the paper’s texture. Set the focus on her hand and pen tip, using a 100mm macro lens at f/4 for sharp detail on the writing motion, with a shutter speed of 1/125 to capture any slight movement in her fingers. This shot should feel calm, intimate, and focused. Fashion photography, detailed skin imperfections --chaos 5 --v 6.1 --style raw --sref https://s.mj.run/1qmi6Szvins https://s.mj.run/uI_ROuQMSdI https://s.mj.run/Jc61awAZxV0 |
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Prompt: /Imagine Photograph a woman model looking to the side for an unposed, natural look, in a light gray beige blazer and wide-legged trousers against a minimalist white background. Keep the color palette low-contrast to highlight the soft gray tones against the clean background. Use large, indirect natural light from a side window to softly illuminate her face and outfit. Capture this with a 50mm prime lens at f/3.2 and a shutter speed of 1/80, maintaining sharpness while blurring the background slightly. Fashion photography, detailed skin imperfections --chaos 5 --v 6.1 --style raw --sref https://s.mj.run/1qmi6Szvins https://s.mj.run/uI_ROuQMSdI https://s.mj.run/Jc61awAZxV0 https://s.mj.run/E9X-Ag0Ggtg https://s.mj.run/BdCwL4nPvpg https://s.mj.run/4un_OoS3RXI --sw 400 |
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Prompt: /Imagine Photograph a woman model looking to the side for an unposed, natural look, in a light gray beige blazer and wide-legged trousers against a minimalist white background. Keep the color palette low-contrast to highlight the soft gray tones against the clean background. Use large, indirect natural light from a side window to softly illuminate her face and outfit. Capture this with a 50mm prime lens at f/3.2 and a shutter speed of 1/80, maintaining sharpness while blurring the background slightly. Fashion photography, detailed skin imperfections --chaos 5 --v 6.1 --style raw --sref https://s.mj.run/1qmi6Szvins https://s.mj.run/uI_ROuQMSdI https://s.mj.run/Jc61awAZxV0 https://s.mj.run/E9X-Ag0Ggtg https://s.mj.run/BdCwL4nPvpg https://s.mj.run/4un_OoS3RXI --sw 400 |
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To create hyper-realistic photos with Midjourney, avoid these common pitfalls:
Pitfall: Midjourney struggles to understand long and complex prompts.
There are two types of errors with prompts: too-short prompts which can be translated to missing information in camera lenses and illumination styles or too-long prompts can lead to Midjourney getting focused on irrelevant information and ignoring the most important parts of the prompt.
Solution: Keep prompts for realistic images short and straightforward and provide clear context and essential details. When crafting your Midjourney prompts, consider:
Pitfall: Initially, it’s understandable to feel overwhelmed and make common Midjourney mistakes.
To get any good results in Midjourney you need to enter open to the idea that you may not get initially the results that you expect and it is ok. After the first iteration, when you see the image, you start exploring how to correct certain things.
Solution: Start by focusing on a few key parameters, such as aspect, chaos and quality. Your results will improve significantly once you understand what they do and how they work.
The --ar (or --aspect) changes the aspect ratio of an image and is typically written as two numbers separated by a colon. For example:
The "--chaos" or "--c" parameter affects the grid’s variety of images. A higher value creates more unusual results, while a lower value yields more reliable ones.
The “--quality” or “--q” parameter controls the time it takes to generate images. A lower value means faster generation but less detail. This parameter is helpful for quick results with new Midjourney prompts.
Pitfall: Midjourney may create photos with awkward or unnatural poses or objects positioned in a way that doesn’t make sense, breaking the illusion of realistic photography.
Solution: When prompting poses, ask for natural positions like “relaxed posture” or “walking naturally.” Provide clear instructions for objects such as “centered” or “on the table.” It can also help to give the person’s hands something to do such as holding a phone, hands waving. And especially adding an image link as a reference can improve the results significantly.
Pitfall: One of the main issues with AI-generated photography is inconsistent or unrealistic lighting and shadows, such as conflicting light sources or illogical shadows.
Solution: When creating Midjourney prompts, specify the lighting setup you want, such as “natural light,” “soft shadows” or “dramatic lighting,” and provide directional cues like “light from the left” or “sunset lighting” to help generate a more realistic portrait.
Pitfall: A highly detailed photo needs the right textures, especially for skin, fabric or foliage. If the prompt is too vague, it might create inauthentic-looking images, especially in close-up portraits.
Solution: Make your Midjourney prompts very specific, using phrases like “high-resolution,” “fine detail” or “close-up texture.” Also, specify elements like “realistic fabric,” “skin with pores” or “detailed wood grain.”
Pitfall: A common issue with Midjourney’s algorithms is that they favor artistic styles, resulting in images looking overly stylized rather than realistic. This becomes problematic when the output includes exaggerated colors, unrealistic textures or unnatural lighting effects.
The most common mistakes are usually the extremes. Very high stylization --s 1000 or very low stylization --s 100. Using not clear enough references such as pixelated images, low photographic quality images, and too much variety of style in the references.
Solution: You can avoid using the --stylize parameter to close to its extremes 0 and 1000". --stylize 50 is not a good value for realistic images
Pitfall: AI images, like those from Midjourney, may contain errors such as incorrect facial features, extra fingers or unnatural background objects.
Solution: Use clear, straightforward prompts to reduce any confusion. If you encounter consistent issues with specific elements, like hands or faces, break the prompt down into smaller, more specific commands focusing on them. You can also improve the output by making minor changes to your prompt each time until the distortion is fixed. And also, you can use Vary Region to modify specific areas inside your image.
AI tools like Midjourney make it possible to create high-quality images that resemble actual photographs at great speed and reduced cost. As AI’s capabilities expand, more businesses will tap into AI tools to stay competitive. However, we should always take this with a grain of salt:
Midjourney is a great tool capable of bringing excellent results but it gets complicated to obtain specific results such as realistic images if there is not a deep knowledge of all the factors involved in creating realistic images. And is not only about creating a realistic image but about thinking strategically and conceptually about what type of realistic image would convey the message better.
But staying ahead also means knowing when to call in the pros. Does this sound like you? Partnering with Superside can help you leverage AI-enhanced design with the full support of our best-in-class human designers.
Midjourney doesn’t decide what pose, what environment, what target audience would feel represented in an image, and here is where Superside’s AI Certified creatives play a crucial role.
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