Prompt Anatomy

The Formula Behind Every Great Image

Every effective image prompt can be broken down into components. Understanding these components means you can construct prompts deliberately instead of hoping for lucky results.

By the end of this lesson, you’ll write structured prompts that give AI tools specific, actionable direction.

The Seven Components

Think of a prompt as a recipe with seven ingredients. Not every prompt needs all seven, but knowing them gives you complete control.

1. Subject

What or who is in the image. Be specific.

The more specific your subject, the more the AI has to work with. Vague subjects produce generic results.

2. Medium

What artistic medium should this look like? This single choice shapes the entire visual character.

Photography styles:

• Portrait photography, street photography, macro photography
• Film photography, Polaroid, infrared photography
• Cinematic still, product photography, aerial photography

Traditional art:

• Oil painting, watercolor, charcoal drawing, pencil sketch
• Gouache, acrylic, ink wash, pastel

Digital and illustration:

• Digital illustration, vector art, concept art
• 3D render, isometric illustration, pixel art
• Anime, comic book style, children’s book illustration

Example: “A lighthouse on a cliff” in oil painting style vs. cinematic photography vs. watercolor produces three completely different images.

3. Style and Artistic Influence

Beyond medium, you can reference artistic movements, eras, or aesthetic approaches.

Art movements:

• Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Impressionism, Surrealism
• Baroque, Minimalism, Brutalism, Pop Art

Aesthetic approaches:

• Cottagecore, cyberpunk, solarpunk, dark academia
• Vaporwave, retro-futurism, steampunk

Cultural styles:

• Ukiyo-e (Japanese woodblock), Wuxia, Scandinavian design
• Art from specific decades: 1950s illustration, 1980s neon

✅ Quick Check: How would referencing “Art Deco” change an image of a city skyline compared to “cyberpunk”?

4. Lighting

Lighting transforms mood and visual impact.

Natural lighting:

• Golden hour, blue hour, overcast, harsh midday sun
• Dappled light through trees, sunset backlight

Studio lighting:

• Rembrandt lighting, rim lighting, split lighting
• Softbox, high-key, low-key

Dramatic lighting:

• Chiaroscuro, volumetric light, neon glow
• Candlelight, bioluminescent, aurora borealis

Example: The same portrait looks warm and inviting in golden hour light, dramatic and mysterious in chiaroscuro, and ethereal in blue hour.

5. Color Palette

Color sets the emotional tone of the image.

Approaches:

• Specific palettes: “earth tones,” “jewel tones,” “pastel,” “monochromatic blue”
• Temperature: “warm tones,” “cool tones,” “neutral”
• Contrast: “high contrast,” “desaturated,” “vibrant,” “muted”
• Reference: “autumn colors,” “ocean palette,” “Wes Anderson palette”

6. Composition

How elements are arranged in the frame.

Camera angle:

• Bird’s eye view, worm’s eye view, eye level
• Dutch angle, over-the-shoulder, close-up, extreme wide

Focus:

• Shallow depth of field, deep focus, tilt-shift
• Bokeh background, selective focus

Framing:

• Rule of thirds, centered composition, symmetrical
• Leading lines, framing within frames
• Negative space, full bleed

7. Quality Modifiers

These push the model toward higher-quality outputs.

Resolution and detail:

• “8K,” “highly detailed,” “intricate details,” “sharp focus”

Production quality:

• “Award-winning,” “professional,” “editorial,” “museum quality”

Technical quality:

• “RAW photo,” “Hasselblad,” “Canon EOS R5”
• “Unreal Engine,” “Octane render,” “ray tracing”

Putting It All Together

The Template

[Subject], [Medium], [Style], [Lighting], [Color], [Composition], [Quality]

Example: Full Prompt

“An elderly fisherman mending nets on a wooden dock [Subject], cinematic photography [Medium], photojournalism style [Style], golden hour warm backlight [Lighting], rich warm tones with teal shadows [Color], shot from a low angle with shallow depth of field [Composition], 8K, highly detailed, award-winning [Quality]”

Example: Minimal But Effective

Not every prompt needs all seven. Sometimes three or four are enough:

“A minimalist Japanese garden, watercolor painting, soft morning light, muted earth tones”

Subject + Medium + Lighting + Color. Clean and effective.

Common Mistakes

Contradictory instructions. “Realistic photograph in watercolor style” confuses the model. Pick one medium.

Too many subjects. “A cat, dog, bird, fish, and hamster all playing together” usually produces chaos. Focus.

Ignoring lighting. Lighting is the single biggest differentiator between amateur and professional-looking images. Always specify it.

Generic quality terms only. “Beautiful, stunning, amazing” are weak. “8K, shallow depth of field, golden hour” are specific and actionable.

Try It Yourself

Build a prompt using all seven components:

1. Choose a subject you’d like to create
2. Select a medium (photography, painting, illustration)
3. Add a style reference (art movement, aesthetic, era)
4. Specify lighting
5. Define the color palette
6. Describe the composition
7. Add quality modifiers

Generate the image. Then remove components one at a time and regenerate to see how each element affects the output.

Key Takeaways

• Seven prompt components: Subject, Medium, Style, Lighting, Color, Composition, Quality
• Specificity in every component produces dramatically better results
• Medium choice (photography vs. painting vs. illustration) shapes the entire visual character
• Lighting is the most overlooked and most impactful component
• Not every prompt needs all seven—but knowing them gives you full control

Up Next

In Lesson 3: Styles and Aesthetics, you’ll build a vocabulary of artistic styles, movements, and aesthetics that unlock specific visual results on command.