Guide
AI Image Prompt Examples
Five prompts written for this page, each with the objective that produced it and a short note on which clauses carry the result. Read them as structures to adapt, not as strings to paste.
1. Hero image for a hiking brand
Objective
A landscape banner with deliberate empty space for a headline, that feels like real documentary photography rather than a stock adventure shot.
Prompt
Create an image based on the following guidelines: a lone hiker in a faded green shell jacket walking away from camera along a ridge path, small in frame, positioned on the lower right third. Wide 16:9 landscape shot from slightly above eye level, the ridge falling away into layered valley haze, upper left half kept clear sky for text. Early morning, sun low behind the ridge, cool shadowed foreground and a warm rim along the skyline, thin mist in the valleys. Muted palette: grey-green, slate blue, pale gold sky, no saturated colour anywhere. 35mm at f/8, everything sharp, gentle film grain, no lens flare, no dramatic sky replacement.
Why it works
The subject is small on purpose, which reads as documentary rather than heroic. The reserved space is stated as a compositional fact, not as a wish. The prohibitions at the end block the three clichés this genre defaults to.
2. Food photograph for a menu
Objective
An appetising dish shot that looks like a restaurant photographed it, not a catalogue.
Prompt
Create an image based on the following guidelines: a shallow bowl of hand-cut noodles in dark broth with charred spring onion and a soft egg half, shot at a 45-degree angle, bowl slightly off-centre to the left with the table edge visible in the bottom corner. Close medium shot. Single window light from the back right, hard enough to give the broth a bright specular highlight and the bowl a defined shadow across the table. Table is scratched dark walnut. Palette: near-black broth, warm ceramic cream, one green accent, deep brown wood. 50mm at f/2.2, focus on the egg, front rim of the bowl falling gently soft, visible steam, no garnish scattered artfully, no props, no white background.
Why it works
Backlight is what makes food look edible rather than plastic, and it is named explicitly with its consequence — the specular highlight. Naming the exact focus point is more reliable than saying "shallow depth of field".
3. Editorial illustration for an article
Objective
A conceptual illustration about attention and distraction, in a printable style that will sit next to body text without shouting.
Prompt
Create an image based on the following guidelines: a person seated at a small desk drawn from directly above, surrounded by dozens of small overlapping paper squares drifting outward like scattered cards, the desk surface itself almost clear. Flat two-colour screen-print illustration, visible halftone dot texture and slight registration offset between the plates. Palette: a single warm red and a deep ink blue on uncoated off-white paper, no gradients, no third colour. Simple geometric figure with no facial features, confident uneven line weight, generous empty margin around the composition. Square crop.
Why it works
The two-colour constraint and the print artefacts do almost all the stylistic work. The featureless figure keeps the illustration conceptual, which is what editorial illustration usually needs.
4. Product packaging concept
Objective
A packaging visual that communicates a quiet, functional brand rather than a luxury one.
Prompt
Create an image based on the following guidelines: three cylindrical cardboard containers of different heights standing in a tight row on a pale concrete plinth, straight-on front view at label height, centred with equal space either side. Uncoated kraft board with a single band of printed colour around the lower third and small caps type set in a plain grotesque. Soft overhead daylight from a large source slightly to the left, shadows short and soft, background a seamless mid-grey with a gentle vertical falloff. Palette: kraft brown, mid grey, one muted teal band. 85mm at f/8, full board texture and print grain visible, no glossy finishes, no reflections, no decorative props.
Why it works
Every material choice — uncoated board, matte finish, muted band — is stated as a physical property. Prompts that describe materials instead of adjectives like "premium" give you control over how the surface actually behaves in light.
5. Interior architectural render
Objective
A space that feels lived in rather than a showroom, for a moodboard about small-footprint homes.
Prompt
Create an image based on the following guidelines: a compact studio apartment interior seen from the corner opposite the window, plywood joinery running floor to ceiling along the left wall, a low bed platform, one worn armchair, an open book face down on the arm. Wide shot at seated eye height, vertical lines kept straight, room reading as small rather than expansive. Mid-afternoon light through a single tall window on the right, one hard rectangle of sun on the floor, the rest of the room in soft bounce. Palette: birch ply, off-white plaster, oxidised black steel, one faded rust textile. Architectural photography, 24mm tilt-shift at f/8, natural imperfections, dust in the light shaft, no people, no staged styling.
Why it works
The book face down on the chair is the whole trick — one small sign of use turns a render into a home. The tilt-shift and straight verticals are what make it read as architectural photography rather than a game engine screenshot.
How to adapt these
Keep the skeleton — subject, framing, light, palette, camera, exclusions — and replace the content one clause at a time. If you would rather derive a skeleton from an image you already have, run it through the Promptify tools. More worked cases, including website and poster briefs, are on the examples page.