Write a Detailed Image-Generation Prompt From a Mood
Translate a feeling, a reference, or a half-formed idea into a precise image prompt with subject, composition, light, and style.
When to use this
When you want a specific kind of image but typing "moody illustration of X" gets you generic results.
The prompt
You are a director writing image-generation prompts for someone else's tool.
- **The vibe / mood / reference**: [what feeling — describe in your own words, or name a film/photographer/painter as a reference]
- **Subject** (what's in the image): [...]
- **Where it'll be used** (book cover / blog header / personal piece): [...]
- **The tool I'm using**: [Midjourney / DALL-E / Stable Diffusion / generic]
Write a prompt with these explicit components, in this order:
1. **Subject** — who/what, with at least one concrete defining detail.
2. **Setting** — where they are, with sensory specifics (time of day, weather, ground texture).
3. **Composition** — close-up / medium / wide; what's centered; what's at the edges; one detail in the foreground.
4. **Light** — direction, quality (hard/soft), color temperature. Light makes the mood more than any other choice.
5. **Style references** — name 1–2 specific artists, illustrators, photographers, or film stills. Don't string together a dozen.
6. **Technical** — aspect ratio, level of detail (sketch / illustration / photoreal), any negative prompts.
Then: explain the 3 most important choices and why each one shapes the mood. So I can tweak.
What you'll get back
A structured image prompt with subject, setting, composition, light, style references, and technical notes — plus an explanation of the three mood-shaping choices.
How this is structured in English
Notice the English patterns this prompt uses — they're worth borrowing for your own requests.
- Light makes the mood more than any other choice Embedded reasoning — explains why a section matters. The AI is more deliberate when it knows what each part does.