Midjourney Prompts: The Complete Beginner's Guide (2026)

Midjourney can create breathtaking images - but only if you know how to prompt it. If your results look random or messy, the problem is almost always the prompt. This beginner's guide will fix that.

The anatomy of a Midjourney prompt

A strong prompt has these parts:

• Subject - what you want to see.
• Style - photorealistic, illustration, cinematic, etc.
• Details - lighting, mood, colors, composition.
• Parameters - technical flags like --ar and --v.

Essential parameters

• --ar sets the aspect ratio (1:1 square, 16:9 wide, 9:16 vertical).
• --v 6 uses the latest model.
• --style raw gives more photographic results.
• --no excludes things you don't want.

Example prompt

"Professional product photo of a coffee bag on a marble surface, soft studio lighting, minimal, commercial photography --ar 4:5 --style raw --v 6"

Tips for better results

1. Be specific - vague prompts give vague images.
2. Study prompts that work and reuse their structure.
3. Iterate - upscale and vary your best results.

Skip the trial and error

Writing great prompts takes practice. Our Midjourney Prompt Bible gives you 311 tested prompts and formulas for portraits, products, logos and more - so you get stunning results from day one.

The bottom line

Master the four prompt parts, learn the key parameters, and practice. Or grab a tested prompt library and shortcut the whole process. Explore our AI prompt collection to start creating.