Tutorial: Make simple blog post images using Midjourney

Got a lot of questions on how I made the last featured image for the previous newsletter. Here is a breakdown on how to create a simple image like that.

May 16, 2023

How I made the recent header image for the last newsletter. I knew I wanted a metal obelisk in the desert (like the one that just appeared out of nowhere a while back ago and thats also in the 2001: A Space Odyssey).

I’ll go through step by step. I’m using the dynamic prompting technique, so adding to the prompt bit by bit, and just making adjustments as I go.

🔗 Read my post on dynamic prompting

Let's try to make a photo of a monolith/obelisk for my newsletter/blog post.

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Step 1.

Prompt:  "A silver obelisk"

This is not exactly what I was going for. It is indeed a obelisk and it has the color silver/metal. Let’s see if we can improve.

This is running default Midjourney settings so version 5.1

Step 2.

Prompt: "A rectangular silver obelisk in the desert"

We’re getting closer. Need to adjust this slightly. I’m just working now in the 1:1 aspect ratio, and no extra parameters.

Step 3.

Prompt: "a shiny silver rectangle obelisk in the desert"

Now I’ve modified the prompt slightly, trying to remove the pointy tip of an obelisk (at this point I should have also tried the word monolith).

Step 4.

Prompt: "A shiny silver rectangle obelisk in the desert --ar 3:2"

Let’s add the aspect ratio I want, in this case I want a 3:2 image. Sometimes when you are changing the aspect ratio, the image output can drastically change.

This got slightly worse

Step 5.

Prompt: "a shiny silver rectangle obelisk in the middle of a canyon in the desert"

Let's add some dynamics to the composition. Let's try putting the obelisk in a canyon. The smooth surface of the obelisk disappeared. Do not fret, let’s do a couple of re-rolls 🔁 in Midjourney to find a version we like

Step 6.

Prompt "a shiny silver rectangle obelisk in the middle of a canyon in the desert --ar 3:2 --s 300 --style raw"

I started to play with the stylize parameter = a lower value equates to more adherence to the prompt, higher value high equates to more artistic expression but less connection to the prompt.

—style raw = removes some default midjourney 5.1 aesthetics.

After a few runs I settled with --s 300 and --style raw

Step 7, Select out final image.

Prompt "a shiny silver rectangle obelisk in the middle of a canyon in the desert --ar 3:2 --s 300 --style raw"

So our final image turned out great. It was exactly what I wanted, and it took about 10 minutes to get there between runs and tweaks.

First image is our first attempt, the second image is our final output. With just about 6 iterations between them. This is the power of midjourney and the ability to use a bit of iteration in your process.

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prompt: A shiny silver rectangle obelisk in the middle of a lake in sweden, dusk --ar 3:2 --s 300

So by just tweaking the prompt slightly. Just replacing “canyon in the desert” with “lake in Sweden, dusk”. We can easily create any environment or scenario we want from the base prompt we created.

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Conclusion

Start simple. Then iterate your way forward. There is no need to start with extremely complex prompts to begin with. There are much more advanced things you can work with such as the —seed and adding images into your prompt. But this is a simple and fast way. If you want to know more you can check out my dynamic prompting tutorial.

Still here?

Everything is moving so fast, and there are new ways and techniques popping up almost daily now on how to work with AI tools. This is just one way to do things. I appreciate you being here and taking the time to engage.

Still reading? Thank you. I hope you learned something today, if you have questions, feel free to reply to this email or reach out to me on Twitter

I’m currently teaching a course on MetaCrafters on this subject, and I’m teaching my second Midjourney Workshop next Monday. Maybe I’ll see you there.

Inside My Head