LESSON 1 OF 5
Describe the picture, not the task
BY THE END OF THIS LESSON
Write an image prompt as a description of what you would see.
Why your text prompting does not transfer
A good text prompt is an instruction: a role, a task, constraints. People bring that habit to image tools and write "create a professional image for our homepage", which contains no picture at all.
An image prompt is a description of something you can see. If a person could not draw it from your words, the model is in the same position.
Nouns before adjectives
Describe a feeling, constrain nothing
Concrete nouns do the work
Vague adjectives are the most common failure. "Modern", "clean", "professional", "eye-catching" describe a feeling and constrain nothing — every image is somebody’s idea of modern.
Concrete nouns do the work: what is in the frame, where, made of what. "A ceramic mug on a pale oak table, morning light from the left" is a picture. "A professional product shot" is a wish.
Say what it is not
Image tools have defaults, and the defaults are the average of everything they were trained on: centred, glossy, slightly unreal. If you do not push against that you get it every time.
Naming what to exclude is often the single most effective line — no text, no people, no reflections, nothing centred. It is the same principle as an exclusion list in a text prompt, and it is skipped just as often.
WORKED EXAMPLE
AN INSTRUCTION
Create a modern, eye-catching hero image for a warehouse software company.
A DESCRIPTION
A wide, low shot down an aisle of steel warehouse racking, pallets stacked to the ceiling. Cool overhead light, long shadows on a concrete floor. Muted blues and greys. No people, no text, nothing centred — leave the right third empty.
The first describes a goal, and every part of it — modern, eye-catching — is unfalsifiable. The second describes a photograph: someone could shoot it. The empty right third is there because a hero image needs somewhere for the headline to sit, which is the kind of practical constraint a wish never captures.
YOUR TURN
Turn a goal into a description.
RUN THIS
Here is what I need an image for: [describe the use, e.g. a hero image, a blog header, a slide background]. Do not write the prompt yet. First ask me what is in the frame, where it is, what the light is doing, and what must not be in it — and push back if my answers are adjectives rather than things. Then write the prompt as a description someone could draw from.
What a good result looks like
If it accepts "modern and clean" without questioning it, reply "those are feelings — ask me what is actually in the frame".
KNOWLEDGE CHECK
Answer all 3 correctly to complete this lesson.
1. Why does good text prompting not transfer to image tools?
2. Why is "modern, clean, professional" a weak image prompt?
3. What does naming exclusions do?
REMEMBER THIS
Describe a picture someone could draw, in nouns, and say what must not be in it.