THE QUICK DECISION GUIDE
Need photorealistic images → Midjourney or DALL-E 3 Need images with readable text → Ideogram Need it free and unlimited → Stable Diffusion (self-hosted) or Bing Image Creator Need it for commercial use only from licensed images → Adobe Firefly Need design + generation in one → Canva AI
TOOL-BY-TOOL BREAKDOWN
MIDJOURNEY — Best Overall Quality Best for: Artistic, cinematic, and stylised images. Marketing visuals. Product shots. Thumbnails. Cost: From $10/month Weakness: Requires Discord (for now). Text in images is often garbled. Prompt style: Descriptive, with style modifiers at the end ("--ar 16:9 --style raw")
DALL-E 3 (via ChatGPT) — Best for Quick Concepts Best for: Fast ideation, concept art, when you want to describe in plain language. Cost: Included with ChatGPT Plus ($20/month) Weakness: Less precise control than Midjourney. Style is more illustrative. Prompt style: Conversational. Say exactly what you want and ChatGPT helps refine it.
IDEOGRAM — Best for Text in Images Best for: Logos, posters, social graphics, anything where the image needs readable words. Cost: Free tier available Weakness: Not as photorealistic as Midjourney for non-text images. Prompt style: Describe the design including the exact text you want rendered.
ADOBE FIREFLY — Best for Commercial Projects Best for: Anything you'll use commercially. Trained entirely on licensed images. Cost: Included with Creative Cloud, or standalone Weakness: Less creative/wild output than Midjourney. More conservative. Prompt style: Descriptive, similar to other tools. Integrates with Photoshop for editing.
STABLE DIFFUSION — Best Free Option Best for: Unlimited image generation with full control. Power users. Cost: Free (runs on your own hardware or via services like DreamStudio) Weakness: Requires setup. Steep learning curve.
LEONARDO.AI — Best for Game & Character Art Best for: Game assets, character design, fantasy/sci-fi art. Cost: Free tier with 150 tokens/day Weakness: Less useful for photography or professional business graphics.
PROMPTING TIPS THAT WORK ACROSS ALL TOOLS
- Lead with the subject: "A woman reading a book..." not "In this image..."
- Add a style: "...in the style of editorial photography" or "...flat illustration style"
- Specify lighting: "golden hour", "studio lighting", "soft diffused light"
- Add quality modifiers: "highly detailed", "sharp focus", "professional quality"
- Set the aspect ratio: always specify --ar for Midjourney or mention dimensions for others
5 PROMPT TEMPLATES TO START WITH
- Business headshot: "Professional portrait of [DESCRIPTION], studio lighting, white background, sharp focus, 4K quality"
- YouTube thumbnail: "[DRAMATIC SCENE/CONCEPT] with space for text overlay, bold colours, cinematic, --ar 16:9"
- Social media visual: "Minimalist [CONCEPT] illustration, [COLOUR PALETTE], clean white space, modern design"
- Product mockup: "[PRODUCT] on a marble surface, natural light, lifestyle photography, high detail"
- Blog header: "Wide abstract [THEME] background, [COLOURS], subtle texture, space for text --ar 3:1"
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