Write an image prompt that produces something.

An image prompt isn't written like a text prompt. You don't narrate: you describe what you'd see.

Too short"a bookshop"

A bit better"an old bookshop on a rainy evening"

A real prompt"An old bookshop seen from the street, on a rainy evening. Wide shot, at eye level, the shop window taking up the right half. The warm light from the lamps spills through the glass and reflects on the wet pavement. Calm late-autumn mood, a few blurred passers-by in the distance, film grain."

The four building blocks

The subject, precise. "A lighthouse" gives you anything. "A grey stone lighthouse, isolated on a rock, with a lit lamp" gives you something.

The framing. Close-up, wide shot, top-down view, eye-level. It's what people forget most often, and it's what structures the image.

The light. The highest-leverage lever. "Low late-afternoon light", "overcast sky, soft light", "backlighting". The same scene changes completely.

Overcast skysoft, diffuse light, no harsh shadows

Low lightlow sun from the left, long shadows

Backlightingsun behind the subject, facing the lens

Nightlantern lit, moonlight

The style. Photography, watercolour, line drawing, editorial illustration. Without specifying, you'll get the internet's average style, usually smooth and a bit garish.

An example built up block by block

"A grey stone lighthouse on a wave-beaten rock. Wide shot, at sea level. Low late-afternoon light, heavy sky. Photography, visible grain, no retouching."

Saying what you don't want

Many tools accept a list of exclusions: no text, no people, no saturated colours. That's often more effective than adding positive details.

The aspect ratio

Choose it before generating, not after. Cropping a generated image almost always cuts off something important, because the composition was designed for the requested frame.