5 Best Midjourney Prompts: December 2023 (Lighting)

A look at using lighting modifiers in your Midjourney prompts.

Happy Thursday!

Welcome to the final Midjourney prompts post of the year. (Crazy to think that this monthly tradition started in December last year.)

As any photographer or artist will tell you, how you light your subjects matters.

That’s because, without light, we cannot see.

(For more equally groundbreaking insights, subscribe to Why Try AI.)

So before we all go on our well-deserved Christmas break, here are some ways you can use lighting in Midjourney.

To demonstrate the impact, I use the same three subjects in all prompts:

• Photo of a woman

• Photo of a teddy bear

• Photo of a rose

As you’ll see, a lighting modifier can single-handedly affect the setting and location of the shot. You can (and should) use a detailed description of your intended scene to get the results you want.

Note: All sample images are Midjourney Version 5.2.

Extra note: Just as I was about to publish this post, Midjourney released a test alpha version of their newest model, V6. It will be changing a lot over the coming days as they adjust things based on community feedback. I will try to do a deep-dive post on it next Thursday. For now, here’s a quick taste:

Prompt #1: Take them outdoors

Midjourney prompt:

[subject], golden hour

What it does:

The golden hour is a special time just after sunrise or before sunset when natural light is warm and soft while still illuminating your subjects. It’s typically the perfect time for outdoor photography because it doesn’t result in lens glare or sharp shadows.

Midjourney tends to include the sun itself in the shots, but you can override this in your prompt if you don’t want that effect.

Sample images:

Prompt #2: Light them up

Midjourney prompt:

[subject], high-key lighting

What it does:

High-key lighting uses several light sources in a way that reduces shadows and contrast (or “lighting ratio,” if you’re feeling fancy). This results in a clean and bright scene, often used to convey a happy vibe.

In Midjourney, this prompt usually triggers a somewhat staged, “in the studio” effect. If that’s not your intent, add other descriptors to your prompt.

Sample images:

Prompt #3: Make them stand out

Midjourney prompt:

[subject], backlighting / backlit

What it does:

Backlighting is when you place the light source directly behind your subject. This puts the subject in focus while darkening the rest of the scene. Backlighting often creates a bright outline around the edges of your subject, resulting in a halo effect.

Sample images:

Prompt #4: Bathe them in sunshine

Midjourney prompt:

[subject], sunbeams / God rays

What it does:

Sunbeams or “God rays” (hey, religion!) or “crepuscular rays” (hey, science!) are visible rays of light. Ask a 4-year-old (or me) to draw the sun, and I bet they’ll throw a whole bunch of sunbeams in there. Ha, toddlers!

Sunbeams appear when the atmospheric conditions are just right or there are lots of dust particles floating around your apartment, you slob. Using “God rays” in Midjourney usually works but may introduce a religious setting to the image. Use “sunbeams” if you want to avoid this.

Sample images:

Prompt #5: Cast them in a movie

Midjourney prompt:

[subject], cinematic lighting

What it does:

“Cinematic lighting” isn’t exactly a clear-cut technical term. In Midjourney, it’s more of a “hey, can you make this look like a still from a movie, please and thanks!”

Midjourney will use a whole arsenal of lighting techniques to add a distinct movie-like feel and often a sense of drama to your chosen scene.

Sample images:

Over to you…

Hope you picked up something new.

Remember: You can try to use these lighting effects in other text-to-image generators like DALL-E 3 or Stable Diffusion.

Want to share your own prompts or creations?

Leave a comment or shoot me an email at whytryai@substack.com.

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The full list of Midjourney prompts lives in this ever-expanding guide: