Prompt Formula

# The 7-Component Prompt Formula

Every effective image generation prompt is built from seven weighted components. This formula provides a systematic framework for constructing prompts that consistently produce high-quality results.

## The Formula

| # | Component | Base Weight | What It Controls |
|---|-----------|-------------|------------------|
| 1 | **Subject** | 25% | The primary focus — who or what appears in the image. Includes physical characteristics, age, ethnicity, expression, species, costume, and distinguishing features. |
| 2 | **Style & Aesthetic** | 20% | The visual language — art movement, rendering approach, color grading, film stock, medium (photography, illustration, 3D render). |
| 3 | **Environment** | 15% | The setting — location, background, time of day, season, weather conditions, atmospheric elements, world-building details. |
| 4 | **Lighting & Atmosphere** | 15% | Light source, direction, quality, color temperature, shadow behavior, mood. This is the single biggest quality differentiator between average and exceptional outputs. |
| 5 | **Action & Dynamics** | 10% | Motion, gesture, energy — always use present-tense verbs. Includes pose, physical state, and implied movement. |
| 6 | **Composition & Camera** | 10% | How the scene is framed — shot type, camera angle, focal distance, f-stop, specific camera or lens models. |
| 7 | **Material & Texture** | 5% | Surface qualities and tactile details — reflectivity, roughness, grain, fabric weave, skin texture, material properties. |

## Why These Weights

**Subject (25%)** gets the largest share because the model needs a clear anchor. Without a well-defined subject, other components have nothing to attach to.

**Style (20%)** sets the visual vocabulary. "Watercolor illustration" and "cinematic photography" produce fundamentally different outputs from the same subject.

**Environment and Lighting (15% each)** are separated because they serve different functions. Environment builds the world; lighting shapes how that world feels. A sunny park and a moonlit park are entirely different images. Lighting gets equal weight because it is the single element most correlated with perceived quality — a well-lit mediocre composition outperforms a poorly-lit excellent one.

**Action (10%)** provides energy but doesn't need to dominate. A single strong verb ("leaning against", "mid-stride", "clutching") does more than a paragraph of movement description.

**Composition (10%)** controls the camera. Specific lens references (85mm f/1.4) communicate more than abstract framing instructions.

**Material (5%)** is small but potent. A single texture detail ("weathered oak grain", "frosted glass surface") grounds the entire image in physical reality.

## The Construction Template

Use this template as a starting point, then adjust weights based on domain mode: