AI Image Generation: Getting Results You Can Actually Use
After generating a few thousand images, I have a process that reliably produces usable results instead of artifacts that only look good as thumbnails. I started using AI image generators about a year ago, mostly for blog headers and social media posts. The first few weeks were frustrating. I would type a description, get something that looked impressive in thumbnail size, then realize it was full of weird artifacts when I looked closely. After generating a few thousand images, I have a process that reliably produces usable results. Be Specific About Subject and Style The biggest mistake I see is vague prompts. A prompt like a beautiful landscape gives you a random pretty scene. A prompt like a misty pine forest at dawn with low fog rolling between the trees, soft golden light from the left, muted green and grey palette, photorealistic style gives you something you can actually use. The first prompt leaves every decision to the model. The second one makes those decisions for it. I start every image prompt with the subject, then add setting, lighting, color palette, and style. That order matches how the models seem to weight instructions. Subject first means the model knows what to focus on. Style last means it knows how to render everything else.