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Write a description of the finished image. Name the subject, setting, light, and framing, then add details that matter to your use case.

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Prompt length

Start with a sentence and add detail as you review results. A longer prompt is useful for several subjects, a specific layout, or text in the image. Add details that describe the result you want; omit quality tags such as “masterpiece”.

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Structure helps

A clear structure matters more than length. A good prompt works like a set of instructions. It tells the model what kind of image this is, what the main subject is, where the scene happens, and how it is lit and framed. This order is a useful starting point:
  1. Image type and medium: one opening sentence that sets the look. High-angle black and white photograph with a grainy film texture
  2. Subject: who or what, and what they are doing. Two red pandas resting on bamboo beams, one looking relaxed and the other asleep
  3. Setting: where it happens and what surrounds the subject. a fog-drenched coastal highway, cliffs on one side, turquoise sea on the other
  4. Light: the source, direction, quality, and color. soft golden rim light
  5. Framing and detail: shot size, angle, lens, depth of field, and the small details that make it specific. ultra-wide shot, shallow depth of field
The order is a habit, not a rule: put first whatever matters most. The coastal road prompt below opens with the shot type because the ultra-wide frame is the point of the image. The worked example shows the full order in a launch caption. Both are FLUX 3 Image outputs from the prompts shown. Here is the job each phrase does: The red panda prompt also spends a sentence on appearance (“reddish-brown fur and white facial markings”) and on a relationship between the two subjects (“one looking relaxed and the other asleep”). Describe relationships directly when they matter.

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From idea to detailed caption

This image started as a 16-word idea:
FLUX 3 Image received the 186-word caption below, plus a bounding box for each element. Hover over the caption to see where each box goes: Every sentence in the caption does a job you can name: The expanded caption specifies choices the short idea leaves open: foreground silhouettes, a central spotlight, and mid-century film grain. It also describes visible details instead of relying on the name “Swan Lake”.

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Add specific details

Start with the core subject: a cat, a family on a beach, autumn foliage in a park. Then add the details that make the image yours:
  • What the subject is doing: looking up, playing, running
  • How the action feels: joyfully, fearfully, boldly
  • The mood of the image: ominous morning rain, dangerous sunset mountains, nostalgic coffee table
Compare a simple prompt with a directed one. Both were generated with FLUX 3 Image.
Simple prompt: a dog sitting in a sunny park
Directed prompt: a golden retriever leaps after a tennis ball, with muddy paw prints leading back to the open door
Describe visible details that distinguish your subject.

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The prompt components

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Image type

The image type tells the model what kind of image to create. Even before you describe the subject, it affects composition and visual expectations. Useful starting points:
  • Portrait: close-up or medium shot focused on a person or character
  • Landscape: wide scene showing nature, architecture, or an environment
  • Bird’s-eye view: top-down perspective, as if seen from high above
  • Macro: extreme close-up showing fine details
  • Abstract: shape, color, or texture-driven composition
The layout captions shown here open with the image type and medium in one sentence: “Full-color candid street photograph taken from a steep worm’s-eye view”, “Minimalist graphic illustration”, “Digital graphic design mockup shot straight-on”. If you are learning how prompt parts change the result, start with a simple image type such as portrait. It makes the effect of later additions easier to see.

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Subject

The subject is the main focus of the image. Be specific when it matters: clear subjects render more consistently than vague ones.
  • a young woman with curly red hair
  • an elderly man with a long white beard
  • a cyberpunk teenager with neon blue hair
  • a Siamese cat with a blue collar
  • a single red rose
With FLUX 3, you can describe several subjects and how they relate in full sentences: who faces whom, who is in focus, who is asleep.

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Location

The location sets the scene. It provides context and changes the mood of the image even when the subject stays the same.
  • in a bustling city street
  • on a serene beach at sunset
  • in a futuristic space station
  • inside a dimly lit jazz club
  • in a dense forest after rain
Changing only the location is one of the fastest ways to explore variations on the same concept.

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Style

The style sets the visual language. This can be photographic, illustrative, cinematic, painterly, or specific to a medium.
  • fashion editorial photography
  • wildlife documentary style
  • anime illustration
  • oil painting
  • minimalist product photography
If style is central to the result, mention it early and keep it concrete. “The grainy texture of mid-20th-century color film” tells the model more than “vintage”. Style, Aesthetics & Text covers photographic looks, art styles, and lighting in depth.

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Art form and style

If you want a specific visual effect, describe both the art form and the style.

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Photography

Photography is useful when you want realistic images. You can control framing, lighting conditions, lens feel, camera distance, and depth of field. A child playing on a sunny beach, building a sandcastle, action photography, high shutter speed, soft warm light

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Painting

Painting prompts work well when you want texture, brushwork, and stronger artistic interpretation. You can combine:
  • techniques such as oil painting or watercolor
  • movements such as impressionism or fauvism
  • artist references when appropriate
Impressionist oil painting of a small robot in a garden

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Illustration

Illustration is useful when you want a drawn or stylized result rather than a photo-like one: pencil drawing, charcoal sketch, cartoon illustration, poster illustration. Illustration of dinosaurs drawn in a childlike style, cute and playful

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Digital art

Digital art is useful when you want a more synthetic, graphic, or contemporary visual language. An isolated convenience store in the desert at sunset, lo-fi digital art, nostalgic atmosphere

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Film still

Film still is useful when you want something cinematic and emotionally charged. Buildings on fire, old film still, smoky atmosphere, dramatic contrast

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Other art forms

You can also experiment with sculpture, collage, street art, textile art, installation art, ceramic art, and lithography. Mixing art forms and styles can lead to strong results, but keep the combination coherent.

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Camera settings

The camera settings define how the image is framed or captured. They matter most when you want a photographic result.
  • 85mm lens
  • wide-angle shot
  • close-up framing
  • shallow depth of field
  • shot from a low angle
Use these when framing matters. If the exact camera look is not important, you can skip this part.

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Framing

Framing controls how the subject is positioned in the image. Useful framing language:
  • close-up
  • medium shot
  • wide shot
  • overhead view
  • point-of-view shot
  • dutch angle
  • low-angle shot
If a result keeps pulling back further than you want, make the subject and its framing clear first and move environmental details later. This version can lead to a wider scene than intended: Person standing inside a forest fire, strong determined attitude, close-up shot, realistic This rewrite usually gives you more control: Person with a strong determined expression, forest fire in the background, close-up shot, realistic With FLUX 3, you can also say where things sit in plain words (“on the far right”, “in the lower-left foreground”). To specify positions, add bounding boxes.

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Lighting

Lighting shapes contrast, mood, depth, and realism. Name the source and say what the light does:
  • soft window light
  • golden hour sunlight
  • harsh direct flash
  • overcast daylight
  • neon backlighting
  • a small candle that provides a warm orange point of light
  • a Japanese pine tree illuminated by a cool, artificial green light
The last two are adapted from a FLUX 3 launch caption. Shorter terms work as well: soft light, hard light, dramatic lighting, morning light, sunset light, golden hour. See Lighting for portrait and cinematic setups.

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Colors

Colors define the palette and keep the image visually coherent.
  • muted beige and forest green tones
  • deep blue and silver
  • warm orange and pink sunset colors
  • monochrome black and white
  • desaturated pastel palette

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Color scheme

A color scheme is useful when you want the entire image to feel unified. A futuristic busy city, purple and green color scheme Lighting already influences color, but explicit palette direction keeps it consistent. Some FLUX 3 launch captions close with a palette sentence, for example “The scene’s color palette sharply contrasts the deep cool blues of twilight with the warm, incandescent oranges and yellows of the city lights.” In an edit, you can specify a target color with a hex code: see Exact colors with hex codes.

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Effect

Effect adds visual treatment on top of the base scene.
  • film grain
  • soft bloom
  • motion blur
  • bokeh
  • double exposure effect
Use one or two strong effects. Too many can make the image feel unfocused.

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Additional elements

Additional elements are the supporting details that make an image feel complete.
  • floating dust particles
  • wind-blown fabric
  • falling leaves
  • glowing reflections on wet pavement
  • scattered flowers on the table

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Detail and realism

Generic quality words like highly detailed or ultrarealistic add little that a concrete description does not. For realism, describe what a real camera would record:
  • visible grain
  • slight chromatic aberration at the edges
  • the foreground rendered in an atmospheric blur
  • sharp texture detail on the bark
If you do use a generic realism cue, one is enough.

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Build one prompt step by step

Here is the same idea expanded gradually. Each image was generated with FLUX 3 Image from the prompt above it:
1

Start with image type and subject

portrait, a young woman with curly red hair
Portrait of a young woman with curly red hair
2

Add the location

portrait, a young woman with curly red hair, in a bustling city street
Young woman with curly red hair in a city street
3

Add the visual direction

portrait, a young woman with curly red hair, in a bustling city street, fashion editorial photography, 85mm lens, soft golden hour light
Fashion editorial portrait with golden hour light
4

Refine with color and detail

portrait, a young woman with curly red hair, in a bustling city street, fashion editorial photography, 85mm lens, soft golden hour light, warm amber and charcoal tones, subtle film grain, wind-blown hair and blurred city lights
Final portrait with warm tones, film grain, and wind-blown hair
For FLUX 3, you can write the finished list as sentences in the order from Structure helps. Use sentences to connect details such as where the light falls and what is in focus:

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Practical advice

  • Start with the subject and what it is doing.
  • Add the setting, light, and framing next. Describe the light as something that happens in the scene.
  • Name the style concretely: a medium, an era, a film stock.
  • Use colors when you want stronger visual cohesion. In an edit, a hex code specifies a target color.
  • Add effect and additional elements last. These are refinements, not the foundation.
  • Write long when it helps: detailed captions can specify more of the scene. Remove any sentence that does not describe something visible.
  • To specify element positions, add bounding boxes.
Do not treat the component list like a checklist you must always fill out. Strong prompts are specific, not necessarily long.