Complete Guide to Midjourney 2026: Prompts, Settings, and Tips

What Is Midjourney?

Midjourney is the leading AI image generation platform, known for producing the highest-quality artistic and photorealistic images available from any AI tool. Accessible through its web interface and Discord, Midjourney has become the go-to choice for designers, marketers, artists, and content creators who need professional-quality visuals.

In 2026, Midjourney’s v7 model produces images that are virtually indistinguishable from professional photography and illustration. The platform excels at understanding complex prompts, maintaining consistency across image sets, and producing output that requires minimal post-processing.

Getting Started with Midjourney

Step 1: Create an Account

Visit midjourney.com and sign up with your email or Discord account. Choose a subscription plan (Basic, Standard, or Pro) to start generating images. New users can explore the community gallery and prompt examples before subscribing.

Step 2: Learn the Interface

Midjourney’s web interface provides a clean workspace for image generation. Type your prompt in the input field, adjust settings using the sidebar controls, and generate images. Each generation produces a grid of 4 images. Click any image to upscale, create variations, or use it as a reference for new generations.

Step 3: Understanding the Grid

Each generation produces 4 images in a 2×2 grid. Use the U buttons (U1-U4) to upscale a specific image to full resolution. Use the V buttons (V1-V4) to create variations based on a specific image. The refresh button generates 4 completely new images from the same prompt.

Midjourney Prompt Engineering

Basic Prompt Structure

A good Midjourney prompt follows this structure: [Subject] + [Environment/Setting] + [Style/Artistic Direction] + [Technical Parameters]. For example: “a mountain cabin at sunset, surrounded by pine trees, warm golden light, photorealistic, cinematic composition –ar 16:9 –v 7”

Descriptive Keywords That Work

Photography terms: bokeh, depth of field, macro, wide-angle, telephoto, golden hour, studio lighting, rim lighting, soft diffused light. Art styles: oil painting, watercolor, digital art, concept art, illustration, sketch, minimalist, maximalist, abstract. Quality modifiers: highly detailed, intricate, professional, award-winning, 8K, ultra-realistic.

Negative Prompting

Use –no followed by elements you want to exclude. For example: “–no text” removes text from images, “–no people” excludes human figures, “–no blur” keeps everything sharp. Negative prompts help refine output by explicitly removing unwanted elements.

Multi-Prompt Weighting

Use :: to separate prompt concepts and assign relative weights. “mountain::2 lake::1” emphasizes the mountain twice as much as the lake. “cyberpunk city::3 nature::1” creates a heavily cyberpunk scene with subtle natural elements. This technique gives you precise control over the composition and emphasis of generated images.

Essential Midjourney Parameters

Parameter	Usage	Description
–ar	–ar 16:9	Aspect ratio (1:1, 4:3, 16:9, 9:16, 3:2, 2:3)
–v	–v 7	Model version (v7 is latest, each version has different aesthetics)
–s	–s 750	Stylize value (0-1000). Higher = more artistic, lower = more literal
–c	–c 50	Chaos (0-100). Higher = more varied and unexpected results
–q	–q 2	Quality (0.25, 0.5, 1, 2). Higher = more detail, more GPU time
–no	–no text blur	Negative prompt. Excludes specified elements
–seed	–seed 12345	Reproducibility. Same seed + prompt = similar results
–tile	–tile	Creates seamlessly tileable patterns

Midjourney Styles and Aesthetics

Photorealistic Style

For photorealistic results, include photography-specific terms: camera model references (shot on Canon EOS R5), lens specifications (85mm f/1.4), lighting setups (Rembrandt lighting, three-point lighting), and film stocks (Kodak Portra 400). Add “photorealistic, photograph, raw photo” to reinforce the realistic intent.

Illustration and Art Styles

Reference specific art movements or artists for consistent stylistic results: “in the style of art nouveau,” “Studio Ghibli aesthetic,” “Bauhaus design,” “Art Deco poster.” Combine with medium descriptions: “digital painting,” “watercolor on textured paper,” “charcoal sketch,” “vector illustration.”

3D and Product Visualization

For 3D-style renders, use terms like “3D render, octane render, unreal engine, product photography, studio lighting, white background, isometric view.” This produces clean product shots and visualizations suitable for marketing materials and presentations.

Advanced Midjourney Techniques

Image-to-Image Generation

Upload a reference image and Midjourney uses it as a starting point for generation. This is powerful for maintaining consistency across a series, adapting existing designs, or using mood boards as creative direction. Combine with text prompts to guide the output while keeping the reference image’s composition or color palette.

Character Consistency

Midjourney v7 includes improved character consistency features. Use the –cref parameter with a reference image to maintain the same character across multiple generations. This is essential for creating character-driven content, brand mascots, or visual storytelling that requires consistent characters across scenes.

Style References

The –sref parameter lets you provide a style reference image. Midjourney extracts the artistic style, color palette, and visual treatment from your reference and applies it to new subjects. This enables consistent visual branding across diverse content without manually matching styles.

Midjourney Pricing

Plan	Price	Fast Hours	Features
Basic	$10/month	3.3 hrs	Limited generations, personal use
Standard	$30/month	15 hrs	Unlimited relaxed, general commercial use
Pro	$60/month	30 hrs	Stealth mode, higher concurrency
Mega	$120/month	60 hrs	Maximum fast hours, team features

Midjourney vs Other Image Generators

Midjourney leads in artistic quality and aesthetic consistency. DALL-E 3 excels at text rendering and following complex instructions. Flux offers open-source flexibility and rapid iteration. Stable Diffusion provides maximum customization through fine-tuning. For most creative professionals, Midjourney’s output quality justifies its subscription cost.