This Midjourney tutorial focuses specifically on two shortcuts for “writing prompts from images”: Image Prompts and reverse-engineering prompts with /describe. You don’t need to struggle to write English from scratch—just use a reference image to quickly get usable prompts, then iterate toward results that match what you want. Below, in operational order, I’ll clearly explain the key steps and the common pitfalls.
Enter the Midjourney creation page: Get the basic entry point working first
After opening the Midjourney official website and logging in, go to the creation page (usually an entry like Create/Explore), and make sure you can see the input box and the generate button. If it’s your first time using Midjourney, it’s recommended to generate any image first to confirm the workflow is working normally, and then start using image prompts. If the page keeps loading or the button can’t be clicked, first check whether you’re logged into the correct account and whether your network is blocking resource loading.
Use Image Prompts: Upload a reference image and let Midjourney “draw from it”
To add an image prompt in Midjourney, the most reliable method is to upload the image first, then add it as an Image Prompt in your prompt. After uploading, if you see an option like “Use as Image Prompt/作为图片提示,” just select it; then, in the text prompt, add details such as the subject, scene, camera, lighting, and so on. An image prompt is not “copy and paste”—it’s more like a reference for style and composition—so the more specific your text is, the less likely Midjourney is to go off track.
If you’re using an image link, try to use a direct link that’s publicly accessible; otherwise Midjourney may not be able to fetch the image, leading to abnormal results. If you run into a situation where “the image didn’t take effect,” common reasons include the link requiring login, an unsupported image format, or hotlink protection. The fix is to re-upload the image, or switch to a stable direct link from an image host and try again.
Use /describe to reverse-engineer prompts: Turn a reference image into a reusable template
The purpose of /describe is: you give Midjourney an image, and it returns multiple possible prompt directions—great for finding style keywords and material descriptions. Usually, after you upload an image, you’ll see an entry like Describe/描述; if you can’t find it on the web version, you can also use /describe in Midjourney’s Discord to do the same thing. After you get the four descriptions, prioritize the one with clearer style terms and a subject closer to what you need, then delete the words you don’t want and keep a reusable structure.
In practice, treat the reverse-engineered results as a draft rather than accepting them verbatim. For example, simplify long strings of modifiers into “subject + environment + lighting + camera + style,” then add the constraints you actually want (number of people, clothing, clean background, etc.). This saves more time than repeatedly rolling the dice, and Midjourney’s outputs will also be more consistent.
Make results more consistent: Weights, Seed, and saving common prompts
If you want to reproduce a similar style in Midjourney, two tools are the most useful: weights and Seed. Image prompts can usually have their weight adjusted (the display varies slightly across interfaces); the higher the weight, the closer it adheres to the reference image. Also, adding --seed in the parameters makes it easier for the same prompt to produce results with similar composition. You can first use a seed to generate a composition you like, then fine-tune the text details—this is much more efficient.
The final step is to save commonly used prompts into your own templates: save the “style section,” “camera section,” and “quality section” separately, and combine them when needed. That way, each time you open Midjourney you can start work by only changing the subject content, without having to compose everything from scratch. If you stick to templates, you’ll find your Midjourney prompts get shorter and shorter, yet your control becomes stronger.
