Using Images in Midjourney: 4 Key Techniques Explained

Did you know you can influence Midjourney art by simply using an image in your prompt? Adding pictures can guide the AI on things like composition, style, or even specific characters. There are four main ways to do this. Let's look at each method and how to use them.

1. The Standard Image Prompt

This is the most basic way. You start your prompt with one or more image URLs, then add your text description, and finally any parameters. Midjourney uses the image to help shape the subject, style, colors, and overall look of your generated picture.

How to Use It

• Paste your image URL at the very start of your prompt.

• Add a space, then type your text prompt (e.g., "a cat sitting on a fence").

• Add any parameters like `--ar 16:9` at the end.

To change how much the image affects the result, use the `--iw` (image weight) parameter. The default is 1. In Midjourney V6, you can set it between 0 and 3. A higher number means the image has more influence.

You can use multiple images. Just paste each URL with a space between them before your text prompt.

2. Blending Images

Blending is similar to an image prompt but you only use images, no text. Midjourney looks at the pictures you provide and creates new images that combine elements and styles from all of them.

How to Use It

• Paste two to five image URLs directly into the prompt bar.

• Midjourney will automatically blend them. You can also use the `/blend` command in Discord for this, which has slots to drop files.

• By default, images have equal influence.

Want one image to matter more than others in the blend? You can give images relative weights. After each image URL, add `::` followed by a number. For example, `imageA.jpg::2 imageB.jpg::1` makes image A twice as important as image B. This specific weighting method works only on Discord for now.

Managing complex blends or many prompts can get time-consuming. A tool like TitanXT's Midjourney Automator can help streamline your workflow and manage your image generation tasks.

3. Style Reference

Style Reference (--sref) tells Midjourney to match the visual look of an image without necessarily including its subject. It copies things like color palette, texture, medium (like paint or photography), and overall visual style.

This is different from a standard image prompt, which might try to incorporate the image's subject matter.

How to Use It

• Type your text prompt first.

• Add `--sref` followed by a space.

• Paste the URL of your style image.

You can control the strength of the style reference using `--sw` (style weight). The default is 100. You can set it from 0 (no style influence) to 1000 (maximum style influence).

Just like blending, you can use multiple style images and give them relative weights using the `::` notation to combine styles or make one style image more dominant. Some Midjourney versions also let you use specific style code numbers instead of image URLs.

Working with many style prompts or variations? The Midjourney Automator from TitanXT is designed to help manage these types of repetitive or complex prompting tasks efficiently.

4. Character Reference

Character reference (--cref) is designed to keep a character looking consistent across different images and scenes. It focuses on matching the specific appearance of a character from a reference image.

This is useful for creating stories or comic strips where you need the same character to appear in various situations.

How to Use It

• Type your text prompt describing the scene.

• Add `--cref` followed by a space.

• Paste the URL of the image showing your character.

Use the `--cw` (character weight) parameter to control how closely Midjourney copies the character's clothing and sometimes hair from the reference image. A higher `--cw` value will try harder to match the reference look.

Putting it All Together

Using images in your Midjourney prompts gives you a lot of control over your results. You can use a standard image prompt to guide the overall picture, blend images for interesting mixes, use style references to copy artistic looks, or use character references to keep characters consistent.

You can even combine these methods, like using a character reference with a style reference to put a consistent character into a specific artistic style. Planning to generate many variations or combine multiple sophisticated techniques? Automate parts of your image creation process with the TitanXT Midjourney Automator.