How to write image-to-image prompts
A practical way to write image-to-image prompts: one change, one keep, a medium, and a light. What to leave out, and how the editor’s presets and change amount fit the sentence.
The sentence has two jobs
An image-to-image prompt has to say what changes and what stays. If it only says what changes, the model will also change the subject, because you never told it the subject was finished. If it only says what stays, you get a timid copy of the photo. The useful shape is short: a medium or a setting, then the keeps. “Rainy evening outside, same person, same coat, warm window light” is a complete brief. “Make it cool” is not.
You are not writing a caption for a viewer. You are writing an instruction for a redraw of a file the model can already see. Do not describe the things that are obvious in the upload unless you need them protected. “A person standing” wastes words when the photo is a person standing. “Same stance, same coat” spends those words on the part that might get lost. The free editor needs only a few words to run. The minimum is a short phrase. The useful length is one or two sentences, not a paragraph of moods.
Order the words so the keep can win
Put the change first and the keep immediately after it, in the same sentence. The reader, and the model, should not have to hunt for the constraint. “Soft watercolor, same pose, same framing, same dog” is easy to check. A long scene description that mentions the dog once at the end is how the dog becomes a similar dog. If you have three keeps, say three nouns, not a story about why they matter.
Name light as a separate fact when light is the change. “Warm window light from the left, same person, same room” can be the entire prompt. Name the medium as a separate fact when the medium is the change. Do not stack a medium, a new city, a new wardrobe, and a new time of day. Each of those is a legal edit. Together they are a new picture, and you have quietly switched to the job described in image-to-image versus text-to-image. One change per run. The next run can take the next change after you know the first one held.
Prefer nouns you can point at
“Same round glasses, same short black hair, same navy coat” can be confirmed with the source open beside the result. “Elegant, stunning, highly detailed, award winning” cannot. Those words do not point at a pixel. They often pull the result toward a generic polished face, which is the opposite of consistency. If you want polish, say the surface: “even studio light, natural skin texture, same face.” If you want style, say the material: “graphite sketch on warm paper” or “inked comic outlines.”
Avoid asking for a different identity. Do not request a celebrity resemblance, a younger or older face, or another person’s features on this body. The editor is not a face-swap, and a prompt that asks for one is fighting the upload. Say the features of this photo that must remain. The consistency guide lists the landmarks worth naming. For a full style, use the language in the anime guide or the watercolor and oil guide rather than a pile of quality adjectives.
Let a preset carry the medium
The editor has presets that append a medium so your sentence can stay about the keep. Anime, oil paint, watercolor, comic, sketch, cinematic, photoreal, product, 3D render, and neon night are the choices. Pick one when you want that surface and you do not want to write it yourself. Your prompt should then focus on the subject and the setting: “same bottle, beige backdrop, no extra props” with the Product preset, or “same person, same pose” with Watercolor.
Skip the preset, and use “As described,” when your sentence already names a medium. Two media at once is how you get a watercolor with comic outlines and neither reads clearly. Also skip a preset that contradicts the sentence. Photoreal plus “flat cel color” is an argument. The model will pick a compromise you did not ask for. Presets are not a secret quality boost. They are a short style paragraph you did not have to type.
Match the change amount to the sentence
Gentle stays closer to the photo. Use it when the sentence is a modest change: a warmer grade, a softer background, a light restyle that must keep a face. Balanced is the default and fits most style moves when the crop is tight. Bold lets the prompt restyle more. Use it only when you wrote a strong style and you are willing to lose fine detail. Bold will not rescue a vague sentence. It will just move further in an unclear direction.
There is no negative-prompt box. Say the positive fact and fix the crop: “same two hands around the mug,” with the hands large in the frame. A short ban tied to a noun is fine, such as “no lettering, same bottle shape.” A list of feared defects crowds out the keep.
Examples you can adapt
Portrait, new medium: “Clean anime illustration, same person, same glasses, same haircut, simple background.” Use Gentle or Balanced. Portrait, new light: “Overcast window light, same person, same sweater, same camera angle.” Product: “Studio photo on a warm beige backdrop, same bottle, no extra objects,” with the Product preset. Place, same subject: “Rainy evening outside, same person, same coat, warm light in the window.” Sketch to ink: “Comic ink and flat color, same character, same camera angle.” Photo to paper: “Transparent watercolor, same subject, same framing,” and Gentle if it is a face.
When a result misses, delete half the prompt before you add anything. The pricing page matters after the sentence works and you need more than two free standard runs in a UTC day, or you want the Pro model. It will not repair a prompt that never named the keep. The AI image editor page is the same box if you arrived looking for an editor.
Read the result against the sentence
Before you run, underline the change and the keep in your own sentence. If you cannot find both, rewrite. After you run, check only those words. Did the medium arrive? Did the named features stay? Ignore whether the picture is “impressive.” An impressive stranger is a failed keep. A slightly plain watercolor of the right person is a successful test you can push with one added phrase.
Save the prompt that worked and reuse its shape on the next photo, changing only the nouns. One change, one keep, a medium or a light, and a change amount that matches the sentence. That is the whole method.
Questions
How long should an image-to-image prompt be?
One or two sentences. Name the change and the things that must stay. A paragraph of moods is harder to debug and usually loses the subject. The editor accepts a short phrase, but a phrase with no keep is how the face drifts.
Do I need a negative prompt?
This editor has no negative-prompt field. Say the positive fact you want, and add a short ban only when it is tied to a noun, such as “no extra props, same bottle.” A list of feared defects does not replace a clear keep.
Should the preset repeat the prompt?
No. Use a preset or write the medium, not both if they disagree. If the prompt already says “watercolor,” leave the preset on “As described” or pick Watercolor and delete the duplicate style words so the keep has room.