Nine AI Image Prompt Patterns That Cover Most Jobs

Nine patterns instead of a hundred prompts

A list of a hundred finished prompts is close to useless. You want one of them, it does not quite match your subject, and you have no idea which parts are load-bearing.

So this is a pattern library instead. Nine reusable formulas, one per job people actually bring to an image model, each with the slots marked, the model it should be routed to, and a real image from the LocalBanana gallery that was produced by that pattern — prompt included, copyable, no paraphrase.

Pattern 1: Editorial portrait

For a controlled, magazine-looking portrait: clean background, deliberate wardrobe, skin that still reads as skin.

A [AGE] [SUBJECT] standing in [SIMPLE INTERIOR], [WALL MATERIAL AND COLOUR]
behind them. They wear [GARMENT, FIT, FABRIC, DETAIL SUCH AS AN UNDONE BUTTON].
Pose is [RELAXED OR COMPOSED], [WHAT THE HANDS ARE DOING],
[WHERE THEY ARE LOOKING].
Light: [SOFT OR HARD] [SOURCE] from [DIRECTION], [WHAT THE SHADOWS DO].
Camera: 85mm, f/1.8, eye level, waist-up.
Natural skin texture with visible pores, no airbrushing.
[THREE-WORD MOOD], editorial photography.

The two slots that decide whether this reads as editorial or as a stock photo are the wall material and the skin-texture line. Naming a specific surface — cream ceramic tile, raw plaster, painted brick — gives the light something to behave against.

Indoor Casual Fashion Portrait

Nano Banana Pro

Prompt▾

A young woman standing in a simple indoor setting with a cream-colored ceramic tile wall behind her. She wears a tight-fitting chocolate brown long-sleeved ribbed Henley top with the top buttons casually left undone, revealing a natural collarbone line. Her posture is relaxed and upright, arms resting naturally at her sides. Medium shot framed from mid-thigh up, eye-level camera angle. Soft diffused indoor lighting from a ceiling source above, casting a gentle downward shadow on the tiled wall behind her. Her expression is calm and composed with direct eye contact toward the camera, radiating a confident natural beauty. High-fidelity photorealism with accurate skin texture, fabric ribbing detail, and natural hair texture. Casual smartphone portrait aesthetic, as if captured spontaneously in everyday life. Natural warm color palette with chocolate brown, cream, and soft skin tones. Sharp focus, accurate texture rendering, 3:4 portrait aspect ratio.

Copy

The pattern in the wild: a named tile wall, a named garment detail, and a natural collarbone line instead of 'beautiful woman'.Open in LocalBanana

Pattern 2: Direct-flash snapshot portrait

The 90s point-and-shoot look. Hard on-camera flash, sharp drop shadow, deep blacks. The term flash appears in 3.5% of the corpus — people ask for the cheap-camera aesthetic on purpose now.

[SUBJECT DESCRIPTION, HAIR, WARDROBE, ACCESSORY].
Pose: [CASUAL ACTION], [EXPRESSION], gazing directly at the camera.
Setting: [ROOM], [WHAT IS ON THE WALL], [ONE OR TWO FOREGROUND OBJECTS].
Composition: full body, 35mm, slightly low angle, hard flash fall-off,
messy but balanced framing.
Lighting: direct on-camera flash, hard light, sharp drop shadow on the wall
behind the subject, high contrast, no diffusion.
Colour: vintage film aesthetic, [FILM STOCK] simulation, deep blacks,
slightly grainy texture.
Mood: candid, snapshot style, [ERA REFERENCE].
Avoid: soft lighting, studio lighting, bokeh, airbrushed skin, over-processed, HDR.

The Avoid line is not optional here. Every model's default portrait look is the exact opposite of this pattern — soft, smooth, blurred background — so the exclusions do more work than any positive adjective you could add.

90s Grunge Rose Flash Portrait

Nano Banana Pro

Prompt▾

{"image_analysis_prompt":{"subject":{"description":"Young woman with fair skin and shoulder-length, dark, messy wavy hair.","hair_styling":"Hair is tousled and hangs over the face, partially obscuring the left eye.","expression":"Alluring and edgy; mouth slightly open with teeth visible."},"facial_details":{"eyes":"Visible right eye is light-colored (blue/green) with natural eyelashes.","nose":"Small nose with a silver horseshoe septum piercing.","mouth":"Dark red lipstick, slightly glossy. Lips are parted.","markings":"A distinct, bright red lipstick kiss mark (imprint of lips) on the right cheek."},"props_and_action":{"object":"A fresh, deep red rose with green leaves and stem.","interaction":"The subject is holding the rose directly against her mouth, with the petals grazing her lips and teeth, suggesting a biting or kissing motion."},"attire":{"clothing":"A loose, light pink button-down shirt or robe.","accessories":"A thin black bra strap or tank top strap is visible on the shoulder."},"technical_style":{"lighting":"Direct flash photography style, high contrast with slightly overexposed skin highlights (typical of 90s grunge or indie sleaze aesthetic).","color_palette":"Dominant reds (rose, lipstick, kiss mark), dark browns (hair), and soft pinks (clothing/skin).","resolution":"4k, HD, hyper-realistic textures.","focus":"Sharp focus on the face and rose, with highly detailed skin texture and hair strands."},"full_prompt_string":"A highly detailed 4k HD portrait of a young woman with messy dark hair covering one eye, silver septum piercing, and dark red lipstick. A bright red lipstick kiss mark is stamped on her cheek. She is holding a red rose to her mouth, biting the petals. She is wearing a pink shirt with a visible black strap. The aesthetic is 90s grunge flash photography, realistic texture, edgy atmosphere, sharp focus, high quality."}}

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Hard flash, drop shadow on the wall, grain left intact. The exclusion list is what keeps it from softening.Open in LocalBanana

Pattern 3: Candid street realism

For images that should look accidental rather than composed. This pattern works by specifying technical failure: shake, blur, noise, imperfect framing.

Ultra-realistic candid smartphone photograph, [ASPECT RATIO] vertical.
[TIME OF DAY] on [SPECIFIC STREET OR LOCATION], beside [WALL OR SURFACE].
The subject is [ACTION, MID-MOTION], captured in a rushed, accidental moment,
reacting instinctively to being photographed: [SPECIFIC REACTION].
Shot handheld on a modern smartphone, rushed capture.
Strong uncontrolled camera shake, directional motion blur across
[WHICH BODY PARTS], flash-only lighting fired mid-motion,
harsh flash highlights on skin, deep surrounding darkness, extremely noisy.
Imperfect framing, subject partly out of frame.

Most people write "candid" and get a posed photo of someone pretending to be candid. The fix is that the imperfection has to be specified as a technical property of the capture, not as a mood word.

Tokyo Night Candid Capture

Nano Banana Pro

Prompt▾

Ultra-realistic candid smartphone photograph, 9:16 vertical. Nighttime on a quiet Tokyo city sidewalk beside a building with white ceramic tile walls. The subject is walking past the camera, partially side-on, captured mid-step in a rushed, accidental moment. The subject reacts instinctively to being photographed: turning her head back mid-walk as if surprised, raising one hand close to the lens to partially block the camera, shy, restrained smile forming as she suppresses laughter, body angled in half-profile while continuing to walk forward, motion carries her slightly out of frame, imperfect framing. Shot on a modern smartphone, handheld, rushed capture. Strong uncontrolled camera shake. Heavy directional motion blur across the raised hand, hair, and face. Flash-only lighting fired mid-motion. Harsh flash highlights on skin and hand. Deep surrounding darkness. Extremely noisy. Heavily blurred. Raw smartphone look.

Copy

Shake, blur and noise named as instructions. The reaction to the camera is what sells the accident.Open in LocalBanana

Pattern 4: Product hero shot

Single object, premium advertising register, no background clutter.

A product photo in a premium advertising style.
[NUMBER] [PRODUCT, MATERIAL, FINISH] [LEVITATE OR REST] in a dynamic,
balanced composition.
Positioned [SPATIAL RELATIONSHIP] to each other, creating a diagonal;
one slightly forward, one slightly behind, creating depth and hierarchy.
[OPTIONAL PROP: RIBBON, FABRIC, SPLASH] flows between them without
obscuring the packaging or the branding.
Shot from a slightly low angle, [TILT], enhancing confidence.
Light: [SOURCE], [HOW IT WRAPS THE SURFACE], [SHADOW BEHAVIOUR].
Background: [SEAMLESS COLOUR OR GRADIENT].

The clause most product prompts are missing is the one that leashes the props — "without obscuring the packaging." Decorative elements are the main cause of unusable product renders, and one clause prevents it.

Levitating Shoe Deodorant Premium Product Shot

Nano Banana Pro

Prompt▾

A product photo in a premium advertising style. Two tall matte bottles of Salton Shoe Deodorant levitate in the air in a dynamic, balanced composition.

The bottles are positioned at an angle to each other, creating a striking diagonal composition. One bottle is slightly forward, the other is slightly behind, creating depth and hierarchy. Both bottles are elegantly wrapped with a wide black and brown satin ribbon featuring the repeating "Salton" branding. The lettering is executed in a neat, contrasting font, legible without distortion, and is repeated evenly along the entire length of the ribbon. The ribbon flows smoothly between the bottles, uniting them into a single composition, without obscuring key messages on the packaging or clashing with the main branding on the bottles.

Shot from a slightly lower angle, the bottles are slightly tilted, enhancing a sense of confidence, strength, and premium quality. The background is a solid studio color, a deep warm shade (chocolate, dark caramel or soft terracotta), clean and minimalist, without distracting details.

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Two bottles, a diagonal, and an explicit rule that the ribbon must not cover the label.Open in LocalBanana

Pattern 5: Advertising poster with copy

The moment your image needs legible words, model choice stops being a preference. 51.7% of GPT Image prompts in our corpus ask for text or typography, against 7.9% for Midjourney — route accordingly.

Create a [FORMAT: POSTER / MAGAZINE COVER / AD] for [PRODUCT OR SUBJECT],
[ORIENTATION] composition, [BACKGROUND: COLOUR, TEXTURE, LIGHTING].
The hero element is [PRODUCT OR SUBJECT], [POSITION IN FRAME], [SCALE].
Typography: headline reads "[EXACT COPY IN QUOTES]" in [WEIGHT, CASE, FAMILY],
positioned [WHERE]. Subhead reads "[EXACT COPY]" in [SIZE RELATIVE TO HEADLINE].
[LOGO OR MARK] at [POSITION].
Keep [PERCENTAGE OR REGION] of the canvas clear for text.
Style: [REFERENCE], premium, [COLOUR PALETTE].

Two rules for this pattern. Put every string you want rendered inside quotes, and reserve the empty region explicitly — models fill space by default, and a headline dropped onto a busy hero is the most common failure here.

Minimalist Perfume Commercial

GPT Image

Prompt▾

Minimalist commercial ad featuring oversized white perfume bottle, ultra-clean design. A young woman in all-white outfit leans casually against the giant bottle, relaxed confident pose, eyes closed, holding the same perfume bottle in her hand. Soft gradient blue background with large bold white “CHANEL” text behind. Glossy reflective floor, soft studio lighting, modern high-end fashion/product photography. Small top-right text “Designed by Mr Das”. Bottom center tagline in small white font: “Elegance in every drop.”

Copy

An oversized product used as the set itself, with the layout leaving a clean region for the copy.Open in LocalBanana

GPT Image

Luxury Football Poster

GPT Image

Clean Modern YouTube Thumbnail

Nano Banana Pro

Floating Burger Recipe Infographic

Pattern 6: Infographic and explainer layout

The hardest thing to get right is hierarchy — which number is the hero. State it as a rule, not a hope.

Ultra-clean [TOP-DOWN / THREE-QUARTER] infographic composition.
[SUBJECT] centred on [SURFACE], on a seamless [COLOUR] background,
shown as a [CROSS-SECTION / CUTAWAY / EXPLODED VIEW] revealing
[WHAT SHOULD BE VISIBLE INSIDE].
PRIMARY FOCAL POINT: [THE ONE NUMBER OR LABEL THAT MATTERS], in a floating
bubble occupying [FRACTION] of the upper canvas, significantly larger than any
other element, readable at thumbnail size.
Secondary callouts: [LIST], arranged [LAYOUT], connected by [THIN LINES / ARROWS].
Design language: premium editorial infographic, extremely clean and structured.
Palette: [BASE], with one accent colour reserved exclusively for
[THE HERO ELEMENT].
Output: [DIMENSIONS], ultra-crisp, social-feed optimised.

"One accent colour reserved exclusively for the hero element" is the single line that turns a cluttered render into a readable one. Reuse it verbatim.

Ultra Clean Calorie Infographic

Nano Banana Pro

Prompt▾

Ultra-clean top-down (90° flat lay) infographic composition. A perfectly centered white ceramic plate sits on a seamless light background. On the plate: [FOOD], shown in a precise cross-section or layered cutaway, revealing internal ingredients, textures, and structure with extreme clarity. PRIMARY FOCAL POINT (HERO ELEMENT): Above the plate, occupying a large portion of the upper canvas, place an oversized floating infographic bubble displaying: TOTAL CALORIES [XXXX kcal] The calorie bubble is significantly larger than any other element, instantly readable at thumbnail size. Design language: premium editorial infographic, Apple UI × National Geographic food science, extremely clean, structured, and modern. Color palette: natural food colors, monochrome infographic UI, one accent color reserved exclusively for the calorie bubble. Output: 1080×1080, ultra-crisp, social-feed optimized, no watermark.

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Flat lay, cutaway subject, one oversized hero number, one accent colour. The hierarchy is written into the prompt.Open in LocalBanana

Pattern 7: Multi-panel consistency grid

Nine frames of the same person in one generation. This is the pattern where an explicit priority declaration earns its place.

A [ROWS]x[COLUMNS] [CONTACT SHEET / STORYBOARD / PHOTOBOOTH] grid of
[NUMBER] distinct panels.
CHARACTER CONSISTENCY (HIGHEST PRIORITY): the same [SUBJECT] appears in every
panel — identical facial structure, identical [HAIR], identical [WARDROBE].
Setting: [LOCATION], [TIME OF DAY], [WEATHER OR ATMOSPHERE].
The panels vary only in [ANGLE / DISTANCE / POSE / EXPRESSION]:
[LIST EACH PANEL IN ONE PHRASE].
Consistent lighting and colour grade across all panels: [DESCRIPTION].
Uniform panel borders, [BORDER COLOUR AND THICKNESS].

Naming consistency as the highest priority, in capitals, before describing anything else, is what most working grid prompts in the gallery do. The full mechanics, including how to fix drift between panels, are in the multi-panel image guide.

Cinematic Photo Storyboard

Nano Banana Pro

Prompt▾

A 3x3 cinematic storyboard contact sheet consisting of 9 distinct panels arranged in a grid. The sequence features a young woman with platinum blonde hair in a frozen alpine winter setting.

The panels display various angles and shots:

Close-ups: Focusing on her rosy cheeks, blue-grey eyes, and snowflakes on her eyelashes.

Medium shots: Showing her wrapped in a black wool coat and blue knit scarf, holding a bouquet of dried white flowers.

Wide shots: Capturing her standing alone on the frozen lake with towering snowy mountains in the background.

The lighting is consistent moody blue-hour twilight across all frames. High-quality film photography aesthetic, photorealistic, 8k resolution, coherent character and color grading.

Copy

Nine panels, one character, one grade. Only angle and pose change between frames.Open in LocalBanana

Pattern 8: Character reference sheet

For illustration work rather than photography. Illustration and anime requests run at 36.2% of GPT Image prompts against 19.4% of Nano Banana ones, which is a reasonable routing hint.

A [STYLE] character reference sheet, [LAYOUT: GRID / ROW / TURNAROUND],
[BACKGROUND COLOUR] with [BORDER TREATMENT].
Character: [NAME OR ARCHETYPE], [AGE], [HAIR COLOUR, LENGTH, STYLING],
[EYE COLOUR], [DISTINGUISHING FEATURE].
Outfit: [GARMENT BY GARMENT, INCLUDING FOOTWEAR AND ACCESSORIES].
Panels: [FRONT VIEW / THREE-QUARTER / BACK / EXPRESSION CLOSE-UPS /
PROP DETAILS] — list each one.
Rendering: [CEL SHADING / SOFT SHADING], [LINE WEIGHT], [PALETTE].
Keep proportions and outfit details identical across every panel.
Include [LABELS / CALLOUTS] beside the detail panels.

Cat-Eared Student Council Character Reference

GPT Image

Prompt▾

{
  "type": "anime character reference sheet",
  "style": "clean polished light novel / visual novel design sheet, white background with pale lavender ornamental border, high-detail cel shading, elegant school-themed layout, soft cool lighting, crisp line art",
  "character": {
    "name": "霧島 澪奈",
    "role": "serious female class committee president with black cat traits",
    "age": "high school student, second year",
    "species traits": [
      "2 black cat ears on top of head with soft inner fur",
      "1 long black cat tail"
    ],
    "appearance": {
      "gender presentation": "female",
      "build": "slender, refined, modestly curvy",
      "height note": "tall for a schoolgirl",
      "hair": {
        "color": "deep blue-black",
        "style": "very long straight hair with slight waves at the ends, center-parted bangs, long sidelocks, half-up back section tied with a ribbon bow"
      },
      "eyes": {
        "color": "golden amber",
        "shape": "sharp but elegant"
      },
      "expression base": "cool, intelligent, reserved"
    },
    "outfit": {
      "count": 9,
      "pieces": [
        "navy school blazer with white piping",
        "white dress shirt",
        "large striped ribbon tie in navy and burgundy",
        "school crest on blazer chest",
        "red armband with white Japanese text indicating committee leader",
        "blue plaid pleated skirt",
        "black semi-sheer tights",
        "black loafers",
        "thin gold-framed glasses"
      ]
    },
    "props": {
      "count": 1,
      "items": [
        "dark school folder or notebook with crest"
      ]
    }
  },
  "layout": {
    "format": "landscape character design board",
    "sections": [
      {
        "title": "プロフィール",
        "position": "left column",
        "count": 1,
        "labels": ["bio text block"]
      },
      {
        "title": "SIDE / BACK",
        "position": "upper center",
        "count": 3,
        "labels": ["front full body", "side full body", "back full body"]
      },
      {
        "title": "表情バリエーション",
        "position": "upper right",
        "count": 8,
        "labels": ["通常（真面目）", "微笑み", "注意・叱責", "驚き", "照れ（目をそらす）", "困り顔", "優しい笑顔", "猫っぽく甘える"]
      },
      {
        "title": "ディテール・アクセサリー",
        "position": "middle right left panel",
        "count": 5,
        "labels": ["委員長の腕章", "校章", "猫モチーフのヘアピン", "リボンタイ", "細フレーム眼鏡"]
      },
      {
        "title": "制服ディテール",
        "position": "middle right right panel",
        "count": 3,
        "labels": ["chest and tie close-up", "waist and blazer trim close-up", "sleeve cuff and buttons close-up"]
      },
      {
        "title": "カラーパレット",
        "position": "lower left",
        "count": 5,
        "labels": ["髪", "瞳", "制服", "アクセント", "肌"]
      },
      {
        "title": "特徴的なポーズ・仕草",
        "position": "lower center",
        "count": 4,
        "labels": ["指示を出す（委員長モード）", "資料を確認する", "考え事をする", "休み時間の素顔（少し気が抜けた瞬間）"]
      },
      {
        "title": "その他設定・ポイント",
        "position": "lower right",
        "count": 2,
        "labels": ["classroom vignette", "moonlit night vignette"]
      }
    ]
  },
  "text blocks": {
    "headline": "霧島 澪奈",
    "subheadline": "学級委員長",
    "quote": "みんなのために、きちんとしなきゃ。それが、私の役目だから。",
    "body text": "dense Japanese profile text with school year, birthday, height, blood type, club or committee, personality notes, likes and dislikes"
  },
  "composition notes": [
    "main full-body figure at left, holding glasses near face and carrying a folder",
    "side and back character turnaround in the center",
    "all portraits and close-ups neatly framed in pale lavender boxes with decorative corner motifs",
    "facial close-ups cropped at shoulders",
    "bottom-right vignette images show the character in a classroom and outdoors at night under a crescent moon",
    "overall palette is navy, black, lavender, white, burgundy, muted gold, and soft skin tones"
  ]
}

Copy

A design sheet with ornamental border, labelled detail panels, and a fixed outfit across every view.Open in LocalBanana

Pattern 9: Wallpaper with usable negative space

The pattern almost nobody writes correctly, because the constraint is about where the image stops. negative space appears in 2.7% of the corpus — for this job it deserves to be far higher.

Make a beautiful [ASPECT RATIO] wallpaper.
Leave natural negative space near the top and bottom for the clock and
app icons — nothing important in those bands.
Give the wallpaper a subtle top-to-bottom gradient.
No blur effects, no cropping. Keep the scene simple, one clear subject.
Subject and style: [SUBJECT], [STYLE], [PALETTE], [LIGHT].

Two details make this work. The negative space is justified by naming what will sit there — the clock, the icons — which constrains far more strongly than the phrase "negative space" alone. And the subject goes at the end, so the layout rules are read first.

Minimalist Phone Wallpaper with Negative Space Gradient

Nano Banana Pro

Prompt▾

Make a beautiful 9:16 wallpaper. Leave natural negative space near the top and bottom. Give the wallpaper a subtle top to bottom gradient. No blur effects or cropping. Keep the scene simple. Put your subject and style at the end of the prompt.

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Layout rules first, subject last. The reserved bands at top and bottom are what make it usable as a lock screen.Open in LocalBanana

How to adapt any pattern without breaking it

Every formula above survives substitution the same way. Change the bracketed slots freely. Do not delete the unbracketed clauses — those are the ones doing the constraining.

Both prompts describe the same picture. The second specifies seven things the first leaves to chance: background, angle, tilt, light source, light direction, shadow direction, and the label rule. Every one of those is a slot in the six-slot model.

Three habits that carry across all nine patterns:

1. Name the aperture, not just the lens. 11.1% of the corpus asks for shallow depth of field; only 2.0% writes f/1.8. One extra token removes the ambiguity.
2. Add an exclusion line whenever your brief opposes the default look. Hard light, visible grain, imperfect framing and legible clutter all need defending against the model's house style.
3. Reach for an under-used term. side lighting is in 0.5% of prompts, harsh light 0.3%, top light 0.05%. They work fine — they are simply rarely asked for, which is exactly why they make an image stop looking like everything else.

Pick a pattern, fill the slots, and run it in the generator. For finished examples by job, the product and infographic categories are the densest.

FAQ

What is the best AI art prompt?

There is no single best prompt, because prompts are job-specific. What transfers is the pattern: a formula with named slots for subject, setting, light, camera, mood and exclusions. The nine patterns on this page cover the jobs people bring to an image model most often.

How do I write a prompt for a product photo?

Start with "product photo in a premium advertising style", then specify the object and finish, the camera angle and tilt, the light source and the direction of its shadow, and a seamless background. Add an explicit rule that props must not obscure the packaging — that clause prevents the most common failure.

Which AI model is best for images with text in them?

GPT Image, on the evidence of usage: 51.7% of GPT Image prompts in our 9,599-prompt corpus ask for text or typography, against 21.8% for Nano Banana and 7.9% for Midjourney. Put the exact copy inside quotation marks and reserve an empty region for it.

How do I keep the same character across multiple panels?

Declare consistency as the highest priority, in capitals, before describing anything else, then specify what is allowed to vary — usually only angle, pose and expression. Fix the lighting and colour grade for all panels in a single clause.

Where do these patterns come from?

They were distilled from 9,599 published prompts in the LocalBanana gallery, each stored with the model that ran it and the image it produced. The statistics quoted here come from the corpus analysis.