Describing images like a pro

This activity is about building your visual vocabulary. The better you get at describing what you want to see, the better the results your AI tools give you.

Scenario: AI image tools only understand what you can describe. You type a general prompt - "A person walking in a city" - and the result is… meh. Too generic. Let's learn how to describe visuals more like a creative director.

What you'll learn

• How to use ChatGPT's built-in Image Styles
• How to use richer, more specific language to guide AI image creation
• Common terms and modifiers that shape style, colour, lighting, and medium
• How to get consistency with your brand or existing visual assets

Step 1 - Start basic: say what you want

An image of a woman walking through a city

Could be any city, any woman, any vibe. Let's level it up.

⬆️ Level up 1 - Add camera detail or visual style

A photorealistic image of a woman walking through a city street, taken with an iPhone 16, in portrait mode. Late afternoon golden hour lighting, with long shadows.

or

A black and white photograph of a woman walking through New York in 1921, taken on an early camera. Slight motion blur and visible film grain.

This is how you shape mood and tone - like choosing the lens before taking a photo.

⬆️ Level up 2 - Specify art style or medium

A pencil sketch of a woman walking through a bustling Tokyo street, drawn in the style of Studio Ghibli storyboards.

or

An oil painting of a woman walking through a foggy European city, in the style of Claude Monet.

⬆️ Level up 3 - Colour and brand relevance

Make the background colours match our company palette - especially navy, teal and coral. Use high contrast so the central figure stands out.

or, if you already have an image you like:

Analyse the colour scheme in this attached image and make the new one feel consistent, but not identical.

⬆️ Optional experiment

Give the AI one prompt - "Create a portrait of a CEO in a high-end office" - then ask it to: make it photorealistic (studio, soft lighting, Canon EOS 600D); make it charcoal on rough textured paper; make it pop-art with exaggerated colour blocks and bold outlines; match the colours to your brand website.