Z‑Image Prompt Formula: A 60‑Second Guide

Why it matters ## 3 Ready-to-run prompts (copy, paste, iterate) ## 1. Macro Portrait — Cherry Blossoms (3:4) ## 2. Website Hero (16:9) ## 3. Studio Headshot (LinkedIn / Founder) ## Iteration tips — how to improve without breaking results ## Quick troubleshooting (common failures) ## A/B test checklist (fast) ## Read the full guide & try live Z‑Image is excellent at generating images with embedded bilingual text, but vague prompts still produce inconsistent results. Below is a compact, practical guide with copy‑paste prompts, iteration tips, and quick fixes you can use right away. Use this 6‑part structure to make prompts repeatable: Subject + Scene + Composition + Lighting + Style + Constraints (Full guide: Z-Image Prompt Formula · Try generator: Open Z‑Image generator · Intro: What is Z-Image?) Unstructured prompts leave too much freedom for the model. This formula reduces ambiguity by (1) anchoring the subject, (2) reserving space for text, and (3) forcing rules that prevent artifacts (watermarks, extra text, anatomy errors). Practical 6‑part checklist (one line each) Full breakdown, extra examples and downloadable templates: Z-Image Prompt Formula Full tutorial, extra examples, and a library of ready-to-run templates: Z-Image Prompt Formula Open the live generator to test these prompts: Try Z-Image Generator Suggested dev.to tags: prompt-engineering, ai, generative-ai, design, z-image Want me to turn one of the ready-to-run prompts into a tweet thread, LinkedIn carousel, or a step-by-step YouTube script? Reply with which format and I'll draft it. Templates let you quickly answer FAQs or store snippets for re-use. Are you sure you want to hide this comment? It will become hidden in your post, but will still be visible via the comment's permalink. Hide child comments as well For further actions, you may consider blocking this person and/or reporting abuse CODE_BLOCK: 1. Subject: A hyper-detailed close-up portrait of a young red-haired woman with fair freckled skin, loose curls pinned back by glossy black enamel clips. 2. Scene: Her face half-veiled by overlapping cherry blossom branches; petals brushing her temple and casting delicate, fluttering shadows over her eyes. Pollen dust sparkles on the petals. 3. Composition: Portrait composition in a 3:4 vertical frame, extreme close-up / head-and-shoulders with a shallow DOF; subject centered with blossoms framing the face. Nikon Z8 with a 105mm macro lens look; 8K detail. 4. Lighting: Ethereal backlighting with soft god rays filtering through pink blooms; subtle fill to keep facial detail and gentle rim to separate hair from background. 5. Style: Intricate photoreal rendering—fine eyelash strands, faint capillaries on eyelids, satin lip balm highlight, micro skin texture, pastel bokeh background with filmic grain. 6. Constraints: No logos, no text overlays, no extra props. Keep focus on face and blossoms; preserve natural freckles and skin texture, avoid heavy retouching or oversmoothing. Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode CODE_BLOCK: 1. Subject: A hyper-detailed close-up portrait of a young red-haired woman with fair freckled skin, loose curls pinned back by glossy black enamel clips. 2. Scene: Her face half-veiled by overlapping cherry blossom branches; petals brushing her temple and casting delicate, fluttering shadows over her eyes. Pollen dust sparkles on the petals. 3. Composition: Portrait composition in a 3:4 vertical frame, extreme close-up / head-and-shoulders with a shallow DOF; subject centered with blossoms framing the face. Nikon Z8 with a 105mm macro lens look; 8K detail. 4. Lighting: Ethereal backlighting with soft god rays filtering through pink blooms; subtle fill to keep facial detail and gentle rim to separate hair from background. 5. Style: Intricate photoreal rendering—fine eyelash strands, faint capillaries on eyelids, satin lip balm highlight, micro skin texture, pastel bokeh background with filmic grain. 6. Constraints: No logos, no text overlays, no extra props. Keep focus on face and blossoms; preserve natural freckles and skin texture, avoid heavy retouching or oversmoothing. CODE_BLOCK: 1. Subject: A hyper-detailed close-up portrait of a young red-haired woman with fair freckled skin, loose curls pinned back by glossy black enamel clips. 2. Scene: Her face half-veiled by overlapping cherry blossom branches; petals brushing her temple and casting delicate, fluttering shadows over her eyes. Pollen dust sparkles on the petals. 3. Composition: Portrait composition in a 3:4 vertical frame, extreme close-up / head-and-shoulders with a shallow DOF; subject centered with blossoms framing the face. Nikon Z8 with a 105mm macro lens look; 8K detail. 4. Lighting: Ethereal backlighting with soft god rays filtering through pink blooms; subtle fill to keep facial detail and gentle rim to separate hair from background. 5. Style: Intricate photoreal rendering—fine eyelash strands, faint capillaries on eyelids, satin lip balm highlight, micro skin texture, pastel bokeh background with filmic grain. 6. Constraints: No logos, no text overlays, no extra props. Keep focus on face and blossoms; preserve natural freckles and skin texture, avoid heavy retouching or oversmoothing. CODE_BLOCK: 1. Subject: Website hero image for z-image.win featuring a top-left Z-image logo (simple Z mark + wordmark), left-side headline "Your Fast Path to Better Images.", subheadline "Generate posters, ads, and hero visuals with precise layout.", and CTA button "Try z-image.win". 2. Scene: Smooth light gray gradient background; clean, minimal studio-like environment with soft, subtle grain. Right half: bento grid of 5 rounded cards with generic UI icons and tiny preview thumbnails (no brands). 3. Composition: 16:9 hero layout. Left half reserved for logo/headline/subheadline/CTA with generous negative space; right half contains a balanced bento grid (two columns with 3 rows, one cell empty) of rounded cards aligned to a grid. Keep clear margins for responsive cropping. 4. Lighting: Even soft ambient light with gentle directional key to create soft shadows under cards; subtle vignette to focus attention on left headline zone. 5. Style: Modern, minimal UI-forward look: crisp typography, consistent spacing, high readability, soft shadows, subtle reflections on cards, photoreal UI thumbnails. Keep color palette neutral with one accent color for CTA. 6. Constraints: No watermarks, no extra logos or branding except the specified top-left logo. No extra on-image text beyond headline/subheadline/CTA. Ensure CTA text exactly "Try z-image.win". Maintain readable font sizes for mobile crop. Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode CODE_BLOCK: 1. Subject: Website hero image for z-image.win featuring a top-left Z-image logo (simple Z mark + wordmark), left-side headline "Your Fast Path to Better Images.", subheadline "Generate posters, ads, and hero visuals with precise layout.", and CTA button "Try z-image.win". 2. Scene: Smooth light gray gradient background; clean, minimal studio-like environment with soft, subtle grain. Right half: bento grid of 5 rounded cards with generic UI icons and tiny preview thumbnails (no brands). 3. Composition: 16:9 hero layout. Left half reserved for logo/headline/subheadline/CTA with generous negative space; right half contains a balanced bento grid (two columns with 3 rows, one cell empty) of rounded cards aligned to a grid. Keep clear margins for responsive cropping. 4. Lighting: Even soft ambient light with gentle directional key to create soft shadows under cards; subtle vignette to focus attention on left headline zone. 5. Style: Modern, minimal UI-forward look: crisp typography, consistent spacing, high readability, soft shadows, subtle reflections on cards, photoreal UI thumbnails. Keep color palette neutral with one accent color for CTA. 6. Constraints: No watermarks, no extra logos or branding except the specified top-left logo. No extra on-image text beyond headline/subheadline/CTA. Ensure CTA text exactly "Try z-image.win". Maintain readable font sizes for mobile crop. CODE_BLOCK: 1. Subject: Website hero image for z-image.win featuring a top-left Z-image logo (simple Z mark + wordmark), left-side headline "Your Fast Path to Better Images.", subheadline "Generate posters, ads, and hero visuals with precise layout.", and CTA button "Try z-image.win". 2. Scene: Smooth light gray gradient background; clean, minimal studio-like environment with soft, subtle grain. Right half: bento grid of 5 rounded cards with generic UI icons and tiny preview thumbnails (no brands). 3. Composition: 16:9 hero layout. Left half reserved for logo/headline/subheadline/CTA with generous negative space; right half contains a balanced bento grid (two columns with 3 rows, one cell empty) of rounded cards aligned to a grid. Keep clear margins for responsive cropping. 4. Lighting: Even soft ambient light with gentle directional key to create soft shadows under cards; subtle vignette to focus attention on left headline zone. 5. Style: Modern, minimal UI-forward look: crisp typography, consistent spacing, high readability, soft shadows, subtle reflections on cards, photoreal UI thumbnails. Keep color palette neutral with one accent color for CTA. 6. Constraints: No watermarks, no extra logos or branding except the specified top-left logo. No extra on-image text beyond headline/subheadline/CTA. Ensure CTA text exactly "Try z-image.win". Maintain readable font sizes for mobile crop. CODE_BLOCK: 1. Subject: Modern tech founder portrait — 29-year-old American man with light tan skin, medium-length wavy hair, light stubble, and a friendly confident expression; wearing a hoodie under a blazer. 2. Scene: Minimal bright studio with a clean seamless backdrop; no clutter or props to distract from the subject. 3. Composition: 3:4 portrait (chest-up to 3/4 body), centered, eye-level framing. 85mm lens look with shallow DOF: subject sharply in focus, background softly blurred. 4. Lighting: Clean studio key light with gentle fill and soft shadows; add subtle rim/edge light to separate hair and shoulders from background. 5. Style: Contemporary color grading, ultra-realistic photoreal rendering—fine hair detail, natural skin texture, realistic eyelashes and pores. 6. Constraints: No logos, no watermarks, no extra props or on-image text. Preserve accurate anatomy (5 fingers), no extra limbs, and avoid digital artifacts or over-retouching. Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode CODE_BLOCK: 1. Subject: Modern tech founder portrait — 29-year-old American man with light tan skin, medium-length wavy hair, light stubble, and a friendly confident expression; wearing a hoodie under a blazer. 2. Scene: Minimal bright studio with a clean seamless backdrop; no clutter or props to distract from the subject. 3. Composition: 3:4 portrait (chest-up to 3/4 body), centered, eye-level framing. 85mm lens look with shallow DOF: subject sharply in focus, background softly blurred. 4. Lighting: Clean studio key light with gentle fill and soft shadows; add subtle rim/edge light to separate hair and shoulders from background. 5. Style: Contemporary color grading, ultra-realistic photoreal rendering—fine hair detail, natural skin texture, realistic eyelashes and pores. 6. Constraints: No logos, no watermarks, no extra props or on-image text. Preserve accurate anatomy (5 fingers), no extra limbs, and avoid digital artifacts or over-retouching. CODE_BLOCK: 1. Subject: Modern tech founder portrait — 29-year-old American man with light tan skin, medium-length wavy hair, light stubble, and a friendly confident expression; wearing a hoodie under a blazer. 2. Scene: Minimal bright studio with a clean seamless backdrop; no clutter or props to distract from the subject. 3. Composition: 3:4 portrait (chest-up to 3/4 body), centered, eye-level framing. 85mm lens look with shallow DOF: subject sharply in focus, background softly blurred. 4. Lighting: Clean studio key light with gentle fill and soft shadows; add subtle rim/edge light to separate hair and shoulders from background. 5. Style: Contemporary color grading, ultra-realistic photoreal rendering—fine hair detail, natural skin texture, realistic eyelashes and pores. 6. Constraints: No logos, no watermarks, no extra props or on-image text. Preserve accurate anatomy (5 fingers), no extra limbs, and avoid digital artifacts or over-retouching. - Subject — what the image is about (object/person, key attributes). - Scene — minimal context (location, mood, 1–2 props max). - Composition — camera, frame, aspect ratio, where to leave whitespace for text. - Lighting — key direction + softness + rim/fill. - Style — pick a single art direction (photoreal, editorial, minimal). - Constraints — hard rules: exact text, no logos, no watermark, anatomy rules. - Micro-detail focus: macro lens + 8K instruction directs the model to render high-frequency details (lashes, capillaries, pollen), improving realism. - Foreground framing: blossoms partially veiling the face add depth and narrative while guiding focus to eyes. - Controlled lighting: backlighting with soft fill preserves translucency in petals and subtle skin highlights without blowing out details. - Increase aperture emphasis (shallower DOF) to push background further into pastel bokeh and make the subject pop. - Slightly warm the fill light (+1–2 on warmth) to enhance freckled skin tones without altering the overall pastel mood. - Add a faint specular catchlight in the eye to increase life and depth. - Clear left-right separation (headline + CTA vs visual thumbnails) immediately communicates value and product capability. - Bento grid previews demonstrate use cases at a glance while the left-side CTA provides a direct conversion path. - Neutral background with soft shadows and crisp typography keeps visual hierarchy legible across crops and devices. - Swap CTA accent color to high-contrast (e.g., primary orange) to increase click-through visual weight. - Reduce card count to 4 for mobile-first variants to keep thumbnails legible. - Increase spacing between headline and subheadline for improved mobile readability. - Focused subject: a single clearly described subject (age, ethnicity, clothing, expression) reduces ambiguity and yields more consistent facial and wardrobe rendering. - Commercial composition: chest-up framing with an 85mm look and shallow DOF places emphasis on facial features while preserving professional headshot proportions. - Controlled lighting & style: clean studio key + subtle rim ensures accurate skin tones and separation from background, while contemporary grading keeps results natural and modern. - Increase rim light intensity to emphasize jawline and separate hair from background for stronger profile definition. Tighten composition to 1:1 crop (headshot) to create a more intimate LinkedIn-style portrait. - Add a slight warm tone to color grade (subtle +2–4 on warmth) to improve skin warmth for light tan tones. - Change only one block at a time (Subject / Composition / Constraints / Lighting). This isolates the effect of each tweak. - Use seed: 12345 (or any fixed number) to reproduce a good result, then create variants by changing a single parameter (e.g., Style or Composition). Run 3 seeds and pick the best. - For macro portraits (cherry blossoms): explicitly add lens & detail instructions — e.g. "105mm macro lens, 8K detail, shallow DOF" — and tweak aperture/DOF rather than multiple blocks. - For website hero layouts: lock left/right zones (e.g., "left 40% reserved for headline") and test CTA color/contrast; simulate mobile crops by reducing canvas width to check headline legibility. - For thumbnails/headshots: prioritize text legibility — use explicit size instructions like "headline occupies top 20%, large bold sans-serif" and test at thumbnail size. - To avoid random characters or garbage text: quote exact strings and include "no random letters, no extra text, no watermark" in Constraints. Example: EXACT headline "NEW: 2026" or "Chinese headline '标题' + English subtitle 'Subtitle'". - To reduce clutter, add "clean studio background, no props" and limit props to "max 1 prop". If background still noisy, force: "solid color background" or "soft gradient only". - When using grids/cards (website hero): reduce card count for mobile (4 → 3), increase inter-card spacing, and specify "responsive-safe margins" to avoid cropping issues. - If color/skin tones look off, tweak lighting temperature (+1 to +2 warmth) or specify "soft fill + subtle rim" for balanced highlights. - Quick recovery recipe: when the model adds unwanted elements, re-run with the same seed and add stricter constraints (e.g., "ONLY the listed elements"); if artifacts persist, slightly change the seed and re-run. - Problem: Random letters in image → Fix: add explicit typography lock + "no random letters" constraint. - Problem: Text too small → Fix: "headline occupies top 20% and is large bold sans-serif". - Problem: Cluttered background → Fix: "clean studio background, no props". - Try 3 seeds for the same prompt; pick best and iterate. - Test two compositions: centered vs split layout. - Swap only Style (photoreal vs editorial) to measure visual impact.