Write Image Prompts You Can Debug

Give each part of the request a clear job. In the reviewed structured prompt, the subject is the astronomer and minotaur guide. Their action is standing beside one another. The setting is a desert with a distant ruined observatory. The composition is both characters full length, and the viewpoint is the wide scene implied by that framing.

The remaining parts make the direction easier to inspect: sunset or blue hour supplies the lighting; practical fantasy clothing supplies the style; the midnight-blue coat and brass star chart name important materials and details; and “no text, no logo” gives the exclusions. A reference image is a separate instruction here: keep the astronomer's coat and star chart recognisable.

The receipt records these three requests on Flux 2 Flash, 1:1, with the same attached astronomer reference. The vague request was:

Put this astronomer in a desert with a minotaur.

The structured request was:

Use the astronomer from the reference image. Keep the midnight-blue coat and brass star chart recognisable. Show the astronomer standing beside a horned minotaur guide in a wide desert at sunset, both full length, windswept sand, distant ruined observatory, practical fantasy clothing, cinematic but natural light, no text, no logo.

The second version gives you concrete checks for character details, relationship, framing, terrain, background, light and exclusions. It does not promise an identical character or a deterministic result.

Copy the structured prompt, then alter one clause only. The reviewed controlled prompt was:

Use the astronomer from the reference image. Keep the midnight-blue coat and brass star chart recognisable. Show the astronomer standing beside a horned minotaur guide in a rocky desert at blue hour, both full length, windswept sand, distant ruined observatory, practical fantasy clothing, cinematic but natural light, no text, no logo.

The only recorded change was “wide desert at sunset” to “rocky desert at blue hour”. The receipt's finding is narrow: the palette and terrain changed while the paired full-length characters and ruined observatory remained clear. That is useful evidence about one revision, not a general rule for every model or run.

The reviewed Flux 2 Flash comparison had prompt enhancement off. The form exposed an Enhance control and a preview path, but this evidence did not invoke enhancement. If a current model offers enhancement, review the changed wording before submitting because it can change the intent you were testing. If it is absent, do not assume it is available for that model.

The comparison receipt records a negative prompt as used for Flux 2 Flash. Negative Prompt was also reviewed as a model-dependent control: it was present for Flux 2 Flash and absent in the reviewed states for Nano Banana 2 Lite, GPT Image 2 and Seedream 5.0 Pro. Check the controls that mount after selecting your model. When no negative-prompt field appears, keep exclusions in the main prompt, such as “no text, no logo”.

Start with the prompt's jobs, not a new pile of instructions. If the astronomer is wrong, strengthen subject and retained-detail language. If the scene is wrong, adjust the setting clause. If the frame is crowded, revise composition or viewpoint. If the atmosphere is wrong, change lighting before changing everything else. Preserve the prompt, model, size, count and reference while you test one next clause.