✨Prompt Engineering for ImagesLesson 4 of 5

Negative Prompts

8 min

basics

Sometimes the best way to get what you want is to specify what you DON'T want. Negative prompts are instructions that tell the AI to avoid certain elements. They're essential for removing common AI artifacts and steering away from unwanted styles.

Key Concepts

1
Use negative prompts to remove AI artifacts (extra fingers, blurry faces)
2
Exclude unwanted styles or elements
3
Different platforms handle negatives differently
4
Don't over-negate—too many negatives confuse the model
5
Focus on removing things that commonly appear unwanted

Examples

Prompt

Positive: portrait photo of a young woman, natural lighting
Negative: blurry, distorted, extra limbs, bad anatomy, watermark, text

Result

Clean portrait without common AI artifacts

Pro Tips

Common negative prompts: blurry, low quality, distorted, deformed, watermark, text, logo

For portraits: bad anatomy, extra fingers, mutated hands

For landscapes: oversaturated, HDR, cartoonish (unless you want that)

Keep negative prompts focused—5-10 terms is usually enough

Summary

Negative prompts remove unwanted elements. Use them to eliminate artifacts and steer away from styles you don't want.

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Style Keywords That Work

Iteration Strategies