✨Prompt Engineering for ImagesLesson 5 of 5

Iteration Strategies

9 min

basics

Your first prompt rarely produces your final image. Iteration is the game. Professional AI artists iterate dozens of times, tweaking prompts, adjusting parameters, and exploring variations. The goal isn't to nail it first try—it's to learn and refine.

Key Concepts

1
Start broad, then narrow down
2
Change one variable at a time to understand its effect
3
Use variations and upscaling strategically
4
Save your successful prompts as templates
5
Know when to start fresh vs. when to iterate

Examples

Prompt

V1: mountain landscape
V2: mountain landscape, snow peaks, dramatic clouds
V3: mountain landscape, snow peaks, dramatic clouds, golden hour, wide angle
V4: mountain landscape, snow peaks, dramatic clouds, golden hour, wide angle, Ansel Adams style

Result

Progressive refinement from vague to precise

Try It Yourself

Take any image concept and write 5 progressively more specific versions of the prompt

Pro Tips

Treat your first 3-5 generations as exploration, not final products

When something works, ask WHY and extract the winning elements

Keep a prompt journal of what works

Sometimes starting completely fresh beats iterating on a dead end

Summary

Iteration is the core skill. Start broad, refine progressively, and always extract lessons from your experiments.

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Negative Prompts

Art Styles & Movements