Prompt library · Portrait photography
Ten tested prompts covering the classic portrait genres — golden hour backlight, studio beauty dish, moody window light, film emulation and editorial color gels. Each card shows the unedited result and the model that produced it.
Portraits live or die by light, so structure the prompt like a lighting brief: who the subject is (age, one or two distinguishing details, wardrobe), the light source and its direction, the background, and the lens look. “Portrait of a woman with curly gray-streaked hair, backlit by low golden hour sun, 85mm f/1.4 bokeh” gives the model everything it needs; “beautiful realistic portrait” gives it nothing. Named lighting setups work too — Rembrandt light, beauty dish, window light, color gels — because the models were trained on photography that uses exactly this vocabulary.
Keep subjects generic (“a young man”, “an elderly potter”) rather than naming real people — the models refuse celebrity likenesses. If you need the same face across a whole series, generate one portrait you like and reuse it as a character reference on Nano Banana 2 or Pro; that workflow is covered in the character consistency guide linked below.
Every image below is the unedited output of the prompt on its card — no cherry-picking across dozens of attempts, no retouching. The model badge shows exactly what generated it and what it cost.
Portrait of a young woman with curly dark hair in a mustard knit sweater, backlit by low golden hour sun in a wheat field. Sun flare grazes the frame, loose hairs glow like a halo, warm skin tones, 85mm f/1.4 look with creamy bokeh, gentle genuine smile.
Close-up beauty portrait of a woman with freckles and slicked-back hair against a seamless dove-gray background. Beauty dish directly above the camera creates a soft butterfly shadow under the nose, catchlights in both eyes, immaculate skin texture with visible pores, high-end cosmetics campaign style.
Moody portrait of a man in his thirties with a short beard, resting his head against a rain-streaked window, looking out. Cool overcast daylight from the window sculpts one side of his face, the room behind him falls into shadow, raindrop bokeh, contemplative cinematic tone.
Editorial fashion portrait of an androgynous model with sharp cheekbones and wet-look hair, lit by a violet gel from the left and an amber gel from the right against deep shadow. Glossy highlights where the two colors meet on the skin, dark background, bold magazine cover energy.
Environmental portrait of an elderly potter with deeply lined hands and a warm squinting smile, seated at the wheel in his cluttered workshop. Soft window light from the side, clay dust in the air catching the light, shelves of ceramics blurred behind him, dignified documentary style.
Professional corporate headshot of a smiling woman in her forties wearing a navy blazer over a white top, against a softly blurred warm-gray office background. Large softbox at 45 degrees, subtle fill, sharp focus on the eyes, approachable and confident, LinkedIn-ready crop.
Candid street portrait of a young man in a vintage denim jacket laughing, shot on 35mm color film. Slight grain, muted greens and warm highlights of expired film stock, late afternoon sun, out-of-focus European street with bicycles behind him, half-body frame.
Dramatic studio portrait of a dancer mid-leap, a long sheet of amber silk fabric swirling around her in frozen motion. Single hard spotlight from the upper left against a black void, dust particles in the beam, muscles and fabric folds in crisp detail, fine-art performance photography.
Lifestyle portrait of a surfer with wet hair and water droplets on his shoulders, holding a board under his arm at the shoreline. Bright midday sun, squinting easy grin, turquoise ocean bokeh behind, salt-bleached color palette, energetic travel magazine feel.
Classic black and white portrait of an older woman with silver hair pulled back, in Rembrandt lighting — a triangle of light on her shadowed cheek. Dark textured backdrop, deep blacks and soft mid-tones, timeless fine-art studio portrait, medium format look.
Name the source, direction and quality: “beauty dish above the camera”, “window light from the side”, “backlit by golden hour sun”. Everything else is set dressing.
Rembrandt light, butterfly shadow, catchlights, 85mm f/1.4, medium format, expired film stock — these terms map directly onto looks the model knows.
“Clay dust in the air”, “water droplets on his shoulders”, “rain-streaked window” — a single environmental detail turns a headshot into a portrait.
For the same face across many images, generate one portrait you like, then attach it as a reference image on Nano Banana 2 or Pro — the model keeps identity while you change scene and wardrobe.
10 promptsTen tested prompts spanning the genre — neon cyberpunk, hand-painted 90s film stills, mecha, magical girls, cozy slice-of-life and city pop. Each card shows the unedited result and the model behind it.
Browse prompts
10 promptsTen tested prompts for e-commerce hero shots, flat lays, splash photography and macro detail — each shown with the unedited image it produced and the exact model that made it. Copy any prompt, swap in your product, generate.
Browse prompts
7 promptsSeven tested prompts for Veo 3.1 and Gemini Omni Flash — aerials, macro slow motion, neon tracking shots and native-audio dialogue. Every clip on this page is the unedited output of the prompt above it.
Browse promptsKeep one face identical across a whole series of images.
Read the guideThe narrative prompt structure every example on this page uses.
Read the guidePay-as-you-go portraits from a $1 crypto top-up.
Read the guideNot from a name — celebrity and public-figure likenesses are refused. But you can upload your own photo as a reference and generate stylized portraits of yourself: the model preserves identity while changing lighting, wardrobe and setting.
Nano Banana Pro leads on skin texture, catchlights and fabric detail, and outputs up to 4K. Nano Banana 2 is close behind at half the price and covers most social and editorial use. Lite is the fastest way to test poses and lighting ideas at $0.03.
Use character references: attach the portrait you want to preserve to your next generation and describe only what changes. The full workflow is in our character consistency guide.
3:4 or 4:5 vertical is the portrait standard and matches Instagram’s feed crop. Use 1:1 for avatars and 9:16 only for full-body fashion or stories.
Every new account starts with a free $0.10 balance — enough to test three image prompts before paying anything. No subscription, no credit card, crypto top-ups from $1.