Negative prompts are an essential part of guiding Stable Diffusion to generate high-quality images. They allow you to specify elements, styles, or attributes that you want the AI to avoid including in the generated image. Crafting effective negative prompts requires some trial and error, but can greatly improve results once mastered.
In this article, we will cover the basics of using negative prompts with Stable Diffusion, provide examples of common negative prompts, and share tips for creating your own custom negative prompts.
What Are Negative Prompts?
Negative prompts are words or phrases that tell Stable Diffusion what not to include in a generated image. They are typically formatted like this:
|ugly:, bad anatomy:, text:, low quality:You can include multiple negative prompts by separating them with commas. The colon after each prompt is used to indicate the “strength” of that prompt, with 1.0 being the default. Higher numbers make the AI try harder to avoid that element.
Negative prompts are important because they give you more control over the image generation process. Without them, Stable Diffusion has no way of knowing what types of outputs you want to avoid.
Examples of Common Negative Prompts
Here are some examples of commonly used negative prompts across different categories:
General Image Quality
- ugly
- bad anatomy
- text
- low quality
- pixelated
- blurry
- morphed face
Unwanted Content
- pornographic
- nsfw
- gore
- mutilated
- disfigured
Technical Issues
- watermark
- signature
- cropped
- worst quality
- duplicate
These prompts instruct Stable Diffusion to avoid generating images with these unwanted elements or attributes. You can combine multiple prompts from different categories to better guide the AI.
Custom Negative Prompts
You can also create custom negative prompts tailored to your specific needs. For example:
- poorly drawn face
- missing fingers
- extra limbs
- illogical lighting
Custom negative prompts give you granular control to eliminate particular issues you see cropping up in your generated images.
Tips for Effective Negative Prompts
Here are some tips to help you craft better negative prompts:
Start Broad, Then Get Specific
Begin with broad negative prompts like “ugly” or “bad anatomy”. Then get more specific if needed by calling out exact issues you want to avoid.
Check Search Results
Search online to see if others have shared negative prompts for particular issues you want to eliminate.
List Most Important First
Put the most critical negative prompts that must be avoided first in your list. Stable Diffusion prioritizes the prompts earlier in the list.
Adjust Strength Values
Increase strength values (the number after the colon) for prompts that are being ignored by the AI. Values above 1.0 make them more important.
Review and Refine
Check generated images and tweak your negative prompts based on any lingering issues. Refining prompts is key for the best results.
Conclusion
Using negative prompts effectively takes some practice, but gives you more control over Stable Diffusion’s image generation. Start by trying some common prompts, and don’t be afraid to create custom prompts tailored to your needs. Refine and adjust them over time for better and better results.
With the right negative prompts, you can guide the AI to create exactly what you imagined. Have fun exploring all that Stable Diffusion has to offer!