Midjourney Prompts #2: Camera angles

Powerful keywords to get your image right from the start

Jan 03, 2025

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"Midjourney Prompts" is an article series that covers keywords, phrases, and prompt structure to help you create your next image masterpiece.

TL;DR

This article contains over 40 reliable prompt keywords related to camera angles.
Close-up shots, medium shots, wide angle shots, shots from above and very far away, shots from above, shots from below, storytelling shots, forced perspective shots, submerged angel shots, framing and pivot to an element shots, negative space framing shots, camera lens: fish eye lens shots, and miniature shots are among the keyword groups covered in this article.
Use keywords to speed up your image creation process.

Start with the right camera angle

Keywords for camera angles are extremely useful for framing your photographic image and directing viewers' attention to the areas you want them to focus on.

The camera angle keywords are typically used when creating a prompt in the first run. If the camera angle is incorrect, it is best to start over rather than try to fix it with prompting techniques.

There are several methods to get the ideal camera angle. For starters, you can simply "ignore" it by not including any camera angle keywords in the prompt. The bot is smart enough to guess and generate visually appealing images for you, but it does not always get it right.

Instead of relying solely on luck and repeatedly pressing the re-run button, you can explicitly spell out the keyword to shorten your prompt exploration process and get to the image you want faster.

Some camera angle keywords have "special effects," such as lens distortion and the ability to transform the scene into a miniature world. We'll see about that later.

There are many keywords, but you only need the ones that work well.

Imagine placing a person in a 3D sphere and attaching cameras to the sphere's walls, which gives you 360-degree views and virtually limitless photographic opportunities.

The key to this article is to focus on a few camera angle keywords that have been proven to work consistently, saving you time from trial and error.

It is NOT to tell you what keywords do not work, because there is a long list of keywords being tested for this article, but they either failed miserably or were redundant (i.e. did not add more value than the already known keywords).

Each prompt, like all prompt-related articles in the Geeky Curiosity newsletter, will be re-prompted at least four times (often more) to ensure that the outcome is consistent and not purely by chance.

Camera angles in relation to Runway

Runway's Gen-3 Alpha Turbo provides advanced camera control to move the view around during animation, allowing for fine-tuning of the camera angles.

However, if you are using Midjourney images for Runway, it is still much easier to prompt the image in the proper view before using it for animation.

It is similar to getting good materials to start with; it saves you time and energy. For example, if your starting image is a low-angle view of a person, changing the camera perspective to a high angle may cause the image to "melt" or become distorted.

So save yourself the trouble and generate one or several camera views to get a good head start on animation rather than trying to fix it with expensive Runway generation credit.

Keywords related to Camera Angles

This article covers the following main groups of keywords:

Close-up shots
Medium shots
Wide angle shots
Shots from above and very far away
Shots from above
Shots from below
Storytelling shots
Forced perspective shots
Submerged angle shots
Framing and pivot to an element shots
Negative space framing shots
Camera lens: fish eye lens shot
Miniature shots

Prompt template

All of the prompts below use the same format:

[camera angle] of [something] --ar 16:9 --v 6.1

“Something” could be:

of a house
of a man in the jungle
of a lady in the desert
of a farmer in the cultivated fields
of two men playing basketball
of a lady walking on a street in a city

For example: if the camera angle is “extreme close-up shot” then the full prompt becomes:

Extreme close-up shot of a lady in the desert --ar 16:9 --v 6.1

Close-up shots

extreme close-up shot, close-up shot, macro shot

The word "extreme" is an excellent modifier for "close-up shot" when zooming in on the character's facial features.

Using "close-up shot" without the modifier may occasionally result in images that resemble medium shots.

The "extreme close-up shot" works for scenes with multiple characters as well as individual portrait images.

If you only want to focus on the eyes, mention them explicitly in the prompt. In this case, the camera angle keyword is not needed.

The other popular shot is the macro shot, or macro photography, which captures the subject's minute details. It has already been covered in another article, so I will not repeat it here.

Extreme close-up shot - for multiple characters

Medium shots

medium shot

In general, there is no need to specify the medium shot in your prompt because the bot will generate images in a variety of medium shots automatically.

Don't get me wrong. Medium shots are great. However, it is boring if all of your shots are straight-on, eye-level shots.

Medium shot - The bot will generate a variety of images at different angles so you can avoid a monotonous outcome.

Wide angle shots

ultra-wide angle shot, wide-angle shot, wide perspective, extreme wide shot, panoramic shot

Wide angle shots add a different perspective to your storytelling, showcasing the vastness of space in the world you created.

The "ultra-wide angle shot" works exceptionally well and reliable. It may also have a lens distortion effect.

The keywords work differently when the scene is small, such as in a restaurant or a jungle with dense vegetation.

Shots from above and very far away

satellite view, aerial perspective, aerial view, drone-footage, bird’s eye view shot

Another way of showing the vastness of space is to shoot from above, far from the ground level, as in drone footage.

Note that if you create a contradictory prompt, such as a satellite view (very far away) and a character description (very close to the ground), will result in confusion, and the result may not look good.

Satellite view will fail if you mention a character in the prompt. — Odd-looking satellite view due to contradictory statement in the prompt.

Shots from above

top-down shot, top-down perspective, high angle shot

The view from the top for these keywords is closer to the ground than for "satellite view".

The "top-down shot" has a unique effect that shows a cross-sectional view of the house interior.

Shots from below

knee-level shot, low-angle shot, extreme long angle shot

Knee-level shots are reliable for adding drama and a new perspective to your shots.

Low-angle shot - Create more diverse low angle images, not just focusing on the knees.

Extreme low angle shot - close-up of the low angle

Storytelling shots

establishing shot, transition shot, cutaway shot, end scene shot, handheld camera shot, first-person perspective shot, tracking shot, GoPro video, selfie video, selfie shot, fixed camera on a moving target shot

Midjourney: Storytelling through photography shots

Geeky Animals

September 27, 2024

Read full story

The storytelling shots have been discussed in the above article, so I will not repeat them here.

The "establishing shot" informs viewers of where the next scene will take place. It depicts the subject's status - somewhere and somewhen, the location, season, and time (day or night) to help viewers understand the subject and story.

The once-popular "over-the-shoulder shot" becomes less useful because it focuses too much on the subject's shoulder and is often taken from behind.

Based on my testing, the popular "Snorricam" and "POV shot" in Runway do not work well in Midjourney.

Forced perspective shot

forced perspective shot, forced perspective

You want to try some spectacular shots? For brainstorming and ideation, try using the keyword "forced perspective shot".

Submerged angle shot

submerged angle shot

It has been a long list of keywords up to now.

How about taking a bath to refresh yourself before we continue?

Framing and pivot to an element shots

ground-shot angle, underground shot, through-the-wall-shot, through-the-cave shot, through-the-space-wormhole shot, through-the-rainforest shot, through-the-viewfinder shot, through-the-X-shot

One creative camera angle technique is to pivot an element and frame the image around it.

For example, if the "ground" shot is pivoted, the image will show the ground first, followed by other elements (such as the character and crops).

You can frame anything with the "through-the-X-shot" technique by replacing the X with something else. For example, a "through-the-rainforest shot" of a lady walking in a city depicts a green city with lush plants.

Try it and see what you come up with!