Midjourney Doesn't Do That...
"Midjourney doesn't do that," a phrase I spend half the day repeating because Midjourney's limitations are not well known. I've put together a list of things to know before investing in Midjourney so that you can make an informed decision on whether Midjourney is the right tool for you or not. I am not bashing Midjourney at all I adore Midjourney but it's still evolving and growing and it hasn't achieved its potential...yet.
Midjourney rocks! It's like a candy store of creativity. The best text to image AI hands down.
1. Which brings me to the first limitation. Counting fingers isn't Midjourney's strong suit. It might give you a high six when you were asking for a thumbs up.
....about those hands....manicure anyone?
/imagine prompt:: Beauty photo of pastel pop art inspired gel manicure shot on Fujifilm --ar 3:2
2. Stop what you are doing right now and pay attention to the following- everything you whip up in Midjourney is PUBLIC for all to see unless you are on the Pro Subscription or up and are using STEALTH. Prompts, images you put in to your prompts and images you create all go to the Midjourney community feed on the website. So if you don't have stealth, maybe avoid using pics of your one of a kind top secret masterpiece in your image prompts unless you're cool with the world being able to download it onto their computer.
3. Midjourney isn't PhotoShop. It's not for editing images, it's all about making something new every time. We also don't have very fine control over Midjourney. It isn't the magic wand of imagery.
4.Planning to create snazzy product photos in Midjourney? Well, think again. It's more of a concept creator, only taking inspiration from the images you put into it. So, your designer handbag might look like a quirky tote bag in the end result instead.
5.Consistency isn't Midjourney's middle name. You can't get the same character in every frame without a little help from our friend, Photoshop and/or face swapping. But if you're okay with hard work, patience and a little bit of variety and uniqueness, then it could be a fun project.
Face swapping helped me give Molly a tour of the Multiverse using InsightFace which is now rebranding to Picsi.AI I often have Meetups on how to use the bot on our AI Creative Compass Meetup Group
6.Want your face in Midjourney to look just like you? That's a no-go unless you want to look like your better looking sibling. There are other apps like Stable Diffusion that are a better choice for that kind of project. It may be possible with a face swap but there is some workflow involved.
7.You can't train Midjourney. The whiz-kids behind the scenes do all that heavy lifting. But you can help shape its future by ranking images on the website. Plus, you might score a free hour of fast time if you rank enough images.
8.Midjourney loves blending things, quite literally. So if you've got multiple subjects, be ready for a potentially fun mashup!
I wander who won this race.
/imagine prompt: tortoise and hare storybook cover --v 5.2
9.Trying to get people doing stuff with their hands? That could end up as a comedy sketch. It can often either look unnatural or a bit disturbing and remember to count those fingers.
/imagine prompt: film noir villainess smoking a cigarette, pop of red lipstick, dramatic atmosphere, in the style of anime drama --ar 3:2
Using Midjourney is like being at an improv show - you gotta roll with the punches, laugh at the quirks, and remember, it's just the start of the tech journey. Who knows what the next act will bring!
Besides for all its limitations it can still do stuff like this....
/imagine prompt: graphic art of punk princess, tin crown and Diamond grill, vibrant high contrast colors, gilded daisy chain, glittercore, flowing hair and big eyes, decora style --ar 4:5
/imagine prompt: ethereal cyanotype photo of tattooed hands praying --ar 2:3
The below image involved, remix, image prompting, zooming and panning but the base prompt was
/imagine prompt: fairytale watercolor of a dragon and a knight
Midjourney is amazing, to think how far we have come in such a short time is mind boggling. Is it absolutely perfect granting our every artistic wish, no but it is more than I ever could have imagined and amazes me more and more every day. It is just that though, a journey and we are nowhere near the destination. This is just the beginning, be a pioneer and take charge of the future.
If you want to find out more about Midjourney click on my link to achieve Midjourney Mastery
