Module 3 · Files, tools and your own data Lesson 9 of 15
Style and character references, and region edits — Midjourney's own feature
A style reference makes a whole set look like one project. A character reference keeps the same person across images. A region edit changes one part of an image and leaves the rest alone. Together they turn a novelty into a production tool.
The concept
Because consistency is what a client or a marks scheme actually wants. Anyone can generate one striking image; a set that belongs together, with the same light and the same palette, is what gets used and what gets paid for.
Fix a style reference first, and keep it. Write one prompt skeleton with your subject, medium, light, composition and exclusions in the same order every time, and change only the subject line. Then refine with the controls rather than by rewriting the prompt.
Here is the shape of it, in the form you will actually use:
SUBJECT a small ceramic coffee cup on a wooden table, morning
MEDIUM photograph, shallow depth of field
LIGHT soft daylight from a window on the left
COMPOSITION cup low and left, empty space upper right for a heading
ASPECT --ar 4:5
STYLE --sref [URL of the reference image you liked]
EXCLUDE --no text, watermark, hands, extra cups
# Then, for the next four images in the set, change ONLY the SUBJECT line
# and keep every other line identical. That is what makes a set look like
# a set — and it is the single most useful habit in this course.Common mistakes
The mistake is generating one beautiful image and never being able to make another like it. Save the prompt, the reference and the settings together; a prompt you cannot repeat is a fortunate accident, not a skill.
Worked example
Ten product images, one style reference, one comfortable prompt skeleton, and the set looks commissioned rather than generated.
Your practice task
Build one coherent set of five images for a real project using a single style reference, then assemble them into a page or a deck.
Do this before moving on. Reading a solution teaches the shape of it; typing it teaches you.
Key takeaway
Because consistency is what a client or a marks scheme actually wants.
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Finish every lesson to unlock the certificate. Each one ends in a practice task — do them and the final project brief writes itself.