Realism isn’t a look—it’s the consistent physics of causes across geometry, light, and camera capture.
Previous · Part 13
Repair Mode: The 30-Second Fix for Almost-Good AI Images
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Image Master Prompt-Sheet
This builds on Part 13: Repair Mode: The 30-Second Fix for Almost-Good AI Images
Continue with Part 15: Image Master Prompt-Sheet
The Physics of Better AI Images—now in “recipe” form
If you’ve already internalised the failure modes and the realism layers, the next bottleneck isn’t theory.
It’s execution.
This dispatch is a practical cookbook: camera-like prompt templates, shot-by-shot. You’ll be able to take a scene idea and turn it into an image that behaves like a real camera—because the prompt encodes the same constraints your lens and sensor would.
The cookbook rule: prompts should “declare the shot”
A strong real-camera prompt usually contains four declarations:
- Camera position & framing (where the lens sits, what’s in front of it)
- Optics (focal length / field of view cues)
- Exposure & sensor character (what part of the dynamic range the image sits in)
- Optical imperfections & micro-failure (the tiny things that stop it from looking rendered)
A reusable master scaffold (copy/paste)
Use this as the backbone, then swap the variables. The point isn’t to be verbose; it’s to be specific in the physics that matter.
[SUBJECT + ACTION]
Shot type: [portrait / product / street / interior / wide establishing]
Camera position: [eye-level / low-angle / overhead] + lens-to-subject distance: [close / medium / far]
Optics: [focal length]-mm lens, [wide/normal/tele] perspective, realistic field of view
Focus: subject in sharp focus, background falls off naturally; natural depth layering (no “cutout” edges)
Exposure & sensor: cinematic exposure, realistic dynamic range; correct highlights and grounded shadows
Lighting: [direction + quality: softbox window/overcast/hard sun], subtle falloff, material responds plausibly
Unlock the full applied series
Get all 15 parts of The Physics of Better AI Images — 92 min read · 18,266 words across the full sequence.
Inside the series
Parts 1-4: Constraints make it real
Parts 5-9: Camera causes, not vibes
Parts 10-12: Surfaces, framing, and truth priority
Parts 13-14: Repair and recipe workflows
Part 15: Master Prompt Sheet
Realism isn’t a look—it’s the consistent physics of causes across geometry, light, and camera capture.
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