How to Use Midjourney in 2026: A Complete Beginner's Guide

Getting Started with Midjourney in 2026

Midjourney is the most popular AI image generation tool in the world, used by artists, designers, marketers, and hobbyists to create stunning imagery from text descriptions. This complete beginner's guide walks you through everything you need to know: setting up your account, writing effective prompts, understanding the different model versions, and using advanced parameters to control your outputs.

Step 1: Creating Your Midjourney Account

Midjourney now operates primarily through its web interface at midjourney.com, though Discord access remains available. To get started:

• Visit midjourney.com and click "Sign In"
• Authenticate with your Google, Apple, or Discord account
• Choose a subscription plan (no free trial as of 2026)
• Access the image generation interface at midjourney.com/imagine

Midjourney Subscription Plans in 2026

Plan	Price	GPU Hours	Relaxed Mode	Stealth Mode
Basic	$10/month	~200 images/month	No	No
Standard	$30/month	15 fast GPU hours	Yes (unlimited)	No
Pro	$60/month	30 fast GPU hours	Yes (unlimited)	Yes
Mega	$120/month	60 fast GPU hours	Yes (unlimited)	Yes

For beginners, the Standard plan at $30/month is the best value — unlimited relaxed generations mean you are never limited on volume, you just wait a bit longer in the queue during off-peak hours.

Step 2: Writing Your First Prompt

A Midjourney prompt is a text description of the image you want to create. Type your description in the prompt box at midjourney.com/imagine and press Enter. Midjourney generates four variations of your prompt in about 30-60 seconds.

Basic Prompt Structure

A well-structured Midjourney prompt contains several components:

• Subject: What is the main focus of the image? (a warrior, a cityscape, a product)
• Style: What aesthetic should the image have? (photorealistic, oil painting, anime, cyberpunk)
• Lighting: How is the scene lit? (golden hour, dramatic side lighting, studio lighting)
• Camera: What perspective? (close-up portrait, wide angle, bird's-eye view)
• Quality modifiers: Terms that improve output (highly detailed, 8K, award-winning photography)

Example Prompts

• Beginner: "a golden retriever puppy sitting in a sunflower field, soft afternoon light, photorealistic"
• Intermediate: "futuristic Tokyo street at night, neon reflections on wet pavement, cinematic wide angle, blade runner aesthetic, highly detailed"
• Advanced: "portrait of a weathered sea captain, dramatic Rembrandt lighting, oil painting style, museum quality, intricate texture, 16th century"

Step 3: Understanding Midjourney Versions

Midjourney releases new model versions periodically, each with improvements in quality and capabilities. In 2026, the primary versions are:

• Midjourney v7 (default): The latest and most capable version. Best overall quality, improved hands and faces, better prompt following. Use for all general purposes.
• Midjourney v6.1: Still excellent for photorealistic outputs and consistent character generation. Some users prefer it for portraits.
• Niji v6: Specialized model for anime and manga aesthetics. If you want Japanese illustration styles, always use Niji v6.

To specify a version in your prompt, add the parameter at the end: "your prompt here --v 7" or "your anime prompt --niji 6"

Step 4: Essential Parameters

Parameters are settings added to the end of your prompt to control specific aspects of the output. Here are the most useful ones for beginners:

• --ar (Aspect Ratio): Controls image dimensions. --ar 16:9 for widescreen, --ar 9:16 for vertical/phone, --ar 1:1 for square. Example: "mountain landscape --ar 16:9"
• --q (Quality): Controls rendering time and detail. --q 1 is default; --q 2 takes twice as long but adds detail. Rarely necessary with v7.
• --s (Stylize): Controls how strongly Midjourney's artistic style is applied. Range: 0-1000. Default is 100. Higher values (700-1000) produce more artistic, less literal interpretations.
• --chaos: Controls variation between the four generated images. Range: 0-100. Higher values produce more diverse, unexpected results.
• --no: Exclude specific elements. "a portrait --no glasses" removes glasses from the output.
• --seed: Specify a seed number to reproduce similar results. Useful for iterating on a specific composition.

Step 5: Upscaling and Variations

After Midjourney generates four images, you have several options:

• U1, U2, U3, U4: Upscale (U) buttons create a high-resolution version of the corresponding image (1=top left, 2=top right, 3=bottom left, 4=bottom right)
• V1, V2, V3, V4: Variation (V) buttons generate four new variations that are similar to the selected image
• Re-roll (circular arrow): Generates four completely new images using the same prompt
• Vary (Region): After upscaling, use this to selectively change a specific area of the image (inpainting)
• Zoom Out: After upscaling, extend the canvas outward to reveal more of the scene

Step 6: Advanced Techniques

Style Reference (--sref)

The style reference parameter lets you provide an image URL to match the visual style of that image. Add "--sref [image URL]" to your prompt and Midjourney will generate images in a similar aesthetic. This is invaluable for maintaining consistent brand visuals.

Character Reference (--cref)

Character reference lets you maintain a consistent character appearance across multiple images. Generate your base character, then use that image URL with "--cref [URL]" in subsequent prompts to keep the character consistent across different scenes and compositions.

Multi-Prompting

Use the :: separator to assign different weights to parts of your prompt. "hot:: dog" gives equal weight to "hot" and "dog" — treating them as separate concepts rather than "hot dog." This is useful for controlling which elements take visual priority in complex compositions.

Common Beginner Mistakes to Avoid

• Prompts that are too short: be descriptive — Midjourney responds well to detail
• Conflicting instructions: "realistic oil painting" is contradictory — pick one
• Forgetting aspect ratio: default is 1:1; specify --ar for your intended use case
• Not iterating: Midjourney rewards experimentation — try variations and re-rolls
• Ignoring style terms: adding aesthetic references (Bauhaus, Studio Ghibli, National Geographic) dramatically improves outputs

Browse our full Midjourney review and comparison with other AI image generators in our directory for more tools and tips.