Writing effective prompts for Copilot
- By Lisa Crosbie
- 2/17/2025
Write prompts to generate images
Copilot can also generate images for you, using the DALL-E 3 model, which is a type of AI model that specializes in creating unique, high-quality, detailed images based on the text description you put in your prompt.
Effective prompting for image generation in Copilot requires some different knowledge and skills than prompting to generate text content. When you are writing prompts to generate images, you should think about fine details, as well as the mood or aesthetic of the image you want to create, and understand the different kinds of art, digital, photography, and other mediums you can use to describe images.
As you learned with prompting for text, using a very broad general prompt to generate an image is unlikely to give you a satisfactory result and can generate vastly different results each time. In this example, the very simple prompt “create an image of a tree” creates two very different styles each time the prompt is used and adds a lot of additional detail that may not be what you had in mind.
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Write a caption to generate an image
One way to write an effective prompt to generate an image is to picture the image in your mind and then write a caption for it. Imagine describing the image to someone else to help them picture the same thing. In this example, the prompt is still relatively simple, but the output is a good match to the description in the prompt, featuring the key elements that were requested.
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Describe the background of your image
When you write your prompt, think about what you want in the background of your image and describe that as well as the main part of the image you want to generate. If you don’t specify the details of the background, the AI will fill in something for you or even leave it blank. In this example, asking for a 3D cartoon-style image, the background is blank in most options.
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Compare this to the following version of the prompt that includes a description of both the cartoon-style bird and the details of the desired background.
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Copilot adds some background options as described.
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Refining and iterating your prompt
As you learned earlier in this chapter, think about prompting Copilot as a conversation in which you can continue to refine and iterate your prompts to get what you requested. This is a particularly important skill when you are prompting for image generation, where communicating in words an image you have in your mind can take multiple attempts or iterations, especially when you are starting out.
In this example, the previous prompt asking Copilot to generate an image of an oak tree is refined to describe that the background should be a clear blue sky.
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This changes the image results and opens up the image to bring the tree into the foreground and adds sky to the background.
Copilot generates images with sky in the background, but it is not clear sky as requested in the prompt.
However, the results here don’t match what was requested, which was a “clear blue sky.” Copilot has not understood that the phrase was intended to mean that there should be no clouds. You can continue the conversation with Copilot to ask it to try again, providing more details or different wording.
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Remember to be polite and reinforce the things you like to help get better results as you refine your prompt.
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The refined results are much better and represent what was requested.
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Use adjectives to describe the emotion or aesthetic
When you are writing prompts to generate images, using adjectives to describe the mood, tone, emotion, or aesthetic of the image can help generate the kind of image you have in mind. In the following examples, both prompts ask for an image of a coffee cup, but the description of the aesthetic, even without any specific detail about the scene, produces vastly different results.
In this first example, the aesthetic is described as warm, comfortable, and minimalistic.
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The same basic prompt with a different aesthetic description (colorful and happy) creates a completely different set of images.
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Describe specific artistic or photographic styles
One of the best ways to get an image in the style you have in mind is to describe a specific artistic, digital, or photographic style. Copilot can create images in all sorts of styles and mediums. Think about styles of drawings or paintings, such as “impressionist” or “watercolor.” You can ask for realistic photographs and describe photographic techniques or styles or ask for cartoon-style images as shown in the previous example. You can also ask for images in the style of different mediums, such as clay or embroidery.
SEE ALSO
Your ability to use these kinds of prompts effectively to generate images will depend on the kinds of styles you can think of and describe. Later in this section, you will learn how to use Copilot to help you better describe image styles.
Let’s return to the example of asking Copilot to generate an image of an oak tree, this time using different artistic styles. The first prompt asks for a black and white charcoal etching.
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Compare the results using the same basic request with a different art style—this time, a “retro pop-art style.”
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SEE ALSO
When you generate images using Copilot, you will get a series of artistic style suggestions you can use to change your image into different styles. You will learn about this in Chapter 3.
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You can ask for very specific artistic styles, naming a particular artist, painting, or era.
Ask Copilot to help you with image prompting
One of the most effective ways to learn how to write great prompts for images is to ask Copilot to help you write the prompt. This is particularly useful if you don’t know how to describe a particular style in detail.
To ask Copilot to help you write a prompt to generate an image
Write a prompt asking Copilot how to write a good prompt for the outcome you are trying to achieve, describing the subject and the style.
Copilot responds with a suggested prompt you can use. It may also explain the thought process behind how it constructed the prompt, helping you with other ideas you can use.
Copy the text of the suggested prompt.
Select the New topic button to start a new conversation before generating the image.
Paste that prompt into the prompt area.
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Copilot generates an image as described, with refined details you may not have known how to request.
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You can also ask Copilot to help refine your prompt to get more subtle and detailed changes to the results.
In this example, you started by asking for an image in the style of an autochrome photograph.
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Let’s say you want to make some changes to this, but you don’t have the knowledge or terminology to describe the way you want to refine or change it to be truer to the style.
You can ask Copilot for help in how to refine your prompt.
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Using this prompt changes the image in subtle ways as described. In particular, notice the change to the lighting in these images compared with the first set of images.
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