Prompt Vocabulary Cheat Sheet: Photography Terms That Work

Related: Camera angles and composition prompting • Lighting techniques for AI generation • Building effective prompt templates

TL;DR

• Photography and cinematography terms like "Rembrandt lighting," "Dutch angle," and "shot size" are independently verifiable as standard terminology. Whether they produce predictable results in AI image generation is untested outside community reports.
• Follow meyron's GitHub method: visual prompt reference guides comparing outputs across multiple AI models with consistent templates.
• Build a decision table with a Source column linking to independent verification or labeling terms as community-reported.

Why This Vocabulary Matters

Community cheat sheets list dozens of photography terms, but no independent testing confirms which ones produce consistent results across AI models. This article separates verified photography definitions from unverified AI-prompt claims, and gives you a method to build your own cheat sheet instead of copying someone else's list.

The Verified Photography Vocabulary

The terms below come from Wikipedia and photography references. Their definitions are confirmed. Their effectiveness as AI image generation prompts is not.

Shot Size and Framing

Shot size terminology describes how much of the subject and its surrounding area is visible within the camera's field of view, determined by camera-subject distance and focal length (Shot (filmmaking))). Common terms include:

• Extreme wide shot — broad environmental context
• Medium shot — subject with moderate surroundings
• Cowboy shot — waist-up framing, named for Western film conventions
• Full shot — entire subject visible

Framing terms describe how characters are positioned relative to each other. These appear in community prompt lists (Engelstein's Prompt List):

• Single shot — one subject framed alone
• Two shot — two subjects framed together
• Over-the-shoulder shot — camera positioned behind one subject, looking at another

Camera Angles

Dutch angle is a shot where the camera is rotated so vertical lines tilt relative to the frame, producing "a viewpoint akin to tilting one's head to the side." In cinematography, it is "one of many cinematic techniques often used to portray psychological uneasiness or tension" (Dutch angle).

Other angle terms from the source material:

• Low angle — camera below subject, looking up
• High angle — camera above subject, looking down
• Birds-eye view — shot from directly above (Rhailo's Cheatsheet)
• Worms-eye view — shot from ground level, looking up (Rhailo's Cheatsheet)
• 3/4 view — subject at three-quarter rotation

Focus and Lens Terms

Depth of field is "the distance between the nearest and the farthest objects that are in acceptably sharp focus in an image captured with a camera" (Depth of field).

• Shallow depth of field — narrow plane of focus, blurred background
• Deep focus — wide plane of focus, everything sharp
• Tilt shift — camera movements that adjust "the lens holder and the film holder," swiveling the plane of focus (Depth of field)
• Bokeh — aesthetic quality of out-of-focus areas (single-source: Engelstein's list)

Lighting Language

The Three-Point System

Three-point lighting is "a standard method used in visual media such as theatre, video, film, still photography, computer-generated imagery and 3D computer graphics" (Three-point lighting).

Key Light: "Shines directly upon the subject and serves as its principal illuminator; more than anything else, the strength, color and angle of the key determines the shot's overall lighting design" (Three-point lighting).

Fill Light: "Balances the key by illuminating shaded surfaces, and lessening or eliminating chiaroscuro effects" (Three-point lighting).

Backlight: "Provides the subject a rim of light, which separates the subject from the background and highlights contours" (Three-point lighting).

Named Lighting Styles

Rembrandt lighting is "a standard lighting technique that is used in studio portrait photography and cinematography... characterized by an illuminated triangle under the eye of the subject on the less illuminated side of the face" (Rembrandt lighting).

Butterfly lighting is referenced as a contrasting technique to Rembrandt lighting. No independent definition was sourced.

Split lighting: "Illuminate one half of the subject's face, creating a moody and dramatic contrast" (Rhailo's Cheatsheet).

Rim light: Visual effect produced by backlighting; Wikipedia describes it as "a rim of light, which separates the subject from the background" (Three-point lighting).

Hard light and soft light appear in Engelstein's prompt list. The Wikipedia three-point lighting article describes harder and softer fill light but does not provide standalone definitions.

Lens and Camera Effects

Community-reported from Rhailo's cheatsheet (not independently sourced):

• Macro lens — "Focus on close-up details, like eyes or hands, to create intimate and detailed portraits"
• Wide-angle lens — "Use a wide-angle lens for a slightly distorted, artistic effect"
• Lens flare — "Embrace lens flare for a dreamy, ethereal look"
• Long exposure — "Employ long exposure to capture the passage of time, creating streaks of light or smooth motion blur"

How to Build Your Own Cheat Sheet

Start with Meyron's Method

Meyron's ai-cheatsheet repository demonstrates visual comparison across models using consistent templates. The emotion cheatsheet uses a fixed baseline prompt for every variation:

photorealistic, soft lighting, high quality, 8k resolution, full face visible, centered in frame, full face portrait, 25-year-old, woman, attractive, beautiful, gray eyes, long curly red hair, round face shape, head facing forward, looking at the viewer

The emotion keyword changes; everything else stays the same. The result is a visual grid showing how different AI models interpret each term.

Build a Decision Table

Track each prompt term with columns for term, definition, independent source, and notes:

Label What You Have Not Tested

Mark terms clearly: ✅ Verified (independent source), 📋 Community-reported (Civitai or similar), ⚠️ Incomplete (partially verified). This prevents treating a copied list as tested knowledge.

Common Errors and Fixes

Symptom: Using "Rembrandt lighting" in a prompt and expecting a specific result because the term is real photography vocabulary.

Reality: The term is confirmed (Rembrandt lighting). Whether any AI model produces a recognizable Rembrandt-lighting effect from that prompt string is unverified.

Fix: Test the term yourself across the models you use. Visual grids with consistent baselines — the meyron method — are the way to do this.

FAQ

Q: What's the difference between "Rembrandt lighting" and "butterfly lighting"? A: Rembrandt lighting produces an illuminated triangle under the eye (source). Butterfly lighting is referenced as a contrasting technique but its standalone definition was not sourced. As AI prompt terms, neither has been independently tested.

Q: Why use visual prompt reference guides instead of copying lists? A: Meyron's cheatsheet compares the same prompt across multiple models in a visual grid. This shows which terms produce consistent results versus which ones vary by model.

Q: How do I verify if a prompt term actually works? A: Cross-reference the term with independent sources to confirm its definition, then test it across multiple AI models using the same baseline prompt. Vary only the term you are testing.

Q: Which prompt terms transfer best from photography to AI? A: Terms with clear, visually distinctive definitions like "Dutch angle" or "backlight" have a plausible basis for transfer, but no systematic comparison exists. Test it yourself.

Q: What about emotional phrases like "Lost in Thought"? A: Rhailo's cheatsheet lists phrases like "Captured in the Moment" and "Lost in Thought" for portrait generation. These describe mood rather than technique. Whether they produce consistent results is unverified.

Q: How do I handle terms I haven't verified? A: Include them in your cheat sheet with a clear "community-reported" label. Test them when you can. Remove any term you confirm does not work in your specific setup.

Sources

• Engelstein. "Prompt List." Civitai, 2024. https://civitai.com/articles/8697
• Rhailo. "Rhailo's Cheatsheet ^[1] Photography | Portraits." Civitai, 2024. https://civitai.com/articles/6386
• Meyron. "Prompts Cheat Sheets." Civitai, 2025. https://civitai.com/articles/16410
• meyron. "ai-cheatsheet." GitHub. https://github.com/meyron/ai-cheatsheet
• Wikipedia contributors. "Rembrandt lighting." Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rembrandt_lighting
• Wikipedia contributors. "Three-point lighting." Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-point_lighting
• Wikipedia contributors. "Dutch angle." Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_angle
• Wikipedia contributors. "Depth of field." Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depth_of_field
• Wikipedia contributors. "Shot (filmmaking)." Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shot_(filmmaking))