Negative Prompts - What to Avoid in AI Image Generation

What are Negative Prompts?

Negative prompts tell the AI what you don't want in your generated image. While your main prompt describes what to create, negative prompts help avoid unwanted elements, styles, or quality issues.

How Negative Prompts Work

Technical Mechanism

The AI uses negative prompts to:

1. Generate text embeddings for unwanted concepts
2. Steer generation away from those embeddings
3. Reduce probability of unwanted features appearing
4. Guide the denoising process away from certain outcomes

CFG Scale Interaction

Negative prompts work with CFG Scale:

• Higher CFG = Stronger negative prompt effect
• Lower CFG = Weaker negative prompt influence
• Balance both for optimal results

Common Negative Prompt Categories

Quality Issues

Avoid common generation problems:

• blurry, out of focus, soft focus
• low quality, low resolution, pixelated
• noisy, grainy, artifacts
• jpeg artifacts, compression artifacts
• poorly drawn, bad art

Anatomical Problems

Prevent body/face issues:

• bad anatomy, wrong anatomy
• extra fingers, missing fingers, fused fingers
• extra limbs, missing limbs
• deformed, mutated, disfigured
• bad face, ugly face, distorted face

Composition Issues

Avoid layout problems:

• cropped, cut off, partial
• bad framing, poor composition
• cluttered, busy background
• watermark, signature, text

Style Avoidance

Exclude unwanted aesthetics:

• cartoon, anime (for realistic images)
• photorealistic (for artistic images)
• oversaturated, undersaturated
• overexposed, underexposed

Effective Negative Prompt Templates

General Quality Template

blurry, low quality, low resolution, bad anatomy, deformed, ugly, artifacts, noise, watermark, text, signature

Portrait Template

bad face, ugly, deformed face, extra fingers, mutated hands, bad anatomy, cropped, worst quality, low quality, blurry

Realistic Photography Template

cartoon, anime, illustration, painting, drawing, art, rendered, 3d, cgi, unrealistic, fake, artificial

Artistic/Illustration Template

photo, photograph, realistic, photorealistic, 3d render, blurry, noisy, low quality, bad art

Best Practices

Do's

• Be specific: Target actual problems you're seeing
• Start simple: Add negatives only as needed
• Use known issues: Address common model weaknesses
• Match your goal: Negatives should support your vision

Don'ts

• Don't overload: Too many negatives can confuse the model
• Don't contradict: Avoid negating what's in positive prompt
• Don't rely solely on negatives: Good positive prompts matter more
• Don't copy blindly: Adapt negatives to your specific needs

When to Use Negative Prompts

Definitely Use For

• Human portraits (anatomy issues common)
• Hands and fingers (frequent problems)
• When seeing consistent unwanted elements
• Quality consistency across batches

May Not Be Necessary

• Simple, abstract compositions
• Non-representational art
• When model outputs are already good
• With models that don't support them well

Model-Specific Considerations

Stable Diffusion

Strong negative prompt support:

• Can handle long negative prompts
• Effective for quality control
• Community-tested templates available

Flux Models

Different approach:

• Generally produce cleaner outputs
• Less reliance on negative prompts
• Simpler negatives often sufficient

Midjourney

Uses --no parameter:

• Different syntax (--no text, watermark)
• Limited compared to SD
• Simpler is better

Troubleshooting with Negatives

Problem: Extra Fingers

Add to negative:

extra fingers, fused fingers, too many fingers, bad hands, mutated hands

Problem: Distorted Faces

Add to negative:

deformed face, ugly face, distorted face, bad face, asymmetric face

Problem: Watermarks Appearing

Add to negative:

watermark, text, signature, logo, copyright, writing

Problem: Unwanted Style

Specify the style to avoid:

cartoon, anime, 3d render, illustration, painting

Advanced Techniques

Weighted Negatives

Some platforms support emphasis:

• (blurry:1.5) - Stronger avoidance
• [low quality] - Weaker effect
• Syntax varies by platform

Conditional Negatives

Target specific image areas:

• Combined with regional prompting
• Different negatives for different parts
• Advanced technique, limited support

Iterative Refinement

1. Generate without negatives
2. Note specific issues
3. Add targeted negatives
4. Regenerate and compare
5. Refine as needed

Negative Prompts on Pixelift

Our AI Image Generator supports negative prompts where applicable. The effectiveness varies by model - some modern models like Flux are designed to produce clean outputs without heavy negative prompting.

Common Misconceptions

"Negatives Are Always Necessary"

False - Many images generate well without them. Add negatives to solve specific problems, not by default.

"More Negatives = Better Results"

False - Overloading negatives can actually reduce quality. Use targeted, relevant negatives.

"Negatives Work the Same Everywhere"

False - Different models respond differently. What works in SD may not matter in Flux.

Summary

Negative prompts are a tool for refinement:

• Use them to solve specific problems
• Start simple, add as needed
• Focus on quality and anatomy issues
• Don't overload the negative prompt
• Adapt to the model you're using

A good positive prompt is more important than extensive negative prompts.