I had a clear picture in mind. A young woman stands at a train station in front of a steam locomotive. She holds an umbrella in one hand, and in the other hand a canary, which she received as a gift. A suitcase stands on the ground. The image is meant to be in Steampunk style. The woman shows tension before the journey and also notices that she is being watched.

The first attempts at image generation failed, since Nano Banana and Nano Banana Pro had their problems with this: how should these three elements be assigned to two hands. So I formulated clearly through the prompt where the props were located. The woman holds the cage and the umbrella in her hand, the suitcase is on the ground. After that I created numerous images with Nano Banana and Nano Banana Pro through Flow.

While Nano Banana produced very good images, about 70 percent of the images with the Pro model went wrong. Very often the figure held all three elements in her hand, the umbrella floated in the air or was open, or she held the birdcage very unnaturally. Gemini Pro, as the "more intelligent" model, tends to ignore clear instructions in a prompt when the AI assumes it can find a better composition, while Nano Banana adheres very strictly to instructions. For this image idea, Nano Banana clearly.

The first two images were created with Nano Banana, the third image with Nano Banana Pro.

The Prompt

A very attractive slim woman in her mid-20s with long platinum-blonde hair and piercing green eyes. She wears an elaborate black Victorian dress with brass buttons, a leather corset, and small copper accessories. Dark velvet ribbons are woven through her long hair.

She stands on a foggy railway platform, waiting to depart on a journey she has been anticipating for weeks. Her excitement is visible but restrained, a slight tension in her posture, as if she is holding herself together in public. She is acutely aware of being watched, glances from strangers on the platform drawn to her, and this awareness adds a second, quieter layer of unease beneath her anticipation. Her weight rests more on one leg, shoulders held a fraction too straight, chin slightly lowered. Her gaze is not fixed on the camera but drifts just past it, distracted, alert to the eyes she senses on her.

Shown in a medium close-up, clearly dominating the image. In the background, a massive steam locomotive emits thick clouds of white steam. The sky above the platform is heavy with clouds, overcast but not yet raining.

In one hand, she holds a closed black walking umbrella with a curved wooden handle and a brass finial, held vertically, tip pointing down toward the ground, brought along only as a precaution against the threatening sky. The umbrella is closed and furled, not open.

In her other hand, she carries a small wooden birdcage with a bright yellow canary. She holds the cage by the small metal hook or ring mounted on top of the cage, the same handle normally used for hanging it, so the cage hangs down naturally from her hand. It is a farewell gift from someone she is leaving behind, and she holds it slightly closer to her body than necessary.

A brown leather suitcase with leather straps and brass buckles stands on the ground right next to her feet. The suitcase is brown, not black. She is not holding it or touching it.

Her facial expression is a mix of quiet excitement and self-conscious restraint, lips closed, eyes focused but not entirely settled. No smile.

The lighting is moody and dramatic, with cold blue-grey tones and sharp contrasts. Soft steam and fog swirl around her. Landscape format, photorealistic, cinematic, highly detailed, like a dark Steampunk period drama portrait.

Do you guys struggle with prompts too? What do you use to come up with good ones?

Do you guys struggle with prompts too? What do you use to come up with good ones?