Midjourney --style raw: What It Does and When to Use It

What --style raw actually changes

Every Midjourney image passes through a house aesthetic: the model leans towards dramatic lighting, rich colour, tidy composition and a slightly painterly polish. That is why even a lazy prompt can look impressive. It is also why a carefully written prompt can drift away from what you asked for.

Adding --style raw to the end of a prompt reduces that built-in beautification. In practice you will usually notice:

• More literal results. The words in your prompt carry more weight than Midjourney’s taste.
• A more photographic, less illustrated finish. Skin, fabric and surfaces tend to look more natural and less airbrushed.
• Calmer colour and lighting. Fewer unrequested sunsets, glows and cinematic haze.
• More responsibility on you. If your prompt is vague, raw images can look plain, because the model is filling fewer gaps with its own style.

Raw is a style mode, not a different model. It works alongside your other parameters, so you can still set an aspect ratio, a seed or a style reference in the same prompt.

How to use it

Put --style raw at the end of your prompt with your other parameters. The order of parameters after the text does not matter much, but the text of the prompt should always come first.

1. Write your prompt as normal, describing subject, setting, light and camera.
2. Add --style raw at the end, along with any other parameters such as --ar.
3. Run the same prompt once with and once without raw to see the difference for your subject.
4. Adjust --stylize if you want to push the look further in either direction.

A simple pair to compare:

• portrait of an elderly fisherman mending a net on a harbour wall, overcast morning light, 85mm lens --ar 4:5
• portrait of an elderly fisherman mending a net on a harbour wall, overcast morning light, 85mm lens --ar 4:5 --style raw

The first will often look more dramatic and painterly. The second usually looks more like a real photograph taken on a grey day, which is exactly what the prompt says.

When raw beats the default look

A good rule: if you find yourself fighting Midjourney’s look, try raw. If you are happy to be surprised, leave it off.

Combining raw with stylize and style references

--stylize controls how strongly Midjourney’s default aesthetic is applied, on a scale of 0 to 1000 with a default of 100. Raw and stylize work in the same direction, so they stack:

• Raw with low stylize (for example --style raw --s 50) gives you the most literal, least embellished result. Good for realism and strict briefs.
• Raw with default stylize is a sensible starting point for most photography.
• Raw with high stylize brings back some artistic interpretation while still starting from a plainer base. Try it when raw feels too flat.

Raw also pairs well with style references. With less of the house look in the way, a --sref image or code can come through more clearly. If your style reference is being overpowered by Midjourney’s own polish, adding raw is one of the first things to try.

Example prompts to copy and adapt:

• flat lay of a ceramic coffee cup and croissant on a linen tablecloth, soft window light from the left, natural shadows, shot from directly above --ar 1:1 --style raw --s 50
• model in an oversized wool coat walking across a rainy crossing, high-contrast black and white street photography, grainy film --ar 2:3 --style raw
• minimalist living room with a single green armchair, white plaster walls, late afternoon sun casting long window shadows --ar 16:9 --style raw --s 150

Writing prompts that work well in raw mode

Because raw adds less on its own, the quality of your description matters more. A few habits help:

1. Name the light. "Overcast daylight", "single softbox from the right" or "warm tungsten practicals" give raw something concrete to render.
2. Name the camera. Lens length, depth of field and angle push results towards a convincing photograph. See our guide to lenses and depth of field.
3. Describe materials and texture. Brushed steel, raw linen and wet tarmac read far better than "nice background".
4. Say what the mood is, not just the subject. "Quiet, early morning, slightly melancholic" steers colour and composition.
5. Keep text short. Midjourney is unreliable at rendering long exact text in any mode, so keep signage or logos to a word or two, or add them afterwards in a design tool.

If a raw result looks dull, the fix is usually more specific description rather than removing raw.

Common mistakes

• Expecting raw to make everything photographic. It reduces stylisation, but if you ask for "oil painting" you will still get a painting, just a less embellished one.
• Using raw with very short prompts. A two-word prompt gives the model little to follow, and raw takes away the default polish that usually rescues it.
• Judging from one grid. Results vary between runs. Compare a few grids, or fix a seed so the comparison is fairer.
• Assuming it behaves identically in every version. The exact effect of raw has shifted as models have changed. When you switch versions, re-test your favourite raw prompts.

Doing this faster with Dreamdrive

Dreamdrive saves every prompt you run automatically, with its picture, model and settings, into the project you choose, so you can search your Library for it later, copy it with Copy prompt or drag the picture into another tool.