Stable Diffusion lets you create images using just text prompts but if you want them to look stunning, you must take advantage of negative prompts. For those of you who don’t know, negative prompts are things you want the image generator to exclude from your image creations. You can use them to remove specific elements, styles, or environments when generating your desired images.

If you’re wondering what kind of negative prompts to use and when to use them, we’ve compiled lists of negative prompts that you can add to create different genres of images on Stable Diffusion. 

General negative prompts for better images

To generate images of higher quality, you can use these general prompts that would work for all kinds of images you want to create using Stable Diffusion or any other image generator. 

  • amputee
  • autograph
  • bad anatomy
  • bad illustration 
  • bad proportions
  • beyond the borders
  • blank background
  • blurry
  • body out of frame
  • boring background
  • branding
  • cropped
  • cut off
  • deformed
  • disfigured
  • dismembered
  • disproportioned
  • distorted
  • draft
  • duplicate
  • duplicated features
  • extra arms
  • extra fingers
  • extra hands
  • extra legs
  • extra limbs
  • fault
  • flaw
  • fused fingers
  • grains
  • grainy
  • gross proportions
  • hazy
  • identifying mark
  • improper scale
  • incorrect physiology
  • incorrect ratio
  • indistinct
  • kitsch
  • logo
  • long neck
  • low quality
  • low resolution
  • macabre
  • malformed
  • mark
  • misshapen
  • missing arms
  • missing fingers
  • missing hands
  • missing legs
  • mistake
  • morbid
  • mutated hands
  • mutation
  • mutilated 
  • off-screen
  • out of frame
  • out of frame
  • outside the picture
  • pixelated
  • poorly drawn face
  • poorly drawn feet
  • poorly drawn hands
  • printed words
  • render
  • repellent
  • replicate
  • reproduce
  • revolting dimensions
  • script
  • shortened
  • sign
  • signature
  • split image
  • squint
  • storyboard
  • text
  • tiling
  • trimmed
  • ugly
  • unfocused
  • unattractive
  • unnatural pose
  • unreal engine
  • unsightly
  • watermark
  • written language

Best Negative Prompts for different instances

When you’re creating images with a certain style or environment, you may want to add negative prompts that are more relevant to the type of art you’re about to generate. You can use these keywords for generating images on other AI image tools as well provided that you know how to add them in the generator that you choose. 

Note: Some of these keywords may be repeated as they can be relevant across multiple categories of pictures. 

For landscapes

The following keywords can be used as negative prompts when you’re creating images of a landscape, natural beauty, or scenic view on Stable Diffusion. 

  • blurry
  • boring
  • close-up
  • dark (optional)
  • details are low
  • distorted details
  • eerie
  • foggy (optional)
  • gloomy (optional)
  • grains
  • grainy
  • grayscale (optional)
  • homogenous
  • low contrast
  • low quality
  • lowres
  • macro
  • monochrome (optional)
  • multiple angles
  • multiple views
  • opaque
  • overexposed
  • oversaturated
  • plain
  • plain background
  • portrait
  • simple background
  • standard
  • surreal
  • unattractive
  • uncreative
  • underexposed

For cityscapes and street views

When generating images of cities, streets, buildings, and monuments, you can use the following keywords as negative prompts. 

  • animals (optional)
  • asymmetrical buildings
  • blurry
  • cars (optional)
  • close-up
  • creepy
  • deformed structures
  • grainy
  • jpeg artifacts
  • low contrast
  • low quality
  • lowres
  • macro
  • multiple angles
  • multiple views
  • overexposed
  • oversaturated
  • people (optional)
  • pets (optional)
  • plain background
  • scary
  • solid background
  • surreal
  • underexposed
  • unreal architecture
  • unreal sky
  • weird colors

For images with portrait shots of people and pets

You can create realistic-looking images of people and pets on Stable Diffusion provided that you add these keywords as negative prompts. 

  • 3D
  • absent limbs
  • age spot
  • additional appendages
  • additional digits
  • additional limbs
  • altered appendages
  • amputee
  • asymmetric
  • asymmetric ears
  • bad anatomy
  • bad ears
  • bad eyes
  • bad face
  • bad proportions
  • beard (optional)
  • broken finger
  • broken hand
  • broken leg
  • broken wrist
  • cartoon
  • childish (optional)
  • cloned face
  • cloned head
  • collapsed eyeshadow
  • combined appendages
  • conjoined
  • copied visage
  • corpse
  • cripple
  • cropped head
  • cross-eyed
  • depressed
  • desiccated
  • disconnected limb
  • disfigured 
  • dismembered
  • disproportionate 
  • double face
  • duplicated features
  • eerie
  • elongated throat
  • excess appendages
  • excess body parts
  • excess extremities
  • extended cervical region
  • extra limb
  • fat
  • flawed structure
  • floating hair (optional)
  • floating limb
  • four fingers per hand
  • fused hand
  • group of people
  • gruesome
  • high depth of field
  • immature
  • imperfect eyes
  • incorrect physiology
  • kitsch
  • lacking appendages
  • lacking body
  • long body
  • macabre
  • malformed hands
  • malformed limbs
  • mangled
  • mangled visage
  • merged phalanges
  • missing arm
  • missing leg
  • missing limb
  • mustache (optional)
  • nonexistent extremities
  • old
  • out of focus
  • out of frame
  • parched
  • plastic
  • poor facial details
  • poor morphology
  • poorly drawn face
  • poorly drawn feet
  • poorly drawn hands
  • poorly rendered face
  • poorly rendered hands
  • six fingers per hand
  • skewed eyes
  • skin blemishes
  • squint
  • stiff face
  • stretched nape
  • stuffed animal
  • surplus appendages
  • surplus phalanges
  • surreal
  • ugly
  • unbalanced body
  • unnatural
  • unnatural body
  • unnatural skin
  • unnatural skin tone
  • weird colors

For photorealistic photos

Creating photorealistic images on Stable Diffusion requires you to eliminate styles and elements that may not be suitable for generating realism. You can thus use these keywords as negative prompts to make sure the images that get generated look close to being natural. 

  • 3D render
  • aberrations
  • abstract
  • anime
  • black and white (optional)
  • cartoon
  • collapsed
  • conjoined
  • creative
  • drawing
  • extra windows
  • harsh lighting
  • illustration
  • jpeg artifacts
  • low saturation
  • monochrome (optional)
  • multiple levels
  • overexposed
  • oversaturated
  • painting
  • photoshop
  • rotten
  • sketches
  • surreal
  • twisted
  • UI
  • underexposed
  • unnatural
  • unreal engine
  • unrealistic
  • video game

For paintings, drawings, and illustrations

When generating paintings, illustrations, digital art, pop art, or drawings, here are some negative prompts you may use. 

  • 3d
  • bad art
  • bad artist
  • bad fan art
  • CGI
  • grainy
  • human (optional)
  • inaccurate sky
  • inaccurate trees
  • kitsch
  • lazy art
  • less creative
  • lowres
  • noise
  • photorealistic
  • poor detailing
  • realism
  • realistic
  • render
  • stacked background
  • stock image
  • stock photo
  • text
  • unprofessional
  • unsmooth

Those are all the negative prompts you may use when generating images on Stable Diffusion.