# Camera, tone, lighting, texture

Recipes / Prompt guide / Prompt guides. Checked 2026-11-13.

A still prompt that reads like a photograph being described, camera first.

- Use when: Realistic stills when no house template exists.
- Phrase: four sentences in this order: the camera and framing, the tone, the lighting, the texture
- Page: https://directorchair.ai/guide/camera-tone-light-texture
- JSON: https://directorchair.ai/api/guide/camera-tone-light-texture.json

## Watch out

- Camera first: early words weigh most. (practitioner; Director Chair notes on Seedance 2.5 realism (Dan Kieft) and Director Chair field notes on image prompting)
- It is one creator's template. He picks image models by taste per image; that is his practice, not a measured ranking. (practitioner; Director Chair notes on Seedance 2.5 realism (Dan Kieft))

## Prompts

### Any chat model

```
Give me a filled-in prompt that follows this guide, plus the one thing to check in the result, for a short video about [your product], for [your audience]. The technique is camera, tone, lighting, texture: a still prompt that reads like a photograph being described, camera first. How it works: four sentences in this order: the camera and framing, the tone, the lighting, the texture. It is right for: realistic stills when no house template exists. Camera first: early words weigh most. It is one creator's template. Be concrete: numbers, seconds and settings, no theory. Ask me one question first if something you need is missing.
```

## Goes well with

- Framing first: https://directorchair.ai/composition/framing-first
- Prompt guide: Nano Banana Pro: https://directorchair.ai/guide/guide-nano-banana-pro
- Which model for stills: https://directorchair.ai/guide/which-model-for-stills

## Source

Own words from Director Chair notes on Seedance 2.5 realism (Dan Kieft)

Text CC BY 4.0, Director Chair (directorchair.ai). Reference clips and their card texts belong to their makers.