# Prompt guide: Nano Banana Pro

Recipes / Prompt guide / Prompt guides. Checked 2026-10-13.

Stills that hold the reference and do not look generated.

- Use when: Every still made with Nano Banana Pro or Nano Banana 2.
- Phrase: reference roles first, then one paragraph that opens on the register, then a capture line, then any text in quotes
- Page: https://directorchair.ai/guide/guide-nano-banana-pro
- JSON: https://directorchair.ai/api/guide/guide-nano-banana-pro.json

## Watch out

- Comma lists of tags work worse than full sentences joined into a paragraph. (vendor; Google's Nano Banana Pro prompting tips via Director Chair field notes on image prompting)
- A ban on something the scene implies summons it. Describe what is there instead. (measured; Director Chair field notes on image prompting)

## The prompt, in order

1. **Reference roles,** one line each, including what not to take from each image (keep the face, do not take the background).
2. **One paragraph of full sentences,** never a comma list: the register first (candid, editorial, documentary), then the subject in a physical state doing one thing, the real place, where the camera stands, the light and where it comes from.
3. **A capture line:** lens, aperture or depth, grain or none, the grade, the direction of the light.
4. **Text** in quotes with its position. Otherwise signs, screens and packaging carry no letters.

## What we measured (June to Sep 2026)

- Early words weigh most: the register goes in the first sentence.
- Positive descriptions beat bans; an exclusion works for what not to take from a reference and for an attribute of a named object.
- The same prompt in another ratio drifts; give the approved image back as a reference.

## Prompts

### Nano Banana Pro

```
[your subject] in [your setting].
```

### Nano Banana 2

```
[your subject] in [your setting].
```

## Goes well with

- Which model for stills: https://directorchair.ai/guide/which-model-for-stills
- Framing first: https://directorchair.ai/composition/framing-first
- Window light: https://directorchair.ai/light/window-light

## Source

Own words from Director Chair field notes on image prompting

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