# Cowboy shot

Camera / Shot size / Distance. Checked 2026-10-13.

A confident, ready-to-act stance; the frame stops just below the hands at the hips.

- Use when: Hero shots of a founder, a team lead or a character about to act.
- Phrase: cowboy shot, framed from mid-thigh up, hands visible at hip height, the camera slightly below eye level
- Page: https://directorchair.ai/shot/cowboy-shot
- JSON: https://directorchair.ai/api/shot/cowboy-shot.json

## Watch out

- Name the cut line on the body (mid-thigh). A model that only hears the term often returns a medium shot. (unverified; Not measured yet, check on the first example)

## Prompts

### Nano Banana Pro

```
[your subject] in [your setting]. Compose a cinematic cowboy shot, framing the subject from the mid-thighs up to emphasize their stance and immediate surroundings.
```

### Nano Banana 2

```
[your subject] in [your setting]. Compose a cinematic cowboy shot, framing the subject from the mid-thighs up to emphasize their stance and immediate surroundings.
```

### GPT Image 2.5

```
A photograph of [your subject] in [your setting].
People and framing: cowboy shot, framed from mid-thigh up, hands visible at hip height, the camera slightly below eye level
Exclusions: no extra text, no watermark, no logo.
```

### Seedream 5

```
[your subject] in [your setting]. Cowboy shot, framed from mid-thigh up, hands visible at hip height, the camera slightly below eye level.
```

### Seedance 2.5

```
Scene: [your subject] in [your setting].
First frame: cowboy shot, framed from mid-thigh up, hands visible at hip height, the camera slightly below eye level
Shot 1 (0:00 to 0:05): one continuous shot
```

### Seedance 2.0

```
Scene: [your subject] in [your setting].
First frame: cowboy shot, framed from mid-thigh up, hands visible at hip height, the camera slightly below eye level
Shot 1: one continuous shot
```

### Kling 3.0

```
[your subject]. The scene is [your setting]. Cowboy shot, framed from mid-thigh up, hands visible at hip height, the camera slightly below eye level.
```

### Veo 3.1

```
Cowboy shot, framed from mid-thigh up, hands visible at hip height, the camera slightly below eye level. [your subject] in [your setting]. Framing and subject stay as in the start image.
```

## Look further

- https://shotdeck.com/ : real film examples of this frame size (paid, link only)
- https://flim.ai/ : film, ad and music-video stills of this frame size (free tier, link only)

## Goes well with

- Medium wide shot: https://directorchair.ai/shot/medium-wide-shot
- Low angle: https://directorchair.ai/angle/low-angle
- Full shot: https://directorchair.ai/shot/full-shot

## Source

Own words, from the first Director Chair spec and Director Chair field notes on video prompting; pitfalls from the sources named per pitfall

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