Skip to content

Aspect Ratio (--ar)

Overview

The aspect ratio is one of the simplest parameters to understand because, as its name suggests, it will determine the proportions of our image. However, this does not make it any less important; in fact, it is quite significant. Keep reading to find out why.

Possible Values

For the aspect ratio, we can choose any pair of positive values we want, separated by a colon (:).

This way, we can create square images (1:1, default value), wide rectangular ones (x:y), or tall rectangular ones (y:x), where x is always greater than y.

/settings output

Common aspect ratios (Wikipedia)

Examples

As stated at the beginning, choosing the right aspect ratio is crucial for the outcome to align with our intentions.

Let's take a look at some visual examples, although we encourage you to continue exploring different possibilities based on the type of image you want to create.

Portraits - 1:1

a cowboy in green attire at a western city | 2d flat illustrations game art | western-style portraits | cartoonish --ar 1:1 --s 750

--ar 1:1

--ar 1:1

Full-body character - 2:3

a cowboy in green attire at a western city | 2d flat illustrations game art | western-style full body | cartoonish --ar 2:3 --s 750

--ar 2:3

--ar 2:3

Landscapes - 16:9

a western desert | 2d flat illustrations game art | western-style landscape | cartoonish --ar 16:9 --s 750

--ar 16:9

--ar 16:9

Cinematic widescreen - 47:20

a cowboy in green attire at a western desert | 2d flat illustrations game art | western-style action scene | cartoonish --ar 47:20 --s 750

--ar 47:20

--ar 47:20

Vertical storytelling (ideal for social media stories) - 9:16

a cowboy in green attire at a western city | 2d flat illustrations game art | western-style instagram post | cartoonish --ar 9:16 --s 750

--ar 9:16

--ar 9:16
Additive prompting

This prompt has been generated using Additive Prompting. To do this, we have categorized the prompt in the following way:

[SUBJECT] at a western city | 2d flat illustrations game art | western-style [SCENE] | cartoonish --ar X:Y --s 750

Practice: How does a different aspect ratio affect the same prompt?

Final Objective:

Understanding how the aspect ratio influences a prompt, completely altering the focus of the resulting images. For this, you have the following prompt that you'll need to adapt to make it a wallpaper for a PC and another one for a mobile phone.

Ford Mustang on desert road | low light; sepia tones | polaroid monochromatic filter --s 150

Possible Solution:

Solution

The solutions for this exercise are nearly infinite, but a good approach could be to use a wide rectangular aspect ratio for the PC version and a tall one for the mobile.

For example, 16:9 for our wallpaper:

Ford Mustang on desert road | low light; sepia tones | polaroid monochromatic filter --s 150 --ar 16:9

Solution 1
--ar 16:9

And 9:16 for the mobile.

Ford Mustang on desert road | low light; sepia tones | polaroid monochromatic filter --s 150 --ar 9:16

Solution 2
--ar 9:16

Conclusions

As you have seen, this parameter provides us with the ability to adapt our images to the specific needs we have at any given time. Try out how it influences your prompts!

Share Your Results

Join us at X, with the hashtag #PromptingForArtists to share your results, queries, or comments.

support

#PromptingForArtists Support

Resources

References

To cite this content, please use:

@article{promptingforartists,
    author       = {Luis Riancho and Mihail Eric},
    title        = { Prompting for Artists - Aspect Ratio},
    howpublished = {\url{https://promptingforartists.storia.ai/params/aspect-ratio}},
    year         = {2023}
}