How to Use The Style Reference (–sref) Feature in Midjourney for Consistent Style

Think about your favorite picture or drawing. It could be anything—a colorful painting, a cool cartoon, or even a photo of a neon-lit city. Now, imagine if you could make everything you create have the same vibes and colors as that picture.

With Midjourney style reference, you can do exactly that!

What is Midjourney Style Reference?

Style reference is a powerful parameter that can be appended to your prompt commands in Midjourney. By using the –sref command followed by a URL of an image you admire, Midjourney applies the aesthetic elements of this image to your creations.

your text prompt --sref image-url

Whether the image resides in your Midjourney gallery, on Discord, or anywhere online, you can simply copy and paste the link into your prompt.

How to Use Style Reference in Midjourney

1. Selecting your image you like: Choose an image that embodies the style you wish to replicate. This could range from a vibrant cartoon scene, a classic painting, a vintage photograph, to a modern graphic design.

2. Upload the image:

To upload an image, you have several options:

If the image is already online, either in your Midjourney gallery or elsewhere on the web, you can simply use its URL.

For images stored on your local computer or phone, you’ll need to upload them to Discord first. To do this in the Midjourney bot:

1. Click on the ‘+’ button.
2. Select ‘Upload a file’ to choose the image from your device.
3. Once uploaded, right-click on the image.
4. Select ‘Copy link’ to obtain the URL for use.

2. Applying the –sref Parameter: After your main prompt, type –sref followed by the space and the URL of your chosen image.

Midjourney will examine your style reference image and attempt to apply the same style aesthetics to your results.

Practical Examples:

Consider creating a serene lakeside landscape that glows under a twilight sky. By selecting a style reference that embodies these tranquil and luminous qualities, you can craft an image that perfectly captures the peaceful atmosphere.

With Style Reference

serene lakeside landscape that glows under a twilight sky, ultra realistic, 8k, highest quality--ar 3:4 --sref imageurl

I also created an image of a car using the same reference image, and as you can see, it carries the same chill vibe.

1960s Ford Mustang parked in a rustic European village at sunrise --sref iamgeurl

Differences Between Style Reference and Other Features

– Style Reference vs. Style Tuner: While the V5 Style Tuner offers interactive styling options, style references in V6 provide a more straightforward and potent way to apply visual styles. You don’t need so many steps to generate the code with Style Reference.

If you have favorite styles from V5, try converting those into style references for V6.

– Style Reference vs. Image Prompt: Unlike using an image as a direct prompt, where the image’s semantic content heavily influences the output, such as the object, person, or place may be presented in your output. While the style references mainly extract and apply the aesthetic qualities such as colors, vibes, and styles to your creations.

For example, I uploaded a photo depicting a girl in her room, styled in Japanese anime.

When I used this photo as an image prompt, the resulting image incorporated elements such as a headset, computer, posters on the wall, a desk lamp, and various objects, yet the style diverged significantly.

In contrast, employing the image as a reference rather than a prompt doesn’t retain all these elements but does apply a similar Japanese anime style to the output.

Advanced Techniques

Adjusting Style Weight (–sw)

The `–sw` (style weight) parameter controls the influence of the style reference. Ranging from 0 to 1000, adjusting this can help you fine-tune how much of the style is reflected in your results. The default style weight is 100; the greater the weight, the greater the effect that the style reference will have on your output.

Style Random (–sref random)

Midjourney introduced a new style reference parameter on April 27, 2024, the “–sref random.”

When you use this parameter, it generates a random style reference number, and shows it in your output. You can reuse this number by including it in future prompts to apply the same style again.

For example, I used the prompt

humandroid robot --sref random

Midjourney created four images, assigning the style reference number ‘4047287187’ to them.

I liked it so then used this number in a new prompt:

A futuristic racing car --sref 4047287187

The previous style was perfectly applied to the new images, and they looked amazing.

Combining Multiple Style References

You can combine one or more images as style references to blend different aesthetics. To balance their influence, you can assign weights, allowing you to emphasize one style over another.

Here are two style reference images I uploaded, one is a more realistic photo of a car and the other is a colorful painting.

Simply copy and paste both image URLs after –sref and separate them with a space.

futuristic car poster --sref https://imageurl1 https://imageurl2

By default, Midjourney weights multiple style reference images equally. You can put two colons and a number after the image URL to set relative weights to the reference images.

Example:

This image puts more weight on realism and less weight on the colorful painting style.

futuristic car poster --sref https://s.mj.run/RFIOcmzxXG0 ::3 https://s.mj.run/YmJnt23RLoA

While this image looks more like the second reference image.

futuristic car poster --sref https://s.mj.run/RFIOcmzxXG0https://s.mj.run/YmJnt23RLoA ::3

Custom Options for Frequent Use

For those using specific style references regularly, Midjourney allows you to save these URLs as custom options for easy access. This feature saves time and simplifies the process of applying your favorite styles.

You can use the command /prefer option set, then you can set a custom name for your reference image in ‘Opiton’, and paste the URL of that image in ‘Value’. Press ‘Enter’ and it will save your custom image.

So next time you want to use this colorful style as reference for your creation, simply type ‘–the name yous set’ after ‘–sref’, it will create an image with the given style. You don’t need to find the image and copy its URL over and over again.

Conclusion

The style reference feature in Midjourney is a game-changer for digital artists and enthusiasts. It offers an unparalleled level of control and customization, allowing for a more consistent artwork.

Remember, the key to mastering Midjourney is experimentation. Don’t be afraid to mix and match different style references, adjust parameters, and explore all the possibilities this tool has to offer. Hope this guide helps.