Midjourney EDIT Mode | How It Works and What It Can Do — Complete Guide
Midjourney gave us a huge upgrade to how we edit images.
We can still do the regular inpainting and outpainting, but we can also create different images of the same character, place multiple characters into the same scene, switch styles and colors, change camera angles, and so much more.
The character consistency with this new model is pretty impressive, and works MUCH better than omni-reference (OREF) in V7.
The Edit mode works with HD mode, Style References, Moodboards, Personalization Profiles, and Image References, and it uses Midjourney's aesthetics base.
Want to watch my full Edit tutorial instead of reading? Check out the full video on my YouTube.
5 Ways to Access the Edit Features
There are several different ways to access the Edit features, and which one you’ll use depends on what you're trying to do:
Quick Edit: Open any existing Midjourney image and click Quick Edit. This drops your image straight into the Attach to Prompt box, where you type conversational instructions like "change her sweater color to light blue" rather than a full descriptive prompt.
Attach to Prompt: Drag images directly into this box on the Create Page. It accepts up to 4 images at once, so you can combine a character with a reference outfit, prop, or object, plus add Style and Image References on top.
Open Editor: Best for traditional inpainting, outpainting, erasing, resizing, or changing aspect ratio. You can leave the prompt blank or add context to guide what fills the erased areas.
The Edit tab: Access via the navigation menu on the left side of Midjourney’s website. The main advantage here is layers, which makes it easier to position multiple character images into specific spots in a scene before generating.
Discord: Add the --edit parameter to the end of your prompt and paste in the image URL(s) you want to work from. This works like the Attach to Prompt box on the website.
5 Things You Can Do With It
Character Sheets: Add your character to the Attach to Prompt box and ask for a "character sheet" or "turnaround sheet". Midjourney will generate an image of your character from multiple angles. This also works for face-expression sheets too: give it a reference photo and a grid layout, and list which expressions you want where.
Bring In Physical Drawings: Got a painting or sketch? Add it to the Attach to Prompt box and turn it into a photo, a different illustration style, or use it as a small element inside a completely new scene. If you're placing a small object into a larger image, be specific about scale in your prompt. Midjourney tends to keep objects at roughly the same proportion they had in your reference unless you say otherwise.
Change Style: Switch an image's style with a plain text prompt, or use a Style Reference (an image or an SREF code) for more control. This essentially replaces what Retexture used to do, and does a much better job keeping the original image structure intact. Style Reference accuracy in Edit prompts can still be a little hit or miss at the moment. Adding a few descriptive keywords about the style alongside your SREF code tends to improve the accuracy.
Control Scale: If the subject in your reference image takes up most of the frame, it'll likely stay that size in the result, even if you're trying to shrink it down. Getting specific in your prompt (e.g., "the elephant is small in the image with the dramatic sea cliff below") makes a big difference.
Change Camera Angle: Take an existing scene or character and generate new angles while keeping consistency.
The character consistency with this new model is genuinely impressive and is a noticeable step up from Omni-Reference (OREF) in V7. I share full example prompts for all five of these and more in the video above.
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And if you're new to Midjourney and want a structured foundation, my Midjourney Beginner Course is now available at the $25 Patreon tier.
