Macro dewdrops on a spiderweb at dawn
A tool-agnostic prompt pattern for extreme macro photography of water droplets on spider silk with natural backlight.
Prompt
An extreme macro photograph of morning dewdrops clinging to a spiderweb. The web is
stretched between two blades of tall grass, covered in dozens of perfectly spherical
water droplets of varying sizes. Each droplet acts as a tiny lens, refracting and
inverting the soft green meadow background visible within each bead. Golden hour
backlight from the lower right illuminating each droplet with a bright specular
highlight and creating a glowing rim around the silk threads. The web structure
radiates outward from center, with concentric spiral threads visible. Extremely
shallow depth of field, only the center row of droplets in sharp focus, foreground
and background droplets rendered as soft luminous bokeh circles. Background is a
smooth green and gold gradient bokeh. Shot at 1:1 macro magnification, f/2.8,
natural light only.
Negative prompt
illustration, digital art, painting, artificial, studio, text, watermark, low qualityAspect ratio: 3:2
Tool-agnostic: adapt to your generator.
Why this works
Macro photography prompts need to communicate scale, optical behavior, and depth of field with precision. This prompt succeeds because it describes what the camera sees, not just what exists in the scene.
Optical behavior of droplets — “Each droplet acts as a tiny lens, refracting and inverting the soft green meadow background” is the key phrase. It tells the generator what should appear inside the water droplets. Without this, generators often render droplets as opaque white spheres rather than transparent refractive elements. Describing the optical behavior triggers associations with real macro reference images.
Scale anchoring — “Stretched between two blades of tall grass” and “1:1 macro magnification” establish how close the virtual camera is. Naming the support structure (grass blades) gives the generator a size reference for the web and its droplets.
Selective focus as compositional tool — “Only the center row of droplets in sharp focus, foreground and background droplets rendered as soft luminous bokeh circles” creates depth in an image that could otherwise feel flat. This three-layer approach (soft foreground, sharp middle, soft background) is the hallmark of professional macro work.
Light interaction with materials — The prompt describes how light behaves on two different materials: “bright specular highlight” on water droplets and “glowing rim around the silk threads.” This differentiation produces more physically accurate rendering.
What to change if it fails
- Droplets look opaque? Reinforce with “transparent glass-like water droplets showing refracted background scenery inside each one.”
- Web structure not visible? Add “clearly visible radial and spiral silk threads catching the light” to strengthen the structural element.
- Too sharp everywhere, no depth? Emphasize “extremely narrow depth of field, only 2-3mm in focus” to force the bokeh.
- Background too busy? Change to “distant uniform green foliage creating smooth creamy bokeh” to simplify.
- No golden light quality? Strengthen to “warm golden sunrise light at low angle, strong orange-yellow color cast on highlights.”
Browse related
ai-generated demonstration · created by imageprompt.com · takedown requests
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