What is Raw Mode in Midjourney? Plus Examples

What is Raw Mode in Midjourney?

The Raw mode option (also known as –style raw) employs an alternative Midjourney model suited for users seeking greater image control and prompt adherence. It reduces automatic beautification. In most cases, this yields more accurate results when prompting specific styles.

How to Use Raw Mode in Midjourney?

There are two ways you can turn on raw mode: using syntax, or using model selection.

Use Raw Mode Syntax

This method applied to both Discord and the Midjourney web app. It’s also my preferred approach. The Midjourney syntax for raw mode is:

--style raw

Simply add the syntax to the end of your prompt to generate images in raw mode.

Note: Using syntax will only apply raw mode to that specific prompt. If you want to work in raw mode without having to add the syntax every time, see the next section. 👇

Use Model Selection

This method involves activating raw mode from the menu. This is how you want to activate raw mode if you want to produce images in raw mode continuously.

In the web app, click the settings button in the right hand side of the prompting text field. From the Model menu, change mode from Standard to Raw.

For Discord users, in the Midjourney bot chat, type / settings and simply click Raw Mode, as seen below.

Now you know what raw mode does and how to use it, let’s move onto some examples.

10 Midjourney Style Raw Mode Comparisons

Study the following comparisons and see if you can develop an intuitive feeling for how raw mode impacts the images.

Standard Midjourney generations are on the left, style raw images are on the right. 👉

1. Emojis

Comparing these two generated images, notice how the style raw version followed the prompt by generating a small emoji style face on the pear?

2. Coloring-in Pages

In this simple line art image for a coloring in book, you can notice how the “Midjourney Aesthetic” has been applied to the left image. The raw mode image on the right uses the same prompt yet gives a more accurate match.

3. Icons

Similar to the coloring in example above, this should really drive the point home. Turning style raw mode on is super useful when looking to design simple logos and icons.

4. Sketch

This is a great example of how raw mode improves prompt adherence. The image on the left is definitely a sketch, but not likely done by a child. The style raw generated image on the right however looks exactly like something a child might draw.

5. Portraits

Take these two portraits. Notice the how raw (for lack of a better word) the image on the right is? The left image has the signature Midjourney automatic beautification applied, and almost looks cinematic.

Improve Style Raw Workflow with Permutations

Using permutations is a great way to quickly iterate and compare raw mode images.

The following iteration runs through varying stylize values, cycling style raw on and off.

{--s {100, 200, 600, 1000}} {--c 0, --style raw}

Add this to the end of your prompt to iterate super fast!

Final Thoughts

Getting to know all the parameters in Midjourney is handy and raw mode is definitely on the list.

With each new Midjourney version though I feel like Style raw is needed less and less.

So my thoughts are this: If you’re using earlier versions of Midjourney (like 4 and 5) style raw is very handy. But for versions 6 and higher, just using a baseline stylize value seems to be pretty much comparable.

Talk soon,

-Matt