Nano Banana prompts for creating and editing images

A prompt is a brief, not a bag of keywords

Use this structure: task + subject + desired change + details to preserve + output context. A short, coherent request is a better starting point than stacking conflicting styles, camera names, and quality adjectives.

Google recommends giving context and intent, then iterating. For images containing text, its developer guide suggests working out the wording first before asking for the image that contains it.

The official demo

New to the app? Follow how to use Nano Banana first. Brazilian Portuguese examples are available in the Portuguese prompt notebook.

Edit a photo without rewriting the whole scene

Start with a reference image that makes the intended subject easy to identify. Do not combine a change of face, pose, outfit, location, and lighting unless you are comfortable with the result becoming a different scene.

Change only the background of this portrait to a softly lit, neutral studio wall. Preserve the person's identity, facial expression, skin texture, hairstyle, clothing, and pose. Match the original direction of light. Keep the result photographic rather than heavily retouched.

Make this room feel like it was photographed in soft late-afternoon daylight. Keep the architecture, window positions, furniture, decor, and camera angle unchanged. Let the light come from the existing window, with consistent shadows. Do not add new objects.

Change the fabric of the chair to a muted forest green. Preserve its shape, seams, texture, position, and shadows. Leave every other object and the background unchanged. The result should look like the same photo with a different fabric color.

These are selective-editing instructions, not guarantees of exact masking. If a label, face, or measurement must be preserved exactly, compare at full resolution and use a conventional editor for the final correction.

Create a new image with a clear purpose

Design a simple portrait-format poster for a community photography walk. Use only this exact text: "PHOTO WALK" and "SATURDAY 10 AM". Use a clean typographic hierarchy, dark lettering on a light background, and a small photographic detail of a camera strap. Leave generous space around the text. Add no other words, logos, or dates.

Create three simple black-and-white logo concept sketches for a fictional neighborhood reading group. Explore the idea of an open book and a shared table. Use plain shapes that remain recognizable at small sizes. Place the concepts side by side on white, without words, mockups, shadows, or gradients.

Place the reference character in a quiet train station, waiting beside a window with a small suitcase. Preserve the character's face, hairstyle, outfit, proportions, and illustration style. Change only the scene and pose needed for the new setting. Keep the composition clear and include no written signs.

A generated logo concept is not a trademark clearance or necessarily an editable vector file. A generated poster still needs a spelling check. A character reference still needs a consistency check. Name the intended use so you can judge the result against a real goal.

Write the next prompt from what went wrong

1. Identify the mismatch: “The title contains an extra word,” not “This is bad.”
2. Specify the correction: quote the exact text, color, object, or region to change.
3. Protect the successful parts: ask to keep the composition, lighting, or identity unchanged.
4. Reset when necessary: return to the original input if successive edits drift too far.

Save the prompt, reference image, model name, and output together when comparing attempts. Without those details, a screenshot of a good result tells you very little about how to reproduce it.

If a usage limit interrupts your work, check the free and paid access comparison. For model-name differences, return to the Nano Banana field guide.