From Darkroom to AI: 4 Classic Photography References Recreated with Midjourney

By Becky Loring

Not many people know this about me, but my first love was photography. I was a teenager when I saw Dovima with Elephants by Richard Avedon for the first time. It sent a shockwave through my brain. I was rewired. Obsessed with composition, addicted to light, and fascinated how still images could tell infinite stories.

Photography has shaped the way I see everything. So it makes sense that I’ve turned back to my first medium in my generative AI journey.

The Challenge: Bridging Film and AI

Working with Midjourney and similar tools often starts with a clear vision. Yet it can feel like guesswork to translate a specific film look into a prompt. Film photography isn’t just style. It’s chemistry, material, mechanics, and even chance. Communicating those elements to an AI that does not know physical tools is not simple.

The real question is how to give Midjourney enough context to capture the feel of film photography tools, processes, and techniques rather than a vague “vintage” effect.

The Midjourney Prompt Formula

To bridge that gap, here is a repeatable prompt formula based on how creative teams plan photographic work once a goal is defined. It starts with the subject and visual direction, then layers in material, texture, and technical setup.

[Subject or character], in the style of [art movement or medium], featuring [color + texture], set against [background], with [lighting + angle + framing]

This structure gives Midjourney enough context to generate consistent, specific results without losing creative flexibility.

Four Classic Photography References to Explore

1. Tri-X 400 Black & White Film

First released in 1954, Kodak Tri‑X 400 is a black‑and‑white film celebrated for its wide exposure latitude, pronounced grain and medium‑to‑high contrast. Street and documentary photographers like Garry Winogrand relied on it for its ability to deliver striking images across varied lighting conditions.

2. Tintype Photography

Tintypes were popular from the 1850s through the early 1900s. They were created on thin metal plates using wet collodion, producing soft focus, low contrast images with rich sepia tones. Each image is a unique positive, often flawed and intimate.

3. Sabattier Effect + Dye Transfer Print

This hybrid look combines two distinct techniques: the Sabattier effect, which creates partial tonal reversal and glowing edge lines during film development, and dye transfer printing, a precise color printing method known for rich saturation and tonal control. Photographers like Richard Avedon used this combination to create surreal, high-impact portraits in the 1960s. His 1967 Beatles series for Look magazine is a defining example. It merges psychedelic aesthetics with photographic depth and print precision.

4. Lomo Fisheye Lens

The LOMO LC-A was a Soviet-era 35mm film camera introduced in 1984. Lomography   embraced imperfect film photos characterized by high saturation, vignetting and distortion. The fisheye lens exaggerates perspective, popular among subculture photographers in the 1990s.

Why This Approach Is Effective

Precision
Naming film types, processes, and tools helps Midjourney replicate texture and tonality more faithfully than generic terms like “retro” or “vintage.”

Repeatability
The structure can be swapped across other styles, subjects, or settings, giving consistent image logic and visual quality.

Cultural Grounding
These film styles carry their own aesthetic histories. They mean something because they were used in real moments of visual storytelling.

Use Cases for Creative Teams

• Mood‑boarding: Quickly generate authentic-style references.
• Brand work: Match imagery style to brand identity or era.
• Campaigns: Maintain consistency across multiple visual assets.
• Client feedback: Ground proposals in recognizable aesthetic references.
  

Final Thought

Film photography taught me that every image must be intentional. The sheer time and energy it took to create something on film required focus, patience, and deliberate choices. Generative tools can help us move faster and explore more variations, but that doesn’t mean we can run past intention. The key is building prompts with the same level of awareness that photographers brought to the set and the darkroom.

While film tools are no longer the default, their visual language continues to shape how we create and communicate. When we ground AI prompts in those references, we move beyond surface-level style and into something more considered. The result doesn’t just look good. It carries the weight of visual history behind it.