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Writing prompts for Nano Banana 2
The five-pass prompt shape, and what changes on the cheaper Gemini model: it follows fine material detail better than Nano Banana Pro and directs light worse. Four habits that suit it.
Nano Banana 2 costs 4 credits at 1K, half what Nano Banana Pro costs, and it reads prompts slightly differently: it follows fine material instructions well and directs light less confidently. Write for it the way you would write for any Gemini image model — composition, light, colour, materials, then the medium — and lean harder on the light clause than you would on Pro.
The shape a prompt should have
| Pass | What it fixes | Sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| Composition | Subject, framing, camera height, depth | "Eye-level medium close-up, shallow depth of field" |
| Light | Source, direction, quality, contrast | "One hard light from the left, deep shadows to the right" |
| Colour | The palette and its temperature | "Cool slate-blue against warm antique bronze" |
| Materials | What the surfaces are and how they behave | "Fine beads of water on the brass, damp mossy stone" |
| Medium | What kind of picture this is | "Atmospheric editorial photograph" |
Each pass constrains the next — you cannot describe the colour of a surface until you know where the light hits it — and this is the order the model can use them in.
What we learned running the same prompt on both models
One prompt, written once, run on Nano Banana 2 at 4 credits and Nano Banana Pro at 8, nothing else changed: a brass lamp on a wet granite step at dawn, one lit wick, a marigold garland coiled beside its base, cool blue light from the left, fine beads of water on the brass.
Two things to read off it. The world-building is the model doing what it is good at unprompted — the prompt asked for a street, verandahs, a cart and one bulb, and got carved pillars, a tiled roofline and a wet stone floor holding reflections. And the signboard over the doorway is illegible squiggle, which is the honest limit: put any picture with real words in it on Nano Banana Pro instead.
Two things it did better than the dearer model. It obeyed "fine beads of water on the brass" — the droplets are on the metal, where Pro put the wet on the step instead. And it built a far deeper scene: a whole courtyard of carved stone, moss and receding paving, where Pro simplified the background to a wall.
One thing it did worse, and it is the one to write around: the light. The prompt asked for cool blue morning light from the left; Nano Banana 2 gave even ambient blue with no clear source, while Pro produced a directed shaft with dust in it. So on this model, spend your words on the light.
Four habits that suit this model
- Over-specify the light. Not "soft morning light" but "one low sun from the left, long shadows running right, a bright rim on the near edge". This is where Nano Banana 2 needs the most help.
- Trust it with materials. Fine surface instructions — beads of water, flaking paint, worn thread — land well. Write them.
- Let it build the world. It fills backgrounds generously. If you want a simple frame, say so explicitly, or you will get a whole courtyard.
- Skip the quality words. "8k", "ultra detailed", "masterpiece" do nothing; the resolution setting decides resolution. Focal length does something real, because it implies a distance.
When to use it and when not to
| Job | Model | Credits at 1K |
|---|---|---|
| Drafting a composition | Nano Banana 2 Lite | 2 |
| Scenes, environments, texture-led work | Nano Banana 2 | 4 |
| Text inside the picture | Nano Banana Pro | 8 |
| Faces that must stay consistent | Nano Banana Pro | 8 |
| Directed, dramatic light | Nano Banana Pro | 8 |
At 4 credits you can run a prompt three times and pick, for less than one attempt costs on the top model plus a coffee. On a 540-credit month that is 135 pictures instead of 67.
Where to read prompts already written this way
Every published decode on the site carries the prompt for its picture, written in that five-pass order, alongside a palette with hex codes and a style DNA. Reading them is free, and there are more than sixteen thousand. Two hundred read in a row teaches the shape faster than any rule does.
FAQ
How should I write prompts for Nano Banana 2?
In order: composition, light, colour, materials, then the medium. Spend extra words on the light clause — that is the pass this model handles least confidently — and trust it with fine material detail, which it follows well.
Is Nano Banana 2 worse than Nano Banana Pro?
Not uniformly. In our side-by-side it followed a fine material instruction Pro missed and built a much deeper background. Pro directed the light better and composed a cleaner frame. Pro is the clear choice for text in the image and for consistent faces.
What does Nano Banana 2 cost?
4 credits at 1K, 8 at 2K and 12 at 4K — half the Nano Banana Pro ladder. On a 540-credit month that is 135 pictures at 1K instead of 67.
Do quality words like "8k" or "ultra detailed" help?
No. The resolution setting decides the resolution and the model does not try harder for flattery. Focal length does help, because it implies a distance and a compression.
Where can I find good example prompts?
The aikizi gallery holds over sixteen thousand published decodes, each carrying the prompt for the picture beside it plus its palette and style DNA. Reading them costs nothing.
Run one prompt on both models in the Studio — at 4 and 8 credits it is the cheapest comparison on the site. The full side-by-side is part 2 of the generation series.