After our fun experiment with the 10 Mind-blowing AI Art Styles, now we’re back with even more impressive techniques that you can incorporate into your Tengr.ai creations. These techniques are a bit unconventional, but let’s look at it from this perspective: thinking outside the box often leads to the best results. Sometimes, using unexpected word combinations or techniques that are photography-related or even science-related in your prompts can really add that “wow” factor that every AI enthusiast is looking for. We love these types of experiments. And of course, we’re excited to share them with you.
This time, we’re going to explore lesser-known photography-related techniques. Remember, our goal is not to exactly recreate these techniques but to see the unique effect they can produce in our images. We’ll provide lots of examples, as usual. This is a great way to achieve special effects for your AI creations and a fun experiment at the same time.
So, let’s get started!
1. Schlieren Imaging: Seeing the Invisible
This photography technique is a way to capture things that are normally invisible to the human eye. For instance, heat waves around a hot surface, shock waves from fast-moving objects, or air currents.
But most importantly, let’s see what effect it has on AI-generated images. Using the Schlieren imaging technique in your Tengr.ai prompts can result in some special effects in your creations. You’ll get swirling patterns, distortions, and ghostly effects to mimic things like air movement or other invisible elements. This makes images more engaging and artistic. We’ll show you examples so you can see what we mean.
“A superhero’s super-speed run, air distortions visible in Schlieren style.“
“(Schlieren-effect), a high-resolution image of a hummingbird hovering mid-air, strong visible air currents flowing around the bird, the rapid flapping of its wings creating swirling patterns of light and shadow, ethereal atmosphere.“
With Tengr.ai we can get more creative and explore unusual concepts, not just heat or air currents. Since this technique is for visualizing things that are not normally visible, let’s see what Tengr.ai does if we ask for more challenging ideas like a wizard’s spell or inner darkness.
“A wizard’s spell visualized using Schlieren imaging, colorful air currents swirling.“
“(Schlieren effect), silhouette art: a beautiful angelic woman silhouette in conflict with her inner self. (Body language expressing inner turmoil), within the ethereal glow of the woman’s silhouette lies a hidden darkness, an enigmatic darkness lurking beneath the surface, tendrils of shadow creeping from inside her, loose and fluid. Mysterious, ethereal atmosphere, (inner darkness), artistic, abstract surrealism.” – For the creation of these images, we mostly used the Line Art style. However, we encourage you to always try out different styles and both Seer and Servitor modes—you can never know which one will give you the desired result.
2. Thermal Imaging: Painting with Heat
Now let’s see a technique that is mostly related to color. Thermal imaging or thermography allows us to see temperature differences emitted by objects using vibrant color gradients. So it creates images based on heat instead of visible light. You’ve probably seen those “heat vision” goggles in movies. You know, the ones that make Arnold Schwarzenegger look like a walking rainbow in “Predator“.
Now that we’ve clarified what this term refers to, let’s see what it can do for our AI images. In AI art, this technique can add an interesting color effect, but also an otherworldly, sci-fi feel. With a few simple words, we can guide Tengr.ai to create this colorful sci-fi effect.
Let’s start simple: “Thermography style portrait.“
“Thermal image of a city skyline, heat map colors.“
“A hyper-realistic Alien figure standing in a doorway, (thermal image), heat vision colors, intricate details, mysterious, thermography style.“
“Thermal image of a whimsical, cute shapeshifting creature on a mesmerizing flower/on an ancient tree, body temperature revealing true form in infrared spectrum, displaying vibrant thermal colors.” – we tried more variations and styles. In some, we added “glittery, sparkling creature”. If you want really cute creatures, try Sphericute or Fairytale styles.
3. X-Ray Style Imaging: See-Through Effect
X-ray style imaging mimics the appearance of X-ray photographs, showing the internal structure of objects or living beings.
In AI art, we can create ghostly, transparent, artistic effects with this technique by revealing hidden details. It also adds depth and complexity to our images. By focusing on unusual details, it makes images special and out-of-the-ordinary.
This technique can make images mysterious, or in the case of objects, it can give them a scientific look.
“A steampunk device in X-ray style, intricate gears and mechanisms visible.“
As you know, X-rays are usually black and white or gray, but Tengr.ai can easily include colors, which makes them even more visually appealing. To achieve this amazing X-ray effect, the Line Art style was our favorite. Use terms like: “X-ray style imaging” or “X-ray effect”, or “X-ray art” in your prompts to get that see-through effect. More examples:
“X-ray image of beautiful flowers in a vase, transparent, daylight, natural soft lighting, ethereal, dream-like, pastel colors, x-ray imaging style.“
Let’s see some butterflies: “(X-Ray style imaging), a digital artwork of a butterfly with its wings spread wide, the wings appear semi-transparent, revealing delicate vein patterns and skeletal structures inside, reminiscent of an X-ray effect.“
“A transparent lion in X-ray style, steampunk, intricate gears and mechanisms visible inside its body.“
The flowers are truly dreamy with this effect:
“Double exposure, (X-ray art): a transparent x-ray image of beautiful flowers, (transparent petals), superimposed against an artistic representation of a female x-ray image, ethereal, dream-like, magical.“
Sometimes it just gives a subtle magical effect to images, and we just love every version of this style:
“(X-ray style): A transparent ethereal female silhouette holding a transparent flower, ethereal, dreamlike, artistic, masterpiece.“
4. Kirlian Photography: Glowing Auras
Kirlian photography is supposed to capture electrical discharges or the “luminous glow” around objects. This method produces images where the subjects or objects seem to have glowing “auras” around them or energy fields due to electricity.
With Tengr.ai we can also benefit from this technique by adding “Kirlian photography” to our prompts. This can add that glowing “aura”, giving a mystical, otherworldly, energetic quality to our AI creations. It is as if electrical energy is radiating from the subject.
“Kirlian photography abstract portrait.” – We again tried different styles to see the variations.
In Illustration style:
In Line Art style:
“A forest of trees with glowing Kirlian auras, magical atmosphere.“
5. Chronophotography: Motion in One Frame
Chronophotography is about capturing movement in a single image. It’s like seeing the different stages of the motion frozen in time. It’s been used in photography since the 19th century. Now we can create similar effects with the help of Tengr.ai. It’s exciting to see how Tengr.ai interprets the passing of time or a sequence of motion.
We can achieve a similar effect by adding “chronophotography” or “multiple exposure effect” into our prompt. If that doesn’t work as expected, you may need to explain in more detail what you’d like to see. What we can achieve with this technique is dynamism, a sense of time passing, which leads to a more visually interesting image.
“(Chronophotography) of a cat running, (multiple exposures of movement in a single frame, showing motion progression), overlapping transparent ghostly cat silhouettes, ghostly effect, motion blur.“
Sometimes, getting the effect exactly as we imagined it can be a bit tricky—we might end up with cats in different colors or human faces that vary. However, with patience and some experimentation, we can get great results. If we do it right, we can create impressive images with energy, life, and visual interest. Plus, by trying out different styles, we get different interpretations of the same prompt; it’s amazing.
“Out-of-body experience, surreal, (chronophotography), multiple exposures of movement in a single frame, showing motion progression and passing of time.“
If we only write a very short prompt like: “Chronophotography abstract portrait.” we still get some interesting effects in our images.
Let’s see some more variations of the cat running:
6. Infrared Imaging: Revealing the Invisible Light
Infrared imaging is a photography technique that captures infrared light instead of the light visible to our eyes. This can give images a surreal, otherworldly appearance with unusual color palettes. It can be black and white or colored. It changes the natural color of things. In infrared images, certain things like foliage can appear white, and skies can be dark blue or black, or even dark red. In portraits, skin can be paler and smoother, with an ethereal glow, and eyes brighter. Everything appears in unexpected hues and unusual textures. Infrared light transforms everything—but in a good way.
In AI art we can reveal a new side of things in a visually captivating way. Incorporating this effect into our prompts offers new possibilities to create memorable and surreal-looking images.
“Infrared landscape.“
“An infrared portrait, skin glowing with an ethereal light.“
“(Infrared imaging): infrared photography, close-up portrait where the subject’s skin glows with ethereal light, revealing intricate details. Eyes appear as deep, mysterious pools.“
“A solitary figure standing in a snowy forest rendered in infrared imaging; their body glows warm against the cold of the snow and trees, symbolizing inner warmth in a cold world, in the style of infrared photography, (infrared effect).“
“Infrared photography of a surreal alien planet rendered in infrared style, bizarre rock formations and plants emitting unusual heat signatures.“
“An architectural landmark photographed in infrared. The building’s features are transformed, with metal surfaces reflecting infrared light in unexpected ways, creating a striking contrast with the surrounding vegetation.“
“A portrait of a woman in a field seen through infrared filter, set against a nearly black sky, infrared photography effect.“
Conclusion
We hope we’ve sparked your curiosity with these unconventional techniques! While we’ve provided examples for each, the possibilities are truly endless.
Whether you’re trying out totally new prompts or applying these techniques to your existing ones, seeing the effects on images is an exciting journey. Tengr.ai is an excellent partner for these artistic adventures. It’s interesting to see how it replicates these concepts, but it’s even more fascinating to see how it interprets them in unexpected ways sometimes. From Schlieren imaging to X-ray, or Infrared, they all managed to get us impressive results. Even if some of them require a bit more practice and experimentation, it’s worth it in the end.
Remember, the best creations come from adding your creativity while letting Tengr.ai’s creativity shine as well. That’s the perfect mix. So, start playing around with the techniques we’ve presented today, and share the extraordinary creations you come up with! We’d love to see your creations on our friendly Facebook community page.
