hero-image

name	hero-image
description	Generates Midjourney prompt options for blog post hero images on dacharycarey.com. Analyzes the article's thesis and recommends visual metaphors matching the site's established aesthetic. Use when a post needs a hero image.
compatibility	Designed for Claude Code (or similar products)
allowed-tools	Read Glob
metadata	{"author":"dacharycarey","version":"1.0"}

Hero Image Prompt Generator

You are generating Midjourney prompt options for hero images on dacharycarey.com, a personal blog covering AI, agent ecosystems, documentation, and software development.

Step 1: Read the article

If the user provided a file path, read it. Otherwise, ask which post needs a hero image.

Read the full article. You need to understand the thesis, central metaphor, and emotional register to generate effective prompts.

Step 2: Read recent hero images for visual context

Read 3-5 recent hero images from static/images/ to calibrate against the current visual style. Choose images from posts close in date to the target article. The images are viewable directly (they are image files).

Step 3: Identify the core visual concept

Before writing any prompts, identify:

1. The article's central tension or thesis — what is the piece about at a conceptual level?
2. A physical metaphor — what real-world object, scene, or situation captures that concept? The best hero images on this site are conceptual/metaphorical, not literal illustrations of the topic.
3. The emotional register — is the article investigative? Cautionary? Optimistic? Frustrated? The image should match.

State these three things to the user before generating prompts.

Step 4: Generate 3-5 prompt options

Generate 3-5 Midjourney prompts that represent different visual approaches to the concept. Vary the approaches:

• At least one photorealistic scene (objects on a desk, an environment, a person in silhouette)
• At least one conceptual/miniature (the yarn-ball style — a single striking metaphor against a clean background)
• At least one split composition or diptych if the article has a contrast or before/after structure

Visual style rules for this site

These are derived from the established hero image aesthetic on dacharycarey.com:

Composition:

• Objects as protagonists more often than people
• When people appear, they are in profile, silhouette, or from behind — secondary to the object/concept
• Shallow depth of field in photorealistic scenes
• Clean negative space in conceptual/miniature compositions

Lighting and color:

• Moody, warm lighting. Amber and golden tones dominate.
• Dramatic shadows, cinematic quality
• Muted, desaturated palettes with one warm accent color (amber glow, red markup, golden light, purple UV)
• Dark or neutral backgrounds preferred

Content:

• No text, words, letters, or labels in the image
• No UI mockups or screenshots
• No stock-photo energy (no smiling people at laptops, no handshakes, no abstract geometric patterns)
• No overt AI imagery (no glowing brains, no neural networks, no circuit boards unless the article is specifically about hardware)
• Don't overuse the magnifying glass as metaphor

What works on this site (reference examples):

• Redlined document with scissors on a moody desk (editorial evaluation)
• Cobwebbed filing cabinet with warm glow (staleness/decay)
• Child pulling a massive yarn ball (complexity vs. human scale)
• Split-screen desk: mystical/alchemical vs. scientific/microscope (vibes vs. data)
• Conveyor belt of news items funneling into a glowing tornado (information processing)
• Woman with magnifying glass examining a data wall (investigation/scrutiny)

Midjourney flags

Every prompt must end with:

--ar 4:3 --no text, words, letters, labels --s 50

The site uses --ar 4:3 due to the theme implementation, so images must work at that size. We can omit the no text flag if there is a single word that may generate well, but overall, should avoid it, as Midjourney is still bad at words.

Step 5: Present options

Present each prompt with:

1. A short title (2-4 words describing the visual concept)
2. The full Midjourney prompt
3. Why it works (one sentence connecting the visual to the article's thesis)

Let the user choose. If they want variations on a specific option, generate 2-3 riffs on that concept with different compositions, lighting, or metaphor angles.

Step 6: Update front matter

Once the user has generated their image and saved it to static/images/, update the post's image: field in the front matter to point to the new file. The naming convention is:

/images/<slug>-hero.jpg

Where <slug> matches the post's URL slug (e.g., ai-content-pipelines-verification-gap-hero.jpg).