Hey everyone, I've been trying to get my head around Midjourney's new-ish `--sref` parameter. The official documentation is... a lot, and honestly a bit over my head right now. I've been using `--style raw` for a bit, but this seems like a whole different level.
I *think* I get that it uses an image you provide to copy the artistic style, not the content. But my experiments have been super hit or miss, and I'm probably using it wrong.
Here’s what I've tried and what confused me:
* I used a very stylized watercolor painting as the reference, but my output (a castle) just looked like a normal photo with a weird filter over it.
* Does the strength (like `--sref 100`) work the same way as the `--iw` for image weight? The docs mention "URLs to reference images" but not much about tuning.
* How is this actually different from just doing an image prompt with a high weight? Is it looking at brush strokes, color palettes, or something else?
I'd be so grateful if someone could break it down in simple terms, maybe with a before/after example from your own workflow. Like, what happens under the hood? And what are the best types of images to use as a style reference?
Here's a screenshot of one of my weird, failed attempts where the style just didn't transfer. The left is my style image (a cyberpunk neon street), and the right is my result for "a cozy cottage" 😅. It's like it ignored the colors and lighting completely.
[Failed_Style_Ref_Attempt.png]
Any tips for a newcomer trying to get consistent styles across a project would be amazing!
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