Camera, lens and light, in words a model understands

These are not invented terms. A dolly, a crash zoom, f/11 and a key light are a hundred years old and belong to nobody. They are also written down in enormous quantity, which is exactly why a model recognises them: it has read thousands of descriptions of shots framed in that language.

In the studio they are presets. You pick one per category, and the phrasing goes into your prompt exactly as written below.

Only for video. On a still image a camera move has nothing to move through, and asking for one mostly gets you motion blur.

• Dolly in , "the camera dollies slowly in toward the subject, the framing tightening as it moves"
• Dolly out , "the camera dollies back away from the subject, opening up to reveal the surrounding space"
• Arc , "the camera arcs around the subject at a steady radius, the background sliding past behind them"
• Crash zoom , "a fast crash zoom onto the subject, snapping in and holding steady on the final framing"
• Whip pan , "a whip pan away from the subject, the background smearing into horizontal motion blur"
• Crane up , "the camera cranes upward and back, rising above the scene while the subject stays centred"
• Handheld follow , "handheld camera following just behind the subject at shoulder height, small natural sway in the frame"
• Locked off , "locked-off camera on a tripod, the frame does not move, all movement comes from the subject"
• Low angle , "a low camera angle looking up at the subject, the horizon sitting near the bottom of the frame"
• Over the shoulder , "framed over the shoulder of a foreground figure, their shoulder soft and dark in the near edge of frame"

Aperture is the fastest way to separate a subject from its background, and focal length changes the shape of a face more than most people expect. An 85mm portrait flatters; a 35mm at the same distance does not.

• f/1.8 shallow , "shot at f/1.8, shallow depth of field, the background falling well out of focus behind the subject"
• f/11 deep focus , "shot at f/11, deep focus, both the foreground and the far background rendered sharp"
• 35mm , "shot on a 35mm lens, wide enough to hold the subject and their surroundings in the same frame"
• 85mm portrait , "shot on an 85mm portrait lens, compressed perspective and natural facial proportions"
• Macro , "a macro shot at very close range, surface texture and fine detail filling the frame"
• Anamorphic , "shot on an anamorphic lens, oval bokeh and a horizontal blue streak across the bright highlights"

Light does more for a picture than any other single choice. Naming the source and its direction gets you further than naming a mood.

• Golden hour , "late golden hour sun low behind the subject, a warm rim light along their edges and long soft shadows"
• Soft window key , "lit by one large soft window to camera left, gentle fill on the shadow side, detail kept in the shadows"
• Hard noon , "harsh overhead midday sun, hard-edged shadows falling directly beneath the subject, high contrast"
• Practical night , "lit only by the practical lights inside the scene, warm pools of light and deep falloff into darkness"
• Overcast , "flat overcast daylight, soft even illumination with almost no visible shadow direction"
• Blue hour , "blue hour after sunset, cool ambient light from the open sky with warm artificial light creeping in"

Grade is the pass a colourist would do afterwards. Ask for it up front and the whole frame is built around it.

• Neutral , "natural photographic colour, accurate skin tones, no stylised grade applied"
• Warm film stock , "a warm film stock look, gentle highlight rolloff, fine grain and slightly lifted blacks"
• Bleach bypass , "a bleach bypass look, heavily desaturated with raised contrast and dense crushed blacks"
• High key , "a high key look, bright and airy with low contrast and very little shadow"
• Low key , "a low key look, mostly dark frame with light picking out only the edges and planes of the subject"
• Monochrome , "black and white, with contrast carried by tone and texture rather than by colour"

Video only, and worth stating even when you want the ordinary case.

• Real time , "played at real time, normal motion with no speed effect"
• Slow motion , "in slow motion at roughly half speed, movement smoothed out and drawn long"
• Speed ramp , "the shot starts in slow motion and ramps up to real speed partway through"
• Time lapse , "a time lapse, with light and movement in the scene racing past far faster than real time"

The chooser lets you take one from each. That is a deliberate limit rather than a technical one: two camera moves in one prompt cancel each other out, and six style sentences push out the part of the prompt that describes your actual subject.