23 | Don't Make Summer Orange. Image Generation Prompt Design to Capture Heat with Heat Haze and Short Shadows | Airi-chan
Target Audience
Those who want to create summer-like landscapes, backgrounds for travel, store, or seasonal banners without relying on warm-toned filters.
What you will gain from this article
How to break down midday heat into visual elements
How to specify heat haze limited only to the background
Complete natural language prompts
JSON variables and Jinja2 templates
Variations by usage, composition, aspect ratio, and color scheme
Correction prompts to fix overall blur, sunset effects, and water surface effects
Introduction
Simply writing 'hot summer' often makes the entire image orange or look like a sunset.
When you want to create midday heat, specify light, shadows, air shimmer, and road reflections separately before colors.
Aha! Heat is not a color, but a combination of phenomena.
Design Intent
Heat is not an object. Therefore, we specify the changes that heat exerts on its surroundings.
A single white sunlight source
Shadows should be short and sharp
Limit heat haze to 20-35% of the background
Keep the main subject in the foreground sharp
Maintain the road surface as a dry material
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Prohibit orange filters. It is important not to mix heat haze with normal blur. Separate heat haze as air refraction and background blur as a lens effect.
Example Design
The subject is a completely fictional suburban bus stop. Only the back of the road will shimmer subtly, while the bench, roof, and
sign outlines in the foreground will remain sharp. Using a pale blue sky, dry gray asphalt, and a faded light-blue bench,
I will create the heat of midday without increasing warm tones.
Completed natural language prompt ready to copy and use
A photorealistic landscape photo of a small, completely fictional suburban bus stop in Japan at 1:00 p.m. in midsummer.
The faded light-blue bench and simple metal roof in the foreground are the main subjects, and the road extends from the center of the screen to the back.
Strong white midday sunlight hits from almost directly above, making the shadows of the bench, roof, and sign short and hard. High resolution is maintained from the foreground to the midground, and subtle air refraction caused by heat haze is added only to the deepest 20-35% of the road.
The heat haze slightly shakes the outlines of the background vertically, but does not blur the entire screen. White glare is added to the dry asphalt, but it is not made into a water surface, ripples, or mirror reflection. The sky is pale blue, and the vegetation is slightly dry, low-saturation green.
Midday silence, strong sunlight, and the feeling of heat shimmering in the distance. 35mm equivalent, eye level, natural perspective, 16:9. Do not include text, people, cars, real transit operators, route names, place names, logos, watermarks, sunsets, orange filters, global blur, road water-like surfaces, or excessive lens flare.
English Prompt
A photorealistic midsummer landscape at 1:00 p.m., showing a completely fictional small
suburban bus stop in Japan. A faded pale-blue bench and a simple metal roof are the sharp
foreground subjects, while a dry asphalt road extends toward the center background. Strong
white overhead sunlight creates short, hard shadows beneath the bench, roof, and sign.
Keep the foreground and midground crisp and detailed. Apply subtle heat-haze refraction
only to the farthest 20–35% of the road and distant background, with slight vertical waviness
rather than global blur. Add bright dry glare to the asphalt without making it look wet,
reflective, or like water. Pale blue-white sky, slightly dry low-saturation green vegetation,
quiet midday atmosphere, intense summer heat. Eye-level view, 35mm lens, natural
perspective, 16:9. No text, people, vehicles, real transit company, route name, place name,
logo, watermark, sunset, orange color cast, global blur, wet road, ripples, mirror reflection, or
excessive lens flare.
JSON format variable example
{
"location": "Completely fictional Japanese suburban bus stop",
"main_subject": "Faded light-blue bench and simple metal roof",
"time": "1:00 p.m. in midsummer",
"lighting": "Strong white sunlight from directly above",
"shadow": "Short and hard shadows",
"heat_haze_zone": "Deepest 20-35% of the road and background",
"heat_haze_behavior": "Air refraction that subtly shakes outlines vertically",
"sharp_zone": "From foreground to midground",
"surface": "Dry gray asphalt",
"surface_reflection": "White glare only",
"sky": "Pale blue summer sky",
"vegetation": "Slightly dry, low-saturation green",
"camera": "Eye level, 35mm equivalent, natural perspective",
"aspect_ratio": "16:9",
"mood": "Midday silence and intense heat",
"negative_prompt": "Text, people, cars, real transit operators, route names, place names, logos, watermarks, sunset,
orange filter, global blur, road water-like surfaces, excessive lens flare"
}
Jinja2 Template
A photorealistic landscape photo capturing {{ time }} at {{ location }}. The {{ main_subject }} in the foreground is the main subject,
and the road extends from the center of the screen to the back. {{ lighting }} hits, creating {{ shadow }}. {{ sharp_zone }}
is kept sharp, and {{ heat_haze_behavior }} is added only to the {{ heat_haze_zone }}. The heat haze does not blur the entire
screen. The road surface is kept as {{ surface }}, and {{ surface_reflection }} is added, but it is not made into a water surface or mirror
surface. The sky is {{ sky }}, and the vegetation is {{ vegetation }}. {{ mood }}. {{ camera }}, {{ aspect_ratio
}}. Prohibited items: {{ negative_prompt }}.
Replaceable variables
location: Suburban bus stop / Shopping street / Seaside road / School playground / Beside a factory
main_subject: Bench / Vending machine / Parasol / Signboard / Product
heat_haze_zone: Deepest 20% / Deepest third / Only near the horizon
surface: Asphalt / Concrete / Dry soil / White tiles
aspect_ratio: 16:9 / 4:5 / 3:2 / 9:16
mood: Quiet midday / Heat of a tourist spot / Unmanned summer vacation
Derivative versions by use case
note banner
Set the ratio to 16:9, align the main subject to the right, and leave the left 40% as a pale blue sky or bright wall for text.
X / Instagram
Change to 4:5 and place the main subject slightly below the center. Limit the heat haze to the back of the road only, not the upper part.
Product Advertising
Keep the foreground product completely sharp, and apply the heat haze only to the background behind the product. Do not distort the product's outline, label surface, or colors.
Tourism / Store Backgrounds
Do not generate place names or logos, and keep signs blank. Ensure that the appearance of real-world stores is not reproduced.
Variations by Composition
Frontal composition: Vanishing point of the road in the center
Diagonal composition: Main subject in the right foreground, road to the left background
Low angle: Emphasize the reflection on the road surface, but prohibit water surface effects
High angle: Weaken the heat haze and focus on short shadows and dry surfaces
Variations by Color Scheme
Pale summer: Pale sky, gray, low-saturation light blue
Seaside: Cyan, white, dry beige
Shopping street: Ecru, faded red, deep green. However, warm filters are prohibited
Inorganic: White, light gray, bluish shadows
Common Failures and Correction Prompts
Failure 1: The entire screen is blurry
Limit the heat haze to only the furthest 25% of the road and background. Maintain high resolution for the main subject in the foreground, buildings in the mid-ground, and the road in the foreground; do not add standard depth-of-field blur or fog.
Failure 2: It turns into a sunset or orange color
Return the time of day to high noon at 1 PM and set the light source to a single white direct sunlight. The sky should be blue-white, the shadows should be a
bluish neutral gray, and please remove any orange, red, or gold color grading.
Failure 3: The road looks like a water surface
Reconstruct the road surface as dry, rough asphalt. Remove ripples, reflections, mirror surfaces, puddles, and wet
textures, leaving only the white glare.
Failure 4: Heat haze is not visible
Add very fine vertical refraction and contour flickering only at the very back of the road and near the horizon.
Do not blur the foreground; only weakly flicker the straight lines in the background.
Failure 5: Shadows are long, making it look like evening
Move the sun to almost directly overhead and create short, hard shadows directly beneath objects. Remove long, diagonally stretching shadows and evening
oblique light.
Summary
When creating heat, separate light, shadow, air, and material before adding color. First, try flickering only the distant view slightly,
while keeping the foreground sharp. You can achieve both "hot air" and a "clear subject" in a single image.
Quality Check
Actual natural language prompts included
English version included
JSON syntax verified
Jinja2 variable and JSON key mapping verified
No unreplaced variables, nulls, or empty strings
Derivations by usage, composition, ratio, and color scheme included
Failure examples and correction prompts included
Rights-related notes included
Unpublished draft for verification
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