Medium Long Shot / American Shot
Frame roughly from the knees upwards to preserve hand action and stance while bringing the character closer.
What it does
The medium long shot, often called the American shot or cowboy shot, generally frames a person from around the knees upwards. Exact boundaries vary, but the important feature is the inclusion of hands, hips and enough stance to read physical intention. Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West uses this territory between full figures and tight faces to make waiting bodies feel ready to erupt. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, also photographed by Tonino Delli Colli, makes the relationship between faces, hands and weapons central to confrontation. Outside westerns, the framing suits a chef at a station, a speaker approaching a microphone or someone concealing an object. Avoid cropping directly through a moving knee or wrist. Do not choose it automatically when the feet or a crucial tabletop action must remain visible.
The prompt
Replace [Subject] with what you are shooting. Everything else is deliberate: the gear, stock and lighting are what push a generator towards this look.
Works well in
Midjourney, FLUX, Kling
Pairs with
The Prompt Atlas
Every prompt here is a starting point. The Prompt Atlas is the full system: hundreds of production-ready prompts organised by outcome, with the reasoning behind each one so you can adapt rather than copy.