Can I use my own image as a Midjourney style reference?

Yes. Put a public, direct image URL after --sref. Midjourney reads the image's aesthetic (colours, medium, texture, lighting) and applies it; the subject still comes from your prompt text.

Why does Midjourney reject my image URL?

The URL must be public and point straight at an image file. Page links, private storage links and links that need a login do not work. SREF.ai's image tool resolves Midjourney job links and some social links to a direct image URL.

Can I combine an image reference with a numeric sref code?

Yes. List both after --sref and weight them with ::, for example --sref https://example.com/ref.jpg::2 1016489012.

Guide · Image references

From an image to a style reference.

Any public image can be a Midjourney style reference. Paste its URL after --sref and Midjourney borrows its look, meaning colours, medium, texture and lighting, while the subject still comes from your prompt. SREF.ai's image tool resolves a Midjourney job link or a direct image URL, reads its palette and writes the command for you.

Steps

Get a direct image URL. It has to be public and point at the image file itself, not at a page. A Midjourney job link pasted into the image tool is resolved to its image.

Add it to the prompt.

a ceramic teapot on a windowsill --ar 4:5 --sref https://sref.ai/thumbs/1016489012.jpg --sw 800

Tune the strength. Lower --sw when the style swamps the subject; raise it when the look is too faint. Weight the image against a numeric code with :: to steer the blend: --sref https://sref.ai/thumbs/1016489012.jpg::2 1016489012.

Image reference or numeric code?

A numeric code is short, shareable and stable; an image reference is exact for one picture and needs the URL to stay online. Midjourney reports a numeric code for styles it generates from images, which is how many shared codes were born. On SREF.ai, every remix keeps both: its numeric recipe and a durable image reference to its preview, so either form can be copied.

What the image tool does

It loads the image in your browser, samples its dominant colours, and produces a copy-ready command plus a suggestion for pairing the image with a numeric code. Nothing is uploaded to SREF.ai; the URL you paste is the URL Midjourney will fetch.

Questions

Will my image's subject appear in the result?: No. --sref transfers look, not content. For a subject, use a plain image prompt or Midjourney's character and omni reference parameters.
Do I need to own the image?: Respect the rights of whoever made it. SREF.ai's preview images may be used as style references; see the licence.