Emerald Chiaroscuro Turtleneck Portrait

LOCKED MASTER PROMPT — EMERALD CHIAROSCURO TURTLENECK PORTRAIT
ROLE
You are a world-class editorial portrait photographer specialising in cinematic studio lighting and bold single-colour environments, and a retoucher who keeps every pore.
Create a premium, photorealistic close-up studio portrait using the ATTACHED REFERENCE IMAGE as the identity source.
The defining idea of this image: a deep emerald-to-teal gradient behind, a hard, sculptural side key that lights one half of the face and leaves the other in clean shadow, a thin cold cyan rim on the shadow side separating the head from the green, and a black turtleneck that disappears into the dark. The face fills the frame. Skin texture is the surface of the image. The expression gives nothing away.
The output must look like a real studio photograph captured on a high-end full-frame camera — NOT like an AI-generated image, a 3D render, a beauty-filtered headshot, or a poster with a portrait dropped onto a colour.
Aspect ratio: 4:5 vertical. Resolution target: 8K.

1. IDENTITY LOCK — ABSOLUTE PRIORITY
Use the person from the ATTACHED REFERENCE IMAGE. Preserve identity with maximum fidelity. DO NOT redesign, beautify, reinterpret, slim, widen, age, de-age, or idealize the subject.
The subject's sex, gender presentation, age, ethnicity, skin tone and build are whatever the reference shows. Nothing in this prompt overrides the reference on any of these. The turtleneck and the pose are a styling choice applied to whoever the reference shows — they do not imply, require or alter the subject's gender.
Preserve exactly:
	•	Facial geometry and skull proportions
	•	Face shape and width-to-height ratio
	•	Forehead height and hairline shape, including any temple recession
	•	Brow ridge projection
	•	Eyebrow shape, thickness, density and spacing
	•	Eye shape, size, spacing, eyelid structure, iris colour and under-eye character
	•	Nose bridge, tip and nostril structure
	•	Cheekbone height and projection
	•	Jawline definition and angle
	•	Chin shape and projection
	•	Lip shape, thickness and proportions
	•	Ear size, shape, position and attachment
	•	Natural facial asymmetry
	•	Skin tone and undertone
	•	Natural skin texture, pores, lines, wrinkles, blemishes and surface irregularity — exactly as the reference carries them, no more, no fewer
	•	Neck thickness and shoulder width
	•	Apparent age
	•	Any moles, scars or distinguishing marks
The subject must remain unmistakably the same individual as the reference.
HAIR — CONDITIONAL
Preserve the reference hairstyle exactly: the same length, volume, hairline, texture, parting, colour and any greying. It may be neatly presented, not restyled. Do NOT add or remove grey.
FACIAL HAIR — CONDITIONAL
Facial hair appears only if the reference shows it. If present, preserve its exact length, density, colour, greying and cheek line. If absent, add none.
AGE AND TEXTURE ARE NOT A STYLE
Do NOT add lines, wrinkles or weathering the reference does not have to make the portrait more "sculptural". Do NOT remove them if the reference has them. Every pore in the output belongs to the reference.
IMPORTANT: Identity is determined ONLY from the attached reference image. Do not borrow facial characteristics from any celebrity, model, example image, or visual reference.

2. CAMERA POSITION & ORIENTATION LOCK
Camera
Straight-on, eye level, within 3 degrees above or below the subject's eye line. The lens axis is horizontal.
Subject orientation
	•	The head is frontal, rotated no more than 5 degrees
	•	A very slight lateral tilt of approximately 2–4 degrees — the crown leaning marginally toward the key side — for subtle dynamism
	•	Chin level
	•	Shoulders square to the camera, rotated no more than 8 degrees
Do NOT use a low or high angle. Do NOT tilt the camera (no dutch angle). Do NOT turn the head into a three-quarter position. Do NOT exceed 4 degrees of head tilt, and do NOT hold the head perfectly plumb — the tilt must exist and must stay small. Do NOT introduce wide-angle distortion.

3. FRAMING LOCK — CRITICAL
Use a tight medium close-up: face, neck, upper chest.
Show:
	•	The whole head with the full hair silhouette
	•	The full face
	•	The neck, in the turtleneck's collar
	•	The tops of both shoulders in the turtleneck, cropped at the lower edge
	•	Minimal backdrop around the head — intimate, close
The head (top of hair to chin) occupies approximately 58–65% of the total frame height. The eye line sits approximately 42–47% down from the top of the frame. The chin sits at approximately 72–77% down from the top. The face at its widest spans approximately 62–72% of the frame width.
HEADROOM LOCK
Leave approximately 5–9% of the total frame height as backdrop above the top of the hair. The hair must be fully inside the frame and must NOT be clipped by the upper edge.
CROP LOCK
Do NOT crop the top of the head. Do NOT crop the chin. Do NOT crop the sides of the face — backdrop remains visible beside both cheeks, ears and hair. Do NOT tighten into an eyes-only crop. Do NOT pull back into a chest-up, waist-up or full-body composition. Do NOT leave generous empty space — the face dominates.

4. SUBJECT POSITION
Place the face at approximately 48–52% of frame width, centred. The slight head tilt gives the composition its only asymmetry. Backdrop is visible above and on both sides, in roughly equal amounts left and right.
Do NOT offset the face.

5. GAZE & EXPRESSION
The subject looks into the lens — or a hair's breadth past it: the eyes are aimed at the viewer with enough directness to read as eye contact, with a fractional offset that removes any sense of posing for a camera. Both eyes are fully open and clearly readable, each carrying a single soft catchlight, high and toward the key side.
Expression:
	•	Confident, calm, controlled
	•	Intense through stillness — the face holds, it does not perform
	•	Brow level to very slightly lowered
	•	Lips closed and relaxed, neutral, with a faint firmness at the corners
	•	Jaw settled
Do NOT smile or show teeth. Do NOT produce a scowl, squint, glare or theatrical intensity. Do NOT produce a warm, friendly or approachable expression. Do NOT produce a seductive, smouldering or heavy-lidded look. Do NOT produce a blank, vacant or bored look. Do NOT direct the gaze clearly away from the lens — "past" means a fraction, not a turn.

6. WARDROBE LOCK
A sharp black turtleneck.
	•	Fine-gauge merino or cotton knit, matte black, with a faint rib texture visible only where the key light grazes the near shoulder and the collar fold
	•	A high, fully rolled collar covering the neck completely, sitting close and smooth, its top edge just below the jaw
	•	Fitted through the shoulders — close, clean, unwrinkled
	•	No logo, no pattern, no contrast trim, no zip, no visible seams beyond the collar fold
The turtleneck reads as near-black, defined by the clean collar line against the jaw and a faint lit texture on the near shoulder; elsewhere it merges with the dark lower edge of the backdrop.
Do NOT render a blazer, jacket, shirt, collar, mock neck or crew neck — it is a full turtleneck. Do NOT use a grey, navy, charcoal or coloured turtleneck. Do NOT add a jacket, coat, scarf or layered garment. Do NOT add a watch, ring, chain, earrings, glasses or any accessory unless present in the identity reference.

7. BACKGROUND LOCK — EMERALD GRADIENT — CRITICAL
A deep emerald green to dark teal seamless gradient backdrop.
	•	Brightest zone: a rich, saturated emerald green, approximately #0F6B4F to #147A5A, sitting behind and slightly above the head, marginally offset toward the key side
	•	Mid zone: deep teal-green, approximately #0A4A3A
	•	Darkest zone: near-black teal, approximately #04201A, at the corners and along the lower edge, where it meets the turtleneck
	•	Gradient geometry: smooth and radial, falling off evenly from the bright zone toward all edges — a soft cyclorama falloff, not a spotlight
	•	Surface: perfectly smooth, seamless, no pattern, no texture, no mottling, no seams — only colour depth
	•	Softly out of focus
The green belongs to the backdrop only. It does not tint the skin — see Section 13.
NO objects, furniture, props or set elements. NO hard-edged spotlight, halo or hotspot shape behind the head. NO texture, pattern, wall, curtain or architecture. NO visible studio equipment. NO text, typography, logos, watermarks, borders or graphic elements. NO inset image, thumbnail, secondary photo, panel or collage element anywhere. NO second figure or shadow of a figure.

8. LIGHTING LOCK — SCULPTURAL CHIAROSCURO — CRITICAL
A three-light setup: hard side key, very subtle fill, thin cold rim.
KEY — hard, from the side
A hard, focused source — a gridded reflector, a small dish or a fresnel — positioned approximately 60–75 degrees to one side of the lens axis and 20–30 degrees above eye level, angled down and across the face.
It produces:
	•	One half of the face fully lit: forehead, brow, eye, cheekbone, jaw and neck on the key side, with crisp highlights on the forehead, the nose bridge, the cheekbone and the lower lip
	•	The other half in shadow: the far cheek, far eye socket, far side of the nose and far jaw falling into a clean, deep shadow with a defined, clean-edged terminator running down the face just past the centreline — modern chiaroscuro
	•	The nose casts a clear, hard-edged shadow across the far cheek
	•	Every pore, line and skin irregularity on the lit half picked out by the raking angle
	•	A single hard-ish catchlight in each eye, high and toward the key side
	•	A grazing highlight along the near shoulder of the turtleneck and the near edge of the hair
FILL — very subtle
A large, very weak source or a black-flagged bounce from the opposite side, at a key-to-fill ratio of approximately 5:1 to 7:1.
	•	Just enough to keep detail in the shadows: the far eye readable, the far cheek's skin texture faintly present, the far jaw's edge legible
	•	Never enough to soften the terminator or lift the shadow half toward a mid-tone
RIM — thin, cold cyan
A small, hard source behind the subject on the shadow side, approximately 135–155 degrees from the lens axis and 20–35 degrees above head height.
	•	Gelled cool cyan, approximately #5FD6E6 to #7FE8F2
	•	Approximately 1 stop below the key
	•	Produces a thin cold edge along the shadow-side hairline, temple, cheek edge, ear and jaw — approximately 0.3–0.6% of frame width wide — separating the dark half of the head from the green backdrop
	•	A faint cyan trace along the shadow-side shoulder of the turtleneck
Do NOT soften the key into a large source with gradual shadows. Do NOT move the key toward the front — the terminator must run near the centreline. Do NOT lift the fill to open the shadow half. Do NOT crush the shadow half to featureless black — detail survives. Do NOT make the rim white, warm, green or any colour other than cool cyan. Do NOT let the rim widen into a glow, halo or neon outline. Do NOT let the rim wrap onto the front of the face. Do NOT add a fourth light or a hair light. Do NOT use flat, on-axis or ring-light illumination.

9. LIGHTING DIRECTION LOCK
The lighting setup must remain identical across every generation, regardless of changes in the reference person's gender, age, skin tone, hairstyle, or facial structure.
The identity changes. The lighting does NOT change. Key side, key angle, key height, key hardness, fill ratio, rim side, rim colour and rim strength stay fixed. Only the way the light carves the individual's specific anatomy varies.

10. EXPOSURE & TONAL BALANCE LOCK
A high-contrast but refined image — deep shadows that still carry detail, bright skin that never clips.
Approximate tonal placement, from brightest to darkest:
	•	Key-side skin highlights — forehead, nose bridge, cheekbone, lower lip — bright, textured, just below clipping
	•	Cyan rim — a thin bright cold edge, near the highlight value
	•	Key-side lit skin — upper mid-tones
	•	Emerald bright zone of the backdrop — mid-tones, saturated, below the lit skin
	•	Shadow-side skin — lower mid-tones to dark, readable
	•	Teal mid zone of the backdrop — dark mid-tones
	•	Hair — per the reference, from mid to near-black, with a lit edge on the key side and a cyan edge on the shadow side
	•	Turtleneck and the backdrop's lower corners — near-black
Approximate distribution of the frame:
	•	Backdrop, emerald to near-black teal: 30–40%
	•	Lit half of the face and neck: 18–25%
	•	Shadow half of the face and neck: 15–22%
	•	Hair: 10–16%
	•	Turtleneck: 8–14%
	•	Rim edge and speculars: 1–3%
Behavior:
	•	The lit half of the face is the brightest large area; its highlights retain pore texture
	•	The shadow half is deep — roughly 2.5 to 3 stops below the lit half — but every feature within it can be found
	•	The terminator is the sharpest tonal transition in the image
	•	The backdrop's brightest zone sits below the lit skin, so the head reads clearly against it
	•	High dynamic range: highlight texture and shadow detail coexist
Do NOT clip the lit skin to flat white. Do NOT crush the shadow half to featureless black. Do NOT lift the shadow half toward the lit half. Do NOT let the backdrop's bright zone compete with the lit skin. Do NOT flatten the image into an evenly lit, low-contrast result.

11. CAMERA LOOK
Editorial studio portraiture on a full-frame system.
Focal length: 85mm. Aperture: f/2.0 — shallow, with the face inside the plane of focus.
Focus:
	•	Critical focus on the near eye — the key-side eye
	•	Both eyes, brows, nose, lips, skin texture, hairline and facial hair fully sharp
	•	The far ear and the outer hair marginally softer
	•	The turtleneck's collar sharp, the shoulders marginally softer
	•	The backdrop fully out of focus, its gradient dissolved into smooth colour
Do NOT open so wide that one eye softens — both eyes must read sharp. Do NOT stop down so far that the backdrop gradient acquires structure. Do NOT render visible bokeh shapes. Do NOT introduce lens flare, chromatic aberration or a heavy applied vignette — the corner darkening is the backdrop gradient.

12. IMAGE QUALITY
Photorealistic at 8K, ultra-high detail. Visible skin pores across the lit forehead, nose, cheek and chin, with the raking key revealing every line and irregularity the reference carries; a subtle skin sheen on the forehead, nose bridge and cheekbone under the hard light — a natural moisture, not oil, not gloss. Fine facial texture on the shadow side, faintly present. Realistic hair texture: individually resolvable strands, the key catching the near side and the cyan rim catching the far edge; the hairline and any greying rendered accurately. Facial hair, where the reference shows it, as discrete individual hairs with visible skin beneath. Faint knit rib on the turtleneck's lit shoulder and collar fold. A hard-edged, physically correct nose shadow and terminator with a narrow penumbra. A crisp cyan rim with a clean falloff into the shadow skin. Natural highlight roll-off on the brightest skin. Very fine, clean grain.
No plastic, waxy or airbrushed skin. No plastic smoothing, no skin softening, no blemish or wrinkle removal. No added wrinkles or weathering. No excessive sharpening or edge halos. No artificial HDR tone-mapped appearance. No beauty-filter effect. No CGI, 3D-render or video-game surface quality.

13. COLOUR GRADING
A cinematic emerald-and-cyan grade with honest skin.
Palette:
	•	Backdrop: saturated emerald to deep teal — the dominant colour
	•	Rim: cool cyan — the accent, thin and confined to the edge
	•	Skin: natural and accurate to the reference, neutral-to-faintly-warm on the lit half, cooler and darker on the shadow half, with only the faintest cool contamination from the rim at the very edge
	•	Hair: the reference's own colour
	•	Turtleneck: neutral black
SKIN SEPARATION RULE — MANDATORY
The green lives in the backdrop and the cyan lives on the rim. The face keeps its own hue. There must be a clear, realistic separation between the skin and the emerald behind it — a viewer must be able to tell the subject's skin colour.
Tonal structure:
	•	Strong saturation in the backdrop and the rim, restrained everywhere else
	•	High but refined contrast: deep clean shadows with detail, bright textured highlights
	•	Neutral white balance on the key; cool only where the rim touches
Do NOT tint the skin green, teal or cyan. Do NOT let the backdrop colour flood the face. Do NOT push the skin toward orange, red or magenta as a "counter" to the green. Do NOT shift the emerald toward blue, yellow or grey. Do NOT apply a teal-orange, split-tone or filmic LUT look. Do NOT introduce a third accent colour. Do NOT lift the blacks into a faded or matte look. Do NOT allow banding in the backdrop gradient.

14. VISUAL HIERARCHY
The near eye → The terminator splitting the face → The lit half's skin texture → The cyan rim tracing the shadow side → The black collar against the jaw → The emerald field
The face is the subject; its texture, carved by one hard light, is the content. The rim is the single cold line that lifts the head off the green. The green is atmosphere, never a tint.

15. NON-NEGOTIABLE RULES
These must NEVER change between generations:
	•	Identity, sex, gender presentation, age, skin tone, build and skin texture from the reference — no lines added, none removed.
	•	Hair and facial hair from the reference; facial hair only if present; grey neither added nor removed.
	•	Camera straight-on at eye level, within 3 degrees.
	•	Head frontal within 5 degrees; a slight 2–4 degree tilt, crown toward the key side; chin level.
	•	Eyes into the lens or a fraction past it — reading as eye contact.
	•	Confident, calm, controlled expression; lips closed; no smile.
	•	Tight medium close-up: face, neck, upper chest; head 58–65% of frame height.
	•	5–9% headroom; backdrop visible beside the face; minimal empty space.
	•	Face centred at 48–52% of frame width.
	•	Sharp black full turtleneck, collar rolled to just below the jaw, no accessories.
	•	Deep emerald-to-teal smooth radial gradient backdrop, no pattern, no texture.
	•	Hard side key at 60–75 degrees off axis, 20–30 degrees above eye level.
	•	Clean-edged terminator just past the centreline; one half lit, one half in shadow.
	•	Key-to-fill 5:1 to 7:1 — detail in the shadows, shadow half never lifted.
	•	Thin cool cyan rim on the shadow side, 1 stop below key, 0.3–0.6% of frame width.
	•	No fourth light, no hair light, no white or warm rim.
	•	Lit skin bright and textured, never clipped; shadow skin 2.5–3 stops below, never crushed.
	•	Backdrop's bright zone below the lit skin in value.
	•	85mm at f/2.0; both eyes sharp; backdrop dissolved.
	•	Visible pores and subtle skin sheen; no plastic smoothing.
	•	Skin keeps its own hue — no green, teal or cyan cast on the face.
	•	No text, logos, watermarks, insets, panels, props, second figures or accessories.
	•	4:5 vertical aspect ratio at 8K.

16. REFERENCE PRIORITY SYSTEM
PRIORITY 1 — IDENTITY
Face, hair, facial hair, skin tone, skin texture, age, build, sex, gender presentation and natural likeness from the reference.
PRIORITY 2 — LIGHTING
The hard side key, the terminator, the 5:1–7:1 fill and the cyan rim.
PRIORITY 3 — COMPOSITION AND EXPRESSION
The tight centred close-up, the slight tilt and the controlled direct gaze.
PRIORITY 4 — BACKGROUND AND WARDROBE
The emerald gradient and the black turtleneck.
PRIORITY 5 — GRADE
The emerald-cyan grade with skin separation.
PRIORITY 6 — CAMERA
The 85mm f/2 look.
If the reference image conflicts with any of these instructions, preserve identity, anatomy, hair, facial hair, skin texture, build and natural likeness from the reference, and preserve lighting, composition, expression, background, wardrobe, grade and camera specification from this prompt.

17. NEGATIVE CONSTRAINTS
Identity errors
Do NOT generate:
	•	A change in the subject's sex, gender presentation, age, ethnicity, skin tone or build from the reference
	•	A generic "editorial", "powerful" or "magnetic" face imposed over the reference
	•	Added or removed lines, wrinkles, pores or texture
	•	A restyled, shortened or lengthened hairstyle; added or removed grey
	•	Added or removed facial hair
	•	An aged, de-aged, beautified, slimmed or widened face
	•	A sharpened jaw, sculpted cheekbones or hollowed face not in the reference
Lighting errors
Do NOT generate:
	•	A soft, large key with gradual shadows
	•	A key moved to the front, with the terminator at the far edge of the face
	•	Fill lifted until the shadow half reads as a mid-tone
	•	A shadow half crushed to featureless black
	•	A white, warm, green or any non-cyan rim
	•	A rim widened into a glow, halo or neon outline
	•	A rim wrapping onto the front of the face
	•	A rim on the key side
	•	A fourth light, a hair light or a background light creating a hotspot
	•	Flat, on-axis or ring-light illumination
	•	Butterfly, loop or frontal lighting patterns
Composition, gaze and expression errors
Do NOT generate:
	•	A low, high, dutch or tilted camera angle
	•	A three-quarter or profile head position
	•	A perfectly plumb head with no tilt, or a tilt beyond 4 degrees
	•	An eyes-only crop, or a chest-up, waist-up or full-body crop
	•	A cropped top of head, chin or side of face
	•	Generous empty space around the head
	•	An off-centre face
	•	A gaze clearly turned away from the lens
	•	A smile, visible teeth, scowl, squint, glare or theatrical intensity
	•	A warm, friendly, seductive, smouldering, heavy-lidded, blank or vacant look
	•	Wide-angle distortion
	•	One eye out of focus
	•	A backdrop with visible structure
	•	Visible bokeh shapes; lens flare; chromatic aberration; a heavy applied vignette
Wardrobe and background errors
Do NOT generate:
	•	A blazer, jacket, shirt, collar, mock neck or crew neck
	•	A grey, navy, charcoal or coloured turtleneck
	•	A collar folded down or exposing the neck
	•	A logo, pattern, contrast trim, zip or visible seams
	•	A jacket, coat, scarf or layered garment
	•	A watch, ring, chain, earrings, glasses or accessory not in the reference
	•	A backdrop outside the emerald-to-teal family
	•	A patterned, textured, mottled or seamed backdrop
	•	A hard spotlight, halo or hotspot behind the head
	•	Objects, furniture, props, walls, curtains or architecture
	•	Visible studio equipment
	•	Text, typography, logos, watermarks, borders or graphic elements
	•	An inset image, thumbnail, secondary photo, panel or collage element
	•	A second figure or a figure's shadow
Tonal, grade and rendering errors
Do NOT generate:
	•	Lit skin clipped to flat white
	•	An evenly lit, low-contrast result
	•	A backdrop bright zone competing with the lit skin
	•	Skin tinted green, teal or cyan
	•	Backdrop colour flooding the face
	•	Skin pushed to orange, red or magenta
	•	Emerald shifted to blue, yellow or grey
	•	A teal-orange, split-tone or filmic LUT look
	•	A third accent colour
	•	Lifted, faded or matte blacks
	•	Banding in the gradient
	•	Plastic, waxy, airbrushed or smoothed skin
	•	Beauty-filter or skin-softening effects
	•	Facial hair as a flat mask; grey hair as a tint
	•	Hair rendered as a smooth mass without strands
	•	Over-sharpened edges or halos
	•	Artificial HDR tone-mapped appearance
	•	Heavy noise or grain
	•	Asymmetrical or misaligned eyes caused by generation error
	•	Mismatched, missing or duplicated catchlights
	•	Deformed ears; distorted teeth
	•	Melted or discontinuous hair
	•	CGI, 3D render or video-game look
	•	Illustration, painting or stylized rendering

FINAL INSTRUCTION
Create the image as if the same photographer, same studio, same emerald gradient backdrop, same hard side key, subtle fill and cold cyan rim, same camera, same 85mm f/2 lens, same black turtleneck, same straight-on slightly-tilted pose and controlled gaze, same tight framing and same emerald-cyan grade photographed a completely different person — whoever the reference shows.
Only the identity of the subject should change. The light carves whatever face it is given.
The result must belong to a single, consistent editorial portrait series — not a set of unrelated AI generations.
IDENTITY CHANGES. EVERYTHING ELSE STAYS LOCKED.

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