DALL-E 2 vs Midjourney

I wanted to compare DALL-E 2 vs Midjourney, as Midjourney has recently enabled users to use –test and –testp to upgrade their images and make them much more realistic. Using –test and –testp (test being a more creative improvement and testp leaning towards more photorealistic improvement) and comparing to current DALL-E 2 outputs.

So I chose a variety of prompts to give DALL-E 2 and Midjourney, chose what I considered to be the best from each one and decided on a Winner (and therefore a loser!) from each comparison.

Toronto TTC Streetcars

“a photograph of a TTC streetcar on the street in downtown Toronto, foggy, winter, tall buildings, TTC streetcar, Canada, photography, street photography, city, 8K, realistic, detailed, real world”

DALLE2 "a photograph of a TTC streetcar on the street in downtown Toronto, foggy, winter, tall buildings, TTC streetcar, Canada, photography, street photography, city, 8K, realistic, detailed, real world"
DALL-E 2 streetcar
midjourney "a photograph of a TTC streetcar on the street in downtown Toronto, foggy, winter, tall buildings, TTC streetcar, Canada, photography, street photography, city, 8K, realistic, detailed, real world"
Midjourney Streetcar

The Dalle streetcar image is pretty, but lacks detail. It looks like a painting despite me asking for a photograph in the prompt. The Midjourney image is much more realistic.

Winner = Midjourney

Eyes

“a human eye, macro photography, 8K, realistic, highly detailed”

DAlle2 "a human eye, macro photography, 8K, realistic, highly detailed"
DALL-E 2 eye
midjourney "a human eye, macro photography, 8K, realistic, highly detailed"
Midjourney eye

Dalle’s eye is more photo realistic and Midjourney’s is more stylised and arty.

Winner = DALL-E 2

Cyberpunk

“a cyberpunk man standing with the skyline of a cyberpunk city in the background, 8K, octane render, unreal engine, volumetric lighting, highly detailed, cinematic, realistic”

DAlle2 "a cyberpunk man standing with the skyline of a cyberpunk city in the background, 8K, octane render, unreal engine, volumetric lighting, highly detailed, cinematic, realistic"
DALL-E 2 cyberpunk
midjourney "a cyberpunk man standing with the skyline of a cyberpunk city in the background, 8K, octane render, unreal engine, volumetric lighting, highly detailed, cinematic, realistic"
Midjourney Cyberpunk

Dalle’s image is dreadful here.

Winner = Midjourney

Teddy Bears

“a studio photograph of a cute teddy bear, realistic”

dalle2 "a studio photograph of a cute teddy bear, realistic"
DALL-E 2 teddy bear
Midjourney "a studio photograph of a cute teddy bear, realistic" DALL-E 2 vs Midjourney
Midjourney teddy bear

Both are nice images, but Dalle’s is more realisitc.

Winner = DALL-E 2

President Spongebob

“Official portrait photograph of United States President Spongebob Squarepants, sitting in the oval office, smiling at the camera and wearing a suit with blue tie, professional photography”

dalle 2 "Official portrait photograph of United States President Spongebob Squarepants, sitting in the oval office, smiling at the camera and wearing a suit with blue tie, professional photography"
DALL-E 2 President Spongebob
dalle 2 "A journey to the underworld"
Midjourney President Spongebob

Midjourney’s image is nice, but completely misses the Spongebob component of the prompt.

Winner = DALL-E 2

Underworld

“A journey to the underworld”

DALL-E 2 underworld
midjourney "A journey to the underworld"
Midjourney underworld

Dalle’s image is very literal (a man exploring a cave) while Midjourney’s is realistic but still outworldly and intriguing.

Winner = Midjourney

1980s apartment

“stylish apartment from 1980s Miami, furnishings in 80s style, pink and blue colour scheme, magazine photography, 1980s”

dalle 2 "stylish apartment from 1980s Miami, furnishings in 80s style, pink and blue colour scheme, magazine photography, 1980s"
DALL-E 2 80s apartment
midjourney "stylish apartment from 1980s Miami, furnishings in 80s style, pink and blue colour scheme, magazine photography, 1980s"
Midjourney 80s apartment

Both capture the atmosphere but Midjourney’s is far more realistic.

Winner = Midjourney

Bibimbap

“food photography of bibimbap”

dalle 2 AI generated "food photography of bibimbap"
DALL-E 2 bibimbap
midjourney "food photography of bibimbap"
Midjourney bibimbap

Both are great but Dalle’s image is more accurate in terms of the ingredients in an actual bowl of Bibimbap.

Winner = DALL-E 2

Brutalist

“A man walking through the spacious hall of a cavernous brutalist building, concrete, imposing, brutalist architecture, 8K, realistic, moody”

dalle 2 "A man walking through the spacious hall of a cavernous brutalist building, concrete, imposing, brutalist architecture, 8K, realistic, moody" DALL-E 2 vs Midjourney
DALL-E 2 Brutalist
midjourney "A man walking through the spacious hall of a cavernous brutalist building, concrete, imposing, brutalist architecture, 8K, realistic, moody"
Midjourney brutalist

Midjourney’s is more realistic and atmospheric.

Winner = Midjourney

Woman smiling

“a close up portrait photograph of a young woman with red hair and freckles laughing and looking directly into the camera, portrait photography, studio lighting, detailed, 8K”

DAlle2 "a close up portrait photograph of a young woman with red hair and freckles laughing and looking directly into the camera, portrait photography, studio lighting, detailed, 8K"
DALL-E 2 smiling woman
midjourney "a close up portrait photograph of a young woman with red hair and freckles laughing and looking directly into the camera, portrait photography, studio lighting, detailed, 8K"
Midjourney smiling woman

This is a good prompt to show the differences between Midjourney and DALL-E 2. Dalle’s image is more realistic, while Midjourney’s is too but in different ways. Tough choice but going to go with Dalle purely because if you squint your eyes it looks more realistic.

Winner = DALL-E 2

Velociraptor eating pizza

“a Lomography photograph of a velociraptor eating pizza in New York City”

DALL-E 2 velociraptor eating pizza
"a Lomography photograph of a velociraptor eating pizza in New York City" mid journey
Midjourney velociraptor eating pizza

Dalle captures the lomography aspect of the prompt correctly, while not getting the velociraptor part correct. Instead it’s clearly an iguana eating pizza. Midjourney gets it more right but lacks the lomography aspect. It looks more like an illustration than a photo.

Winner = DALL-E 2

Corgi

“a photo realistic photograph of a corgi, 8K”

a photo realistic photograph of a corgi, 8K dalle2
a photo realistic photograph of a corgi, 8K midjourney

In this case both are lovely images, but Midjourney’s leans more towards a painting of a corgi than a photo of one.

Winner = DALL-E 2

Blackbird 

“Blackbird SR-71 flying above the clouds, photograph, film grain, 1970s, view above, high quality, realistic”

Blackbird SR-71 flying above the clouds, photograph, film grain, 1970s, view above, high quality, realistic dalle2
DALL-E 2 blackbird
Blackbird SR-71 flying above the clouds, photograph, film grain, 1970s, view above, high quality, realistic Midjourney
Midjourney blackbird

Midjourney is the clear winner here.

Winner = Midjourney

Fynbos

“a photograph of fynbos flowers in South Africa”

fynbos DALL-E 2 vs Midjourney
DALL-E 2 fynbos
fynbos DALL-E 2 vs Midjourney
Midjourney fynbos

Fynbos“, literally ‘fine bush’ in Afrikaans, is the name for the unique flora of the Western Cape in South Africa. Both DALL-E 2 and Midjourney images are great. But going to give the win to Midjourney as it’s slightly more photo realistic.

Winner = Midjourney

Final Results of DALL-E 2 vs Midjourney

So in this epic contest the final results are

  • DALL-E = 7 wins
  • Midjourney = 7 wins

A tie! Who would’ve suspected?

These tools are both great and I would encourage you to check them out on your own!

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