How to Take a Photo for AI Facial Analysis

Light matters most

• Daylight, facing the window, without direct sun.
• No ceiling light and no side lamp — they create false shadows.
• No flash: it washes out skin color and shifts the undertone.
• An overcast day is ideal light, not bad light.

Angle and framing

1. Phone at eye level, never from below or above.
2. Face frontal, shoulders visible.
3. Hair pulled back, forehead and jawline visible.
4. Distance of about 50 cm — close enough for eye color to be visible.

What to turn off

• Every filter, "beauty" mode and skin smoothing.
• Glasses, if possible (glare hides the shape of the eye).
• Heavy makeup — foundation in the wrong shade skews the undertone reading.
• Colorful backgrounds that reflect color onto the face.

The most common mistakes and what results from them

Yellow artificial light almost always produces a "warm undertone" reading even for cool types — the same problem that comes up when buying foundation online, described in how to get the right foundation shade online. A photo taken from below elongates the jaw and skews the face-shape assessment, and heavy makeup hides your natural contrast.

Privacy

You send the photo because the analysis isn't possible without it, but it's worth knowing where it's stored and for how long. Our analysis uses the image to generate the report and does not display it publicly.

If you're not sure your photo is good, take two — one by the window and one in another room. The difference in the result is the best lesson about light.