📸 Mastering Studio Photography for AI Curations
The quality of your photograph directly affects the quality of your critique. Follow this guide to ensure
the AI is judging your actual paint choices — not your studio lighting.
💡 Please Note: These steps represent the ideal studio setup for maximum colour
precision — but they are absolutely not essential. A quick snap from your mobile
phone works perfectly fine, as long as the photo is a clear, true representation of your actual artwork.
Come back to this guide later if you ever want to squeeze out extra colour accuracy.
Step-by-Step Photography Protocol
💡 Step 1 — Lighting
Use diffused, natural daylight or two neutral-white studio lights placed
at 45-degree angles to the artwork (one on each side). This eliminates hotspots and casts
even light across the entire surface.
Avoid:
- Yellow overhead household bulbs (they cast a warm tint that distorts your colour palette)
- A single direct light source (creates glare and one-sided shadows)
- Photographing in the evening under artificial light unless using colour-corrected LEDs
📐 Step 2 — Camera Angle
Stand perfectly parallel to the surface of your artwork. Hold your camera at the same
height as the centre of the piece and shoot straight on.
Avoid:
- Shooting upwards or downwards at an angle (introduces keystoning — vertical lines appear to converge)
- Shooting from the side (causes perspective distortion and uneven focus across the canvas)
✅ Pro tip: Use a tripod and a spirit level for the most accurate alignment.
⬜ Step 3 — The Colour Calibration Trick
Place a clean, standard piece of pure white printer paper flat against the edge of your
artwork so that it is visible in one corner of your photo frame.
Why the white paper matters:
Our AI uses the pure white paper as a baseline reference to calculate and subtract any yellow or blue colour
cast caused by your room's light bulbs. This ensures we judge your actual paint choices,
not your studio lighting! When you tick the 'I included a white reference object' checkbox on the
upload page, the AI activates a special calibration protocol before evaluating your colour harmony.
📷 Quick Reference Checklist
| ✅ | Checklist Item |
|---|
| ☐ | Natural daylight or two neutral-white lights at 45° |
| ☐ | Camera parallel to artwork — no angle |
| ☐ | White printer paper placed at one corner of the frame |
| ☐ | Artwork fills at least 80% of the frame |
| ☐ | No flash (causes glare and washes out texture) |
| ☐ | Image saved at full resolution before uploading |
🎨 Good vs. Poor Studio Photography
The same watercolour — photographed two ways. The difference is entirely in how it was captured.
✅ Good Photo
- 🌤️ Even, diffused light — no hotspots or shadows
- 📐 Straight-on angle — paper edges are parallel, no distortion
- 🎨 True colours — blues and ochres read exactly as painted
- 🖼️ Fills the frame — artwork is the focus, minimal border
- 🔍 Fine detail visible — washes and brushwork clear for the AI
❌ Poor Photo
- 💡 Single harsh light — bright hotspot top-right, dark shadows bottom-left
- 📐 Tilted angle — photographed from above, causing perspective distortion
- 🟡 Colour cast — warm artificial light shifts cool blues towards grey
- 🛏️ Distracting background — surroundings confuse the frame
- 📉 Lost detail — shadow areas lose the subtle watercolour texture