The five-minute setup

  1. Stand facing a window or soft light source. Avoid strong light from only one side.
  2. Place the camera at eye level, not above or below your face.
  3. Move the camera roughly an arm’s length away and use modest zoom if available.
  4. Look straight into the lens with your head level and a relaxed, neutral expression.
  5. Keep hair, hands and accessories from covering the outline of the face.

Why distance matters more than most people expect

A phone held very close to the face exaggerates perspective. Features near the center of the frame can appear larger relative to the ears and jaw. Moving farther away reduces this effect. If your phone allows it, a small amount of optical zoom can help fill the frame without returning to a close viewpoint.

Avoid ultra-wide camera modes and screenshots from video calls. Both can introduce distortion or compression that weakens landmark placement.

Use even, soft light

Soft frontal light preserves visible edges without creating deep shadows. A bright window in front of you is often enough. Overhead spotlights can hollow the eye area; strong side light can change the apparent symmetry of the nose, cheeks and jaw.

Do not use a beauty filter, portrait relighting effect or face reshaping mode. Those tools may move or smooth the same boundaries that the analyzer needs.

Keep the pose neutral and repeatable

Small head rotations create large left-right changes in a 2D image. Keep both ears similarly visible when possible, center the nose, and avoid raising one shoulder. A relaxed mouth helps with lower-face measurements; a broad smile changes cheek and jaw geometry.

For comparisons: save the camera position, lighting direction and expression. A repeatable setup is more informative than a higher score from a different pose.

Image requirements

  • JPEG, PNG or WebP.
  • 10MB or smaller.
  • At least 256 pixels on the shorter side; 480 pixels or more is recommended for finer measurements.
  • Exactly one clearly visible adult face.
  • No heavy blur, darkness or extreme head angle.

Common rejection messages, translated

No face found

The face may be too small, obscured, dark or outside the frame. Move into even light and crop so the head and shoulders fill most of the image.

More than one face

Use a solo portrait. Even a face on a poster or screen can occasionally be detected.

Turn or tilt is too strong

Level the line between your eyes and point your nose toward the camera. Do not try to correct the result by tilting the phone in the opposite direction.

Image is too dark or flat

Face a brighter diffuse light and clean the camera lens. Avoid standing with a bright window behind you.

Choose honesty over perfection

The best analysis photo is not necessarily the most flattering photograph. It is the most neutral, clear and repeatable. Once you have a reliable baseline, you can use the report’s presentation suggestions for a second portrait—and understand exactly what changed.