What photo to use for an AI photo edit: a checklist

Sharpness comes first, because a soft face gives the tool little to work from. Open the photo at full size and zoom in on your face. If your eyes, eyebrows and lips have clean edges, the photo is sharp enough. If they look smeared or soft, choose another picture.

Your whole face should be in view, from forehead to chin. Move hair away from your eyes. Avoid sunglasses, wide-brimmed hats, scarves over the mouth and hands touching the face. Regular glasses are fine when the frames and reflections do not cover your eyes.

Soft daylight from a window, or open shade outdoors, is the safest choice. It shows your features evenly and gives the tool clean skin tones to work from. A single direction, such as a window to one side, also works, because it shapes the face with gentle shadow.

Avoid strong overhead sun that leaves dark shadows around the eyes, direct flash that bleaches the skin, and strongly colored light such as neon. Skip backlit photos too. When a bright window sits behind you, your face falls into shadow and the tool has little to read.

A selfie can work well when you take it with care. Hold the phone at eye level, not above or below, and keep it a little farther away than feels natural. A close wide-angle selfie exaggerates the nose and distorts the proportions of the face, and the tool may treat that distortion as your real face.

Use a timer or ask a friend if you can. Face the camera or turn only slightly, and choose a calm expression you would be happy to keep. Tools often carry over the expression from the source, so a relaxed look is easier to work with than a tense one.

Beauty modes and filters change your face before your AI image tool sees it. Smoothed skin, a slimmer jaw or larger eyes become part of the source, so the edit builds on a face that is not quite yours. Turn them off, or choose an unfiltered photo from your camera roll.

Choose a photo with one person in it. In a group photo the tool may pick the wrong face or blend features between people. If a group photo is your only good option, crop it to your face and check that the crop is still sharp.

Use the original file from your camera. Screenshots and copies saved from chat apps or social networks are often compressed. A photo from a recent phone camera is usually large enough. A small thumbnail is not.

For framing, head and shoulders, or head to waist, gives the tool enough to work with. Leave some room above your head and around your shoulders so nothing is cut off. A full-length photo taken from far away shows little detail of your face.

Most real photos miss one or two points, so work with what you have. The quickest fix is a new photo. Stand facing a window in daylight, hold the phone steady at eye level, take several frames and pick the sharpest.

If you only have older photos, choose the sharpest one and crop away distractions. Brighten a dark photo a little, but do not smooth the skin or add a filter. If a good photo has sunglasses or a hat, look for another frame without them.

No photo can promise a match, because every tool responds differently. Compare the result with your original, and try a second source photo before you rewrite the prompt. Before you add it to your tool, run this quick check.

• Eyes, eyebrows and lips look sharp at full size
• Your whole face is visible and nothing covers it
• The light is soft and even, or comes from one side
• The camera is at eye level and your expression is calm
• No filter, beauty mode or other people in the frame
• It is the original file, not a screenshot