Before you shoot

What to check in the hour before you shoot.

These are checkable in any order, ideally the hour before. Each one exists because it measurably shifts skin color in the photo.

• ≥1 hour since the gym, a run, or a hot shower. why: exercise flush lasts 15–60 minutes and reads as ruddiness the pipeline can't separate from your real skin
• Glasses off 15+ minutes before shooting. why: nose-pad marks are two pink ovals right where light hits the bridge. They fade in minutes once the glasses are off
• No product on the face: no moisturizer with tint, no sunscreen residue, nothing. why: even sheer coverage sits between the camera and your undertone
• No self-tanner in the last ~10 days. Real tan: wait 3–4 weeks, or accept that results skew darker and warmer. why: a tan raises melanin, drops the depth reading, and warms the undertone reading. Compare your face to your inner upper arm: if they differ a lot, you're tanned
• Same shave state every session: clean-shaven both times, or 3-day stubble both times. why: stubble reads gray-blue and cools the lower face; changing it between sessions breaks the repeat-session comparison
• Every screen in the room off or asleep: monitor, laptop, TV. why: displays glow onto your face; Night Shift modes cast amber, normal mode casts blue, and it lands exactly where the window light doesn't
• White/light-gray top or shirtless. Nothing saturated anywhere near you. why: colored fabric bounces its hue onto your jaw and neck. The camera records it as your skin