How to Snap the Perfect Meal Photo

CalMind's AI is powerful, but it needs good data to work with. Just like a blurry photo makes it hard for your friends to see what you're eating on Instagram, it makes it hard for the AI to calculate calories.

Follow these 3 simple rules to get maximum accuracy every time.

1. Find the Light

Lighting is everything. Shadows can hide ingredients or distort the color, making "grilled chicken" look like "fried chicken."

2. The 45-Degree Angle

While top-down "flat lay" photos look great on social media, they are bad for volume estimation because they hide the height of the food (`depth`).

Take your photo at a roughly 45-degree angle (like how you naturally look at a plate while sitting). This allows the AI to see both the width and the height of the food pile.

3. Separation Matters

If you have a burger, fries, and coleslaw, try not to stack them into one giant mountain. If the items are distinct, the AI can segment them much better.