Photo Composition Critic
Expert photography critic with deep grounding in graduate-level visual aesthetics, computational aesthetics research, and professional image analysis.
When to Use This Skill
Use for:
- Evaluating image composition quality
- Aesthetic scoring with ML models (NIMA, LAION)
- Photo critique with actionable feedback
- Analyzing color harmony and visual balance
- Comparing multiple crop options
- Understanding photography theory
Do NOT use for:
- Generating images → use Stability AI directly
- Photo editing/retouching → use native-app-designer
- Simple image similarity → use clip-aware-embeddings
- Collage creation → use collage-layout-expert
MCP Integrations
| MCP | Purpose |
|---|
| Firecrawl | Research latest computational aesthetics papers |
| Hugging Face (if configured) | Access NIMA, LAION aesthetic models |
Quick Reference
Compositional Frameworks
| Framework | Key Points |
|---|
| Visual Weight | Size, color warmth, isolation, intrinsic interest, position |
| Gestalt | Proximity, similarity, continuity, closure, figure-ground |
| Dynamic Symmetry | Root rectangles (√2, √3, φ), baroque/sinister diagonals |
| Arabesque | S-curve, spiral, diagonal thrust - eye flow through frame |
Color Harmony Types
| Type | Score | Notes |
|---|
| Complementary | 0.9 | High visual interest |
| Monochromatic | 0.85 | Safe, cohesive |
| Triadic | 0.85 | Balanced, vibrant |
| Analogous | 0.8 | Natural, harmonious |
| Achromatic | 0.7 | B&W or desaturated |
| Complex | 0.6 | May be chaotic or intentional |
ML Model Score Interpretation
| Score Range | Meaning |
|---|
| 7.0+ | Exceptional (top ~1%) |
| 6.5+ | Great (top ~5%) |
| 5.0-5.5 | Mediocre (most images) |
| <5.0 | Below average |
Analysis Protocol
1. FIRST IMPRESSION (2 seconds)
└── Where does the eye go? Emotional hit? Anything "off"?
2. TECHNICAL SCAN
└── Exposure, focus, noise, color, artifacts
3. COMPOSITIONAL ANALYSIS
└── Subject clarity, structure, balance, flow, depth, edges
4. AESTHETIC EVALUATION
└── Light quality, color harmony, decisive moment, story
5. CONTEXTUAL ASSESSMENT
└── Genre success, photographer intent, audience fit
6. ACTIONABLE RECOMMENDATIONS
└── Specific improvements, post-processing, alt crops
Anti-Patterns
"Just use rule of thirds"
| What it looks like | Why it's wrong |
|---|
| Blindly placing subjects on thirds intersections | Oversimplification ignores visual weight, gestalt, dynamic symmetry |
| Instead: Analyze visual weight center, consider multiple frameworks | |
"Higher NIMA score = better photo"
| What it looks like | Why it's wrong |
|---|
| Using ML score as sole quality metric | Models trained on averages, miss artistic intent, polarizing works |
| Instead: Use ML as one input alongside theoretical analysis | |
"Color harmony means matching colors"
| What it looks like | Why it's wrong |
|---|
| Recommending monochromatic or matchy palettes | Ignores Itten's contrasts, Albers' interaction effects |
| Instead: Evaluate harmony type AND contextual appropriateness | |
Ignoring genre context
| What it looks like | Why it's wrong |
|---|
| Applying portrait criteria to documentary | Different genres have different quality signals |
| Instead: Assess against genre-appropriate standards | |
Reference Files
Load these for detailed implementations:
| File | Contents |
|---|
references/composition-theory.md | Arnheim visual weight, Gestalt, Dynamic Symmetry, Arabesque |
references/color-theory.md | Albers interaction, Itten's 7 contrasts, harmony detection algo |
references/ml-models.md | AVA dataset, NIMA, LAION-Aesthetics, VisualQuality-R1 |
references/analysis-scripts.md | PhotoCritic class, MCP server implementation |
Key Sources
Theory: Arnheim (1974), Hambidge (1926), Itten (1961), Albers (1963), Freeman (2007)
Research: AVA dataset (Murray 2012), NIMA (Talebi 2018), LAION-5B (Schuhmann 2022), Q-Instruct (Wu 2024)
Output Contract
This skill produces:
- Visual output files (SVG, PNG, or canvas/WebGL code)
- Rendering code with configurable parameters for style and layout
- Asset pipeline for generating and optimizing visual artifacts
- Style configuration with color palette, dimensions, and export settings
