photography-aesthetic-control

name	photography-aesthetic-control
description	Use when curating or generating photographs for a luxury brand. Hidden aesthetic markers (color cast, depth, framing) signal brand.

Photography Aesthetic Control

Editorial photography has a consistent color cast, depth bias, framing convention. Treat photo style like type — define and enforce it.

Editorial photo markers

1. Color cast: warm cream or cool steel; never saturated
2. Depth: shallow depth of field, foreground subject in focus
3. Framing: off-center subject; rule of thirds; negative space
4. Light: natural or soft directional; never flat overhead
5. Texture: visible grain or film texture; never plastic-smooth
6. Composition: cropped tighter than natural snapshot

Common bad photography signals

1. Stock-photo grin (over-staged)
2. Flat overhead lighting (Zoom-call aesthetic)
3. Generic 'people-pointing-at-screen' framing
4. Over-saturated color
5. Plastic skin-smoothing
6. Watermarks (Shutterstock, Adobe Stock)
7. Logo placement on photo subject

Photo treatment in CSS

.photo {
  filter: contrast(1.05) saturate(0.92);
  border-radius: 0; /* sharp corners on editorial */
  box-shadow: 0 2px 24px rgba(0,0,0,0.06);
}

Apply globally to maintain consistency across the brand.

Where this fits in the X3 empire

Used across CardPrepAI brand photography.