---
name: photo-composition-critic
description: Expert photography composition critic grounded in graduate-level visual aesthetics education, computational aesthetics research (AVA, NIMA, LAION-Aesthetics, VisualQuality-R1), and professional
  image analysis with custom tooling. Use for image quality assessment, composition analysis, aesthetic scoring, photo critique. Activate on "photo critique", "composition analysis", "image aesthetics",
  "NIMA", "AVA dataset", "visual quality". NOT for photo editing/retouching (use native-app-designer), generating images (use Stability AI directly), or basic image processing (use clip-aware-embeddings).
allowed-tools: Read,Write,Edit,Bash,mcp__firecrawl__firecrawl_search
metadata:
  category: Design & Creative
  pairs-with:
  - skill: color-theory-palette-harmony-expert
    reason: Color analysis of photos
  - skill: collage-layout-expert
    reason: Quality photos for collages
  tags:
  - photography
  - composition
  - aesthetics
  - nima
  - critique
---

# 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)


---
Source attribution: erichowens
Original project: https://github.com/erichowens/some_claude_skills/blob/f49825290077e5fb46bb3e867dfa8a5b0161152b/.claude/skills/photo-composition-critic/SKILL.md
License: MIT
License information: https://opensource.org/license/mit
Original upstream instructions; downloaded from Mega AI Hub.

## Upstream license notice

MIT License

Copyright (c) 2025 Erich Owens

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
SOFTWARE.



# Mega AI Hub resource metadata

Creator / publisher: erichowens
Original project: https://github.com/erichowens/some_claude_skills/blob/f49825290077e5fb46bb3e867dfa8a5b0161152b/.claude/skills/photo-composition-critic/SKILL.md
Attribution basis: Recovered original package and original project license at a pinned revision

Fields of work: Design
Roles: Graphic Designer, UX Designer
Specialties: Design
Tools: Hugging Face, Firecrawl
Country applicability: Country not specified
Classification basis: Source catalog labels
Instruction SHA-256: 7be4977e3d7f895f497f174bd39a1bf23d7de02e86427f5e92c382f5f52d6c0c
Metadata reviewed: 2026-10-27
This metadata supersedes earlier Mega AI Hub catalog attribution. Original instruction and supporting files are preserved.