Intro

• Cameras were typically calibrated and tested on lighter skin tones, leading to exposure and color inaccuracies when photographing darker skin.
• Brands like Snapchat and Google have worked alongside image makers and communities of color to build technology that's more equitable and culturally responsive.

Photo from Award winning movie by William Galperin

The inclusive camera concept ensures everyone is seen as they truly are in photos. It's a step toward image equity, making camera technology work fairly for all skin tones.

My Role

During my summer at Delhi Technological University, in collaboration with Snap, I worked on designing Inclusive Camera features that help make this vision real.

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Match Me

A feature that lets users set skin tone preferences for different lighting conditions. The would camera automatically adapt to preserve tone accuracy across environments.

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Ring Light Improvements

• Ring light was an existing feature on Snapchat which
  • Illuminates the boundaries of the screen when the front-facing camera is on.
  • Users can select the color and intensity of the light.

Ring Light preview

• I worked on bringing new ideas and improving the general UX of the feature such as:

  • Intelligent face tracking ensures the light never obscures facial features.

    

    Track my face and automatically get repositioned so that it never covers my face

  • A non-intrusive flash module keeps the ring light subtly integrated.

    

    Ring flash module that doesn’t cover the face

  • Includes an AR mode for a more natural, studio-quality glow.

    

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Post Capture Tone Mode

Allows users to fine-tune skin tone after capturing an image. The camera remembers the last position on the tone slider for consistent results.

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Smart Auto Settings

Automatically adjusts camera parameters based on histogram analysis to prevent clipping and maintain balanced exposure across all skin tones.

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