quality-review

Quality Review

Step 2 of 5 in the photo intake pipeline. Reviews each photo for technical quality, editorial merit, and print-readiness before committing time to legal review and publishing.

Intake Sequence (Step 2 of 5)

1. Photo-Metadata-Helper — metadata, naming, subject-name embed
2. quality-review (this skill) — technical, editorial, print-readiness gate
3. property-release-review — depicted-object audit
4. model-release-review — depicted-person audit
5. reviewed-photo-publish — catalog entry, Stripe listing, remove from queue

If a photo fails quality review, do not proceed to steps 3–5 for that photo. Surface the failure and wait for user instruction.

🚨 MANDATORY FIRST ACTION: Downscale Every Image to 1024px Long Edge

Before reading or assessing ANY image, downscale to 1024px on the long edge. Process only the downscaled copy. If resize fails, HALT and prompt the user.

magick "$FILE" -resize "1024x1024>" "/tmp/qr_$(basename "$FILE")"

Read the downscaled file from /tmp/qr_* using the Read tool — never the full-res original. Clean up /tmp/qr_* after the review is complete.

See [[downscale-images-before-processing]] in project memory for the cross-cutting rule.

The Three Criteria

1. Technical Quality

Factor	PASS	CONDITIONAL PASS	FAIL
Focus	Primary subject sharp	Soft but subject identifiable; blur reads as intentional	Primary subject out of focus; unrecoverable
Exposure	Full tonal range; highlights and shadows retain detail	Mild clipping in non-critical areas	Blown highlights or crushed blacks in subject
Noise	Clean at expected print sizes	Visible noise; acceptable at smaller sizes only	Noise destroys detail; print unusable
Colour	Accurate or clearly intentional	Minor cast; correctable in post	Severe uncorrected cast that misrepresents the scene
Artefacts	None	Mild CA or minor vignetting	Heavy CA, banding, diffraction softness, JPEG blocking

Intentional creative choices (motion blur, grain film simulation, high contrast B&W) are not failures — read the image as a whole before flagging.

2. Editorial Merit

Factor	Questions to ask
Subject interest	Is there something worth stopping for? Is there a clear subject?
Composition	Does the framing serve the subject? Are there distracting elements that can't be cropped away?
Emotional / aesthetic impact	Rate as Strong, Adequate, or Weak
Catalog differentiation	Is this too similar to an existing entry in the same series? If so, which is stronger?

A photo needs at minimum Adequate on all four to PASS. Weak on two or more = FAIL.

3. Print-Readiness

All offered sizes (20×30, 40×60, 60×90 cm) share a 2:3 aspect ratio. Two checks are required: resolution and aspect ratio alignment.

3a. Aspect Ratio Check

Pull dimensions from EXIF (Photo-Metadata-Helper will have run first):

exiftool -ImageWidth -ImageHeight /root/Portraiture/inbox/My-Photo.jpg

Compute AR = width ÷ height (landscape) or height ÷ width (portrait — always use the longer edge in the numerator).

Tolerance: ±10% of 1.5 → acceptable range 1.364–1.636 (landscape), 0.606–0.733 (portrait).

Images outside this range require >10% linear crop to fit a 2:3 print — a material loss of content buyers are not told about. Restrict their sizes accordingly.

For images outside tolerance, compute the effective long edge after a 2:3 crop:

Image AR (L = long, S = short edge)	Effective long edge
Landscape, AR > 1.636 (wider than 2:3)	S × 1.5
Portrait, AR < 0.606 (taller than 2:3)	S × 1.5 (where S is the short/narrow edge)
Within tolerance 1.364–1.636	L (no crop penalty)

Use the effective long edge — not the raw pixel count — in the resolution check below.

3b. Resolution Check

Check effective long edge against the minimum at 240 dpi (the fine-art acceptable floor; 300 dpi is ideal):

Print size	240 dpi minimum long edge	300 dpi ideal long edge
20 × 30 cm (8 × 12 in)	2 835 px	3 543 px
40 × 60 cm (16 × 24 in)	5 670 px	7 087 px
60 × 90 cm (24 × 36 in)	8 505 px	10 630 px

If the effective long edge falls below 2 835 px (20×30 minimum), it is a FAIL. If it meets some sizes but not all, note the maximum supportable size — this is a CONDITIONAL PASS with a size restriction the user should factor into the listing.

Verdicts

Verdict	Meaning	Next step
✅ PASS	Meets all three criteria	Proceed to step 3 (property-release-review)
⚠️ CONDITIONAL PASS	Meets minimum bar; noted reservations	Proceed to step 3; carry reservations into listing notes
❌ FAIL	Does not meet the bar	Stop; surface reasons; wait for user instruction

Workflow

1. Scope — list the files under review; note pixel dimensions for each

2. Downscale — magick each file to /tmp/qr_*; HALT on any resize failure

3. Duplicate Check — before assigning any verdict, check for duplicates in two passes:

   Pass A — byte-identical (within batch):

   md5sum /tmp/qr_*.jpg | sort | awk 'seen[$1]++ { print "DUPLICATE:", $2 }'
   

   If any match: identify primary (earliest timestamp or highest resolution), report clearly, delete the duplicate from the batch, and proceed with only unique files.

   Pass B — semantic near-duplicates (within batch + against published catalog): After viewing the downscaled images in step 4, flag any pair where:

   • Same subject / same scene with near-identical framing (different angle or moment alone is not enough)
   • Same shoot, same prop, same model in essentially the same pose
   • Both images cover the same catalog slot without adding meaningfully different value

   For catalog-sweep reviews, also compare against existing entries by same-series keyword overlap + visual similarity.

   On detection: HALT and present both candidates to the user with titles, IDs, current Stripe/size state, and a one-sentence distinction. Do NOT remove either entry until the user explicitly confirms which to drop.

4. Assess — for each downscaled image, work through the three criteria in order

5. Verdict — assign PASS / CONDITIONAL PASS / FAIL; write one-line reasons for every CONDITIONAL or FAIL criterion

6. Report — structured table, one row per photo

7. Decision — for FAIL photos, surface options to the user:

   • Delete from inbox
   • Keep in inbox for re-edit / reshoot
   • Move to /root/Portraiture/rejected/ for later review

8. Proceed — PASS and CONDITIONAL PASS photos continue to property-release-review; FAIL photos wait

Report Format

Quality Review — {n} photos

| File | Technical | Editorial | Print-ready | Verdict | Notes |
|------|-----------|-----------|-------------|---------|-------|
| my-photo.jpg | PASS | Strong | 40×60 max | ⚠️ CONDITIONAL | Noise limits to 40×60cm and below |
| another.jpg  | PASS | Adequate | All sizes  | ✅ PASS | — |
| third.jpg    | FAIL | Weak     | All sizes  | ❌ FAIL | Subject out of focus; composition has no clear anchor |

For every ❌ FAIL row, follow with a short paragraph explaining the specific issue and what, if anything, could be done to recover it (crop, resend for re-edit, discard).

Calibrated Judgment

Do not fail a photo for stylistic choices you personally dislike. The question is whether the image meets a reasonable commercial fine-art standard — not whether you would have made the same creative decisions.

When uncertain, lean toward CONDITIONAL PASS with explicit notes rather than FAIL. The user has the final call on every FAIL.

Gotchas

• Duplicate check is mandatory at step 3 — both byte-identical (MD5) and semantic near-duplicates (same shoot, same subject). Do not assign verdicts until the duplicate scan is complete. Never remove an entry without explicit user confirmation of which to drop.
• No Stripe changes without explicit permission. Quality review produces verdicts and recommendations only. Do not archive products, deactivate prices, or modify any Stripe objects — not even as a "logical next step" after a sweep. Wait for the user to confirm before touching Stripe.
• Motion blur is often intentional in travel and documentary work — look at the whole image before flagging focus.
• Grain / high ISO noise in a documentary street photo may be a deliberate aesthetic.
• Check composition for both portrait and landscape crop potential — a photo that looks tight in one orientation may work in the other.
• Print dimensions are orientation-agnostic (20×30cm works for both 20 wide × 30 tall and the reverse) — use the longer pixel dimension vs. the longer print dimension.
• Aspect ratio matters for resolution. A wide-panoramic image (AR > 1.636) loses resolution when cropped to 2:3 — use the effective long edge (short edge × 1.5), not the raw long edge, when checking against the dpi thresholds.
• A photo that cannot support 60×90cm but supports 40×60cm and 20×30cm is a CONDITIONAL PASS, not a FAIL — note the maximum size in the listing.

When to invoke

• "quality review these photos"
• "are these good enough to sell"
• "check the photos before legal review"
• "editorial gate"
• "print-ready check"
• "quality check on the inbox"
• Any photo intake run after Photo-Metadata-Helper completes