Getting the Best Photo of Your Document
By Immimaps2 min read
A clear photo of your proposal or contract makes the free document check faster and more accurate. The tips below take about 30 seconds to follow and make a real difference to how well our AI can read your document.
The basics
- Use daylight or bright indoor light. Avoid dim rooms or a single overhead bulb — even shadows across the page reduce legibility.
- Hold the camera parallel to the page. Keep your phone flat over the document. Angled shots distort text and make numbers harder to read.
- Don't use the flash. Flash creates hotspots that bleach out text. Natural or diffuse indoor light is better.
- Hold still. Rest your elbows on a desk or brace the phone to reduce blur. Even slight motion during the shot blurs fine print.
Resolution
Fill the frame with the document — zoom in so the page takes up most of the shot. A modern phone camera held at arm's length over an A4 sheet is ideal. The minimum long edge for reliable extraction is 1,600 px; below 1,000 px the tool will warn you.
Multi-page documents
- Photograph each page separately in good light.
- Add them in order using the Add more pages button on the upload card.
- Up to 10 pages are accepted per submission.
Make sure pages are in document order — the model reads them sequentially.
Common problems
| Symptom | Fix |
|---|---|
| Image too dark | Move near a window or turn on more lights. |
| Image overexposed | Avoid shooting against a bright window; turn off flash. |
| Image blurry | Rest the phone on a flat surface, or use a scanner app. |
| Resolution too low | Move closer to the page, or use a scanner app. |
| Text cut off | Step back so the full page is in frame, then crop afterward. |
Alternatives to a photo
- Scan the document. Free apps like Adobe Scan or Microsoft Lens produce clean, high-resolution PDFs — often better than a phone photo.
- Upload the original PDF. If you received the proposal or contract by email as an attachment, upload the file directly — no need to photograph it.
- Paste the text. Switch to the Paste tab and copy-paste the document text. This works well for digital-native documents you can select text from.
None of this changes what the check looks for — a clearer photo just means the report reads more of your document correctly the first time.