A camera app for our own food photos
A lightbox gave me a place to photograph our dishes. I wanted the phone to remember the settings too, so I asked AI to help build a camera app.
On 26 and 27 October, I was working on a small tool for the kitchen: an iPhone camera app for photographing food in a lightbox. I wanted people looking at Chloe’s Mama Kitchen’s menu to see the dishes we actually make. I also wanted to photograph them under similar lighting and from the same angles, so the pictures would sit together more consistently.
I had bought a lightbox with an opening at the top and another at the front. The openings could be covered, and I could photograph a dish from above or from the front. That gave me a more controlled place to take the photos. I still wanted the phone to remember its shutter speed, ISO and white balance, so I could return to the same setup next time.
I looked for an app that suited this way of working and did not find one that fitted what I needed. So I asked AI to help me make one. We called it Lightbox Cam. It lets me adjust the camera settings and save a separate preset for each shooting position. Returning to that position restores its settings, rather than leaving me to enter them all again.
We added some help while composing the shot too. The app checks where the product sits in the frame, how much space it takes up and whether its visible outline is tilted. It can suggest moving it or changing the framing. Level and angle indicators help me place the phone in the intended posture. These guides give me something concrete to check; I still need to look at the photograph itself.
There is also an optional AI composition check using Apple’s local Foundation Models on supported devices. It takes the current frame and measurements when requested, then returns suggestions. That is separate from the ongoing placement guides. My iPhone 14 Pro Max does not support this local-model feature, so I am not treating my experience with the camera as proof that I have tested that part on my phone.
I found the app useful for my own workflow and thought other people photographing products might find it useful too. I decided to submit it to the App Store. When I described this experience on 27 October, it was still in the review process, with release to follow if approved. What had started as a way to remember my lightbox settings had become an app I could use, and I will keep judging it by how well the actual photos show our food.
