Smartphone cameras are getting better at capturing detail, but for people with different skin tones, taking a good portrait is not only about sharpness or resolution.
How accurately a camera represents complexion, texture and colour can also determine how natural the final image looks.
This is the challenge Tecno is seeking to address with the Camon 50’s Universal Tone 3.0 imaging technology, which uses skin-tone data, a multi-skin-tone colour reference system and artificial intelligence to improve the way different complexions are rendered in photographs.
The technology is being put to a local test through 100 Portraits of Becoming, a global portrait project created with Brazilian photographer and artist Angélica Dass.
The Kenyan chapter, concluded on September 29, features 20 Kenyans photographed using the Tecno Camon 50 Ultra in different environments and lighting conditions.
Rather than relying entirely on controlled studio photography, the project places subjects in settings connected to their everyday lives and work.
According to Tecno, “That distinction matters in Kenya, where smartphone users routinely take photographs in bright outdoor light, shade, offices, homes and other mixed-light environments.”
Universal Tone 3.0 is designed to maintain differences between complexions rather than processing faces towards a single skin-tone standard.
It aims to preserve the colour and texture of each person’s skin while adjusting for changing lighting conditions.
For users, the practical question is whether this translates into photographs that look closer to the person standing in front of the camera.
The 20 Kenyan portraits provide one attempt at answering that question.
Among those photographed are Mutua Alex Muli, co-founder of Goshen Farm, Jelimo Cheboi, co-founder of GirlSkate Nairobi, Anita Mbithe, founder of Brushes By Mbithee, Beauty and Hair, and Brian Muchiri, founder of Boy in The Wheelchair.
Their inclusion also shifts the project beyond a conventional smartphone camera demonstration.
The accompanying interviews explore the work and circumstances behind each person’s current position, including Muli’s decision to remain in his hometown and build agricultural opportunities, and Cheboi’s work creating a supportive space for female skateboarders.
“There was no place for us, so we created one,” Cheboi said, describing the motivation behind GirlSkate Nairobi.
The project is part of TECNO’s wider Camon 50 Sees You campaign, but its technology component raises a broader issue for smartphone photography: whether AI-powered image processing can make photographs more representative of the people they capture without making every face look processed in the same way.
Dass, whose portrait work has focused on identity, diversity and representation, provides the artistic direction for the project, while Tecno supplies the imaging technology.
Kenya is the first stop in the two-year project, which is expected to produce 100 portraits across five countries, Kenya, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Brazil.
The full 100 Portraits of Becoming project is available through Tecno’s project website.
