How to photograph a prescription so it reads correctly

A good photo is the cheapest way to avoid a wrong medicine on a reminder. These habits take under a minute.

Use daylight and a flat surface

Place the paper on a table near a window. Shadows from your phone or hand across the writing are the most common reason a line is misread.

Fill the frame, keep it square

Get close enough that the paper fills the screen, and hold the phone directly above it. A slanted photo bends the lines and squeezes the dose column.

One page, one photo

If the prescription runs onto a second page, photograph each page separately so no line is cut off at the edge.

Always check against the paper

Whatever reads your photo, compare every medicine, dose and timing with the original before you confirm. Handwriting is hard, and you are the last check.