Could they use “thumb rules” if said species have thumbs? One that us fleshy puny humans use is the right hand rule where a third axis convention (up) corresponds with counterclockwise movement by the hand curl. Of course you could easily use the other hand since they’re arbitrary anyway.
All of the color photos by Sergei Prokudin-Gorsky are fantastic and dispell the myth that photos back then were all in black and white. And the developed color film looks so realistic too.