A method for determining a tube current profile for the recording of at least one X-ray image of body region of a patient with an X-ray image recording device, a corresponding computer program, a machine-readable data carrier and an X-ray image recording device are disclosed. The method includes acquisition of an image recorded via an optical sensor wherein the image has a field of view including at least the body region of the patient to be depicted by way of an X-ray image； determination of at least one piece of patient-specific, body-related information for the patient from the image； determination of an X-ray attenuation distribution of the patient at least for the body region to be depicted by way of an X-ray image with reference to the at least one piece of patient-specific, body-related information； and determination of the tube current profile with reference to the X-ray attenuation distribution determined.
