How to Choose the Best Photos for a Personalized Book

The quick checklist

• The face is clearly visible and facing the camera, or close to it.
• The lighting is even, with no harsh shadows across the face.
• The photo is sharp and not blurry.
• There is one person or pet in the photo.
• Nothing covers the face, such as sunglasses, a big hat, or a hand.

Use a separate photo for each character

If you want a sibling, a parent, and a pet in the story, upload a separate photo of each. Group photos make it harder to tell who is who. When you add each character, give them the right name so the story refers to them correctly.

Natural light beats a flash

A photo taken near a window or outdoors in soft light usually shows a face better than one taken with a flash. Avoid strong backlighting, where the face is dark against a bright background.

Choose a recent photo

Children change quickly. A recent photo makes the illustrated character look like your child today, not a year ago. For adults, any recent clear photo works well.

Pets

For a pet, choose a photo taken at eye level where the face is visible, ideally with the whole head in the frame. Pets that are looking toward the camera usually work best.

What to avoid

• Heavy filters or effects that change the face.
• Very small, low-resolution photos.
• Photos where the face is turned far away or cut off at the edge.
• Photos with several similar-looking people close together.

Preview before you buy

With MagiMoments you can preview the complete book and edit names, text, and images before checkout, so you can see how the photos came out and change anything that is not right.