By Portrait Gift Team | July 18, 2026 | 4 min read
You do not need a photo with everyone in it. Here is how a family portrait that includes someone who has passed is made from separate photos — which photo of them to choose, what works when all you have is an old print, and how the finished piece comes together.
The request usually starts the same way: "We never got a photo with all of us together." A father who passed before the grandchildren were born, a mother missing from the wedding photos, a family that simply never ended up in the same frame. The good news is that a family portrait does not need a family photo. It is painted from separate photos — one per person — which means the photo of your loved one can come from a different decade than everyone else's, and the finished piece will still read as one moment together.
Instead of cutting people out of different pictures and pasting them together, the portrait is created as one new scene. Each person's face is taken from their own photo and painted into that shared scene, so everyone ends up in the same light, at the same scale, in the same style. That single detail is what separates a real family portrait with a deceased loved one from a photo-editing merge, where mismatched lighting and grain make the added person look pasted in.
Practically, that means your job is just to gather one clear photo per person. They do not need to match each other in any way — different days, different places, different cameras, different decades are all fine.
This is the photo families agonize over most, so here is the honest rule: pick the one where their face is sharpest, not the one from the most meaningful occasion. The occasion does not survive into the portrait — the background and clothing are replaced by the new scene — but facial detail does.
The same photo fundamentals apply to everyone else in the portrait — our guide on how to choose the best photo for a custom portrait covers the two-minute checklist for lighting, angle and sharpness.
There are two broad conventions for memorial portraits, and this choice shapes the whole piece:
The person who has passed simply stands or sits with everyone else, painted the same way, no visual separation. This is what most families choose — the point of the portrait is usually the moment that never got photographed, and this version gives you exactly that.
Some families prefer a subtle cue — the loved one slightly behind the group, a hand resting on a shoulder from behind, or a softer treatment. This reads as "with us, in memory" rather than "present that day." It is a matter of taste, not correctness; say what you want and the scene is composed around it.
Styles range from classic oil-painting looks to themed scenes, and the same canvas sizing applies as any family piece — the canvas size guide covers what works over a sofa versus on a shelf.
A memorial family portrait is priced the same as any custom family portrait — being painted from separate photos, or including someone who has passed, does not add anything. You upload the photos, see a free preview of the combined portrait in seconds, and only order once the likeness feels right. That preview step matters more here than for any other portrait: you are the only judge of whether it looks like them, so check before paying, and try a second photo of your loved one if the first attempt does not capture them.
One clear photo per person is all it takes — a recent shot of each living family member and the sharpest photo you have of the one you lost. Painted into a single scene with shared light and style, the result is the family photo that never got taken, rather than a reminder that it did not.
Yes. The portrait is painted fresh from separate photos — one per person — so someone who has passed is included exactly the same way as everyone else. Their face is taken from the best photo you have of them and painted into the same scene, in the same light and style as the rest of the family.
Old photos are the most common starting point for memorial portraits and they usually work well, as long as the face is reasonably sharp. Scan the print at the highest resolution you can instead of photographing it at an angle, and choose the shot where their face is clearest — even if it is decades old or black and white.
No. Each person is painted from their own photo, so a photo of your grandfather from 1985 sits naturally next to a photo of your kids from last month. You choose how each person is remembered — many families deliberately pick the age their loved one is remembered at best.
No — nothing is cut and pasted. The artwork is painted as one new scene, so everyone shares the same lighting, proportions and style. That is the difference between combining photos into a portrait and merging photos in an editing app, where mismatched light and grain give the join away.
Yes. Pets are added from their own photo just like people, and portraits that bring together the whole family — including a dog or cat who has passed — are among the most requested memorial pieces we make.