Every week we see two portraits ordered on the same day: one from a crisp window-lit phone photo, one from a dim screenshot of a ten-year-old group shot. Same product, same price — completely different result. The single biggest thing you control in a custom portrait is not the style or the size; it is the photo you upload. Here is how to pick a good one in about two minutes.
The three things that actually matter
Found the right photo? Upload it and see your custom portrait in seconds — the preview is free.
Create My Custom Portrait1. Light
Even, natural light is the whole game. A photo taken facing a window, or outside on an overcast day, gives the artwork clean detail in the eyes and skin. Avoid harsh overhead light (raccoon shadows under the eyes), strong backlight (the face goes dark), and heavy filters — a beauty filter smooths away exactly the detail the portrait is built from.
2. Angle
Straight-on or close to it. A portrait is constructed around the eyes, nose and mouth, so a face turned more than about 45 degrees, tilted way up or down, or half-hidden behind someone's shoulder forces guesswork. Eye level, both eyes visible, chin roughly level — that is it.
3. Sharpness and size
The face should fill a decent part of the frame and be in focus when you zoom in. Any modern phone photo has plenty of resolution; what kills detail is distance (a face that is 40 pixels wide in a vacation panorama) and copies-of-copies — screenshots of screenshots, images saved out of chat apps repeatedly, or heavy crops of already-small photos.
What you can safely ignore
The background. It gets replaced entirely by the artwork — armor and fjords in a Viking couple portrait, a saloon in a cowboy scene, drapery in a royal one. So do not reject an otherwise great photo because of a messy room or strangers behind you. Clothing does not matter either; the portrait dresses everyone for the scene.
What to avoid
- Sunglasses and hat brims over the eyes — the eyes carry the likeness, and nothing downstream can invent them.
- Motion blur — zoom in on the face; if it is soft, pick another shot.
- Extreme expressions — a natural smile or calm face translates better than mid-laugh or duck-face.
- Tiny faces in big group shots — crop one person per photo, or better, use separate photos per person.
Picking photos for couples and families
You do not need one photo with everyone in it. One clear, front-facing photo per person — taken on different days, in different places, at different ages, it all works — gives each face full detail. This is also how a family portrait with a deceased loved one is made: an old photo of them, recent photos of everyone else, brought together in one scene. For an old photo, choose the sharpest print you have and scan it rather than photographing it at an angle.
A quick two-minute checklist
- Zoom into the face — is it sharp?
- Can you clearly see both eyes?
- Is the light on the face even, with no hard shadows or backlight?
- Is it a first-generation photo (not a screenshot of a forwarded copy)?
- One photo per person for group portraits?
Five yeses and you are done. If two photos both pass, upload both — previews are free, so let the results decide. And if you are torn on style rather than photo, our guide on how to turn a photo into an oil painting walks through the classic looks.
The bottom line
Sharp face, even light, eyes visible, straight-on angle. Ignore the background, skip the sunglasses, and give each person their own photo. Do that and any style you pick — Viking, royal, oil painting, cowboy — will come back looking like it was painted from life.