We can work with almost any pictures but if you are a perfectionist do the following
For 3D crystals:
- choose a portrait photo (medium shot) where the face/faces
are completely visible (frontal shot)
- choose a picture where the persons are more or less in the same plane or close to each other
- choose a photo with good sharpness, contrast and resolution
- avoid photos where some part of the head/heads is cropped
- avoid photos processed with so called "effects"
- avoid photos with caps/hats etc
- avoid photos with dark shadows or too much sun on the faces
- avoid photos with back-lit motifs
- avoid photos with objects in the foreground, at some distance from the motif, that cover the motif
Read also our replies to the most frequently asked questions about 3D crystals.
Recommendations for 2D (flat engraving) are simpler:
- chose a photo with high sharpness, contrast and resolution
- avoid dark photos
- avoid photos with large white areas
For color printing:
- chose a photo with high sharpness, contrast and resolution
For pendants:
- avoid dark photos
If you are uncertain, just send us an e-mail and attach your photo/photos.
Here you can see some photos that show what is BEST and what is WORSE for 3D crystals
(those are just recommendations for perfect results, we can, however, work with almost ANY pictures):
For 3D crystals:
- choose a portrait photo (medium shot) where the face/faces
are completely visible (frontal shot)
- choose a picture where the persons are more or less in the same plane or close to each other
- choose a photo with good sharpness, contrast and resolution
- avoid photos where some part of the head/heads is cropped
- avoid photos processed with so called "effects"
- avoid photos with caps/hats etc
- avoid photos with dark shadows or too much sun on the faces
- avoid photos with back-lit motifs
- avoid photos with objects in the foreground, at some distance from the motif, that cover the motif
Read also our replies to the most frequently asked questions about 3D crystals.
Recommendations for 2D (flat engraving) are simpler:
- chose a photo with high sharpness, contrast and resolution
- avoid dark photos
- avoid photos with large white areas
For color printing:
- chose a photo with high sharpness, contrast and resolution
For pendants:
- avoid dark photos
If you are uncertain, just send us an e-mail and attach your photo/photos.
Here you can see some photos that show what is BEST and what is WORSE for 3D crystals
(those are just recommendations for perfect results, we can, however, work with almost ANY pictures):
- BEST - a frontal view or complete profile (not semi-profile), from medium shot to close-up, good lighting, good focus, good contrast, good resolution, the head is not cropped, nothing in the foreground, no 'effects', nothing protrudes too far forward or back, no overexposed or underexposed parts
- LESS GOOD - blurry
- LESS GOOD - overexposed
- LESS GOOD - underexposed
- LESS GOOD - low resolution
- LESS GOOD - prosessed with the so called 'effects'. Popular nowadays on Instagram end elsewhere but choose rather photos without those artsy 'effects'
- LESS GOOD - cropped parts of the head (can look good in normal flat pictures but look much more strange i 3D)
- LESS GOOD - parts of the motive are hidden behind something.
Whatever is invisible in the picture will be invisible in the 3D model.
The parts behind the hand and the grass will be empty, which is percepted as shadows.
- LESS GOOD - semi-profile. Profiles are ok but SEMI-PROFILES are just another example of pictures where some parts are hidden behind other parts: the nose covers one of the cheeks and maybe even an eye
- LESS GOOD snowflakes or raindrops in front of the motive (they won't disappear in 3D)
- LESS GOOD - backlight makes the contours of the head overexposed while the face gets underexposed
- LESS GOOD - the sun or some other powerful light source comes from one side making one side of the face overexposed and the opposite side underexposed
- LESS GOOD - shadows on the face (they won't disappear in 3D)
- LESS GOOD - 'selfies' where the arms are visible. We create a THREE-DIMENSIONAL model from photos and in 3D the arms are going to protrude so far that there will be need for too much space inside the crystal block. The hands will look chopped off. Selfies DO work but remember to hold the camera steadily, have enough light and consider that we will have to crop the photo in a way that the arms are not visible
- LESS GOOD - The persons are so far behind each other that their faces/heads have different sizes. The perspective will be wrong in the crystal where the distance between them is much shorter than in real life. The size difference will be percepted as strange.
- LESS GOOD - The motif is oblong and is placed almost perpendicularly to the camera. The crystal's depth will be insufficient for the 3D model unless the model is flattened. Besides, parts of the motif are hidden and other parts are blurry.
