Can you make beautiful items from smartphone photos or old photos?
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Yes. A photo taken on a smartphone, or a scan of an old printed photo re-shot with your phone, is more than enough for a beautiful piece. In practice, over 98% of the photos our customers send are smartphone photos. Our designers retouch the fur and the light in the eyes by hand on every piece, so image quality is nothing to worry about.
There is no problem at all. If you have a photo taken on your phone in everyday life, that is enough for a high-quality original item. No DSLR and no professional shoot are needed.
Q. Will a smartphone photo really come out beautifully?
Absolutely. Over 98% of the photos we receive were taken on a smartphone (iPhone, Android and so on) in everyday life. Even without an expensive professional camera, a bright photo with the face clearly visible becomes a beautiful dot pattern that suits grown-up everyday wear.
Q. How much image quality do I need? Are old feature-phone or printed photos okay?
A photo taken on a typical smartphone generally clears the resolution we need (300 dpi or above recommended). Photos from the feature-phone era, and old printed photos re-shot with your phone camera, also work.
| Recommended resolution | 300 dpi or above (met by standard smartphone settings) |
|---|---|
| Recommended file format | JPEG (.jpg) / PNG (.png) — almost anything works |
| For old printed photos | Shoot with your phone in a bright place, avoiding reflections |
Q. Can you cut out the background and adjust the brightness for me?
Yes — our designers do all of it by hand. You never need to do any fiddly cut-out work yourself. Just send the photo and a designer carries out the following retouching, carefully, on every piece.
- Cutting out the background:We carefully remove everything around your pet.
- Fur and expression:We restore the fine texture of the fur and the catchlight in the eyes, which automatic cut-out tools tend to flatten.
- Colour and brightness:Even a photo that came out dark is tuned to the light-and-dark balance that prints most beautifully onto the product.
Which photos give the best results? Tips for choosing
To get the best possible piece, keep the following points in mind when choosing your photo.
| Point | Photos we recommend | Better to avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Focus and brightness | The face and eyes are in focus, taken in good light | Heavily blurred overall, or with a strong shadow across the face |
| Cropping of the subject | Ear tips, paws and fur are all within the frame | Ears or part of the face falling well outside the frame |
When this helps
"The only photo I have of the pet I grew up with is an old print" or "I want to surprise my parents far away with a photo of the dog we had years ago" — as long as you have a version re-shot with your phone, it can come back to life as a one-of-a-kind piece of leather or apparel.
One phone photo, one piece that exists nowhere else
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