Getting the Best Results: Photo Upload Tips for Your Child's Book

The single biggest factor in whether your child says "that's me!" or "who's that?" is the photo you upload. Not the theme, not the style. The photo. We have looked at thousands of them by now, and the difference between a great likeness and a so-so one usually comes down to a handful of things you can fix in two minutes with a phone.

This is the checklist we would give you if we were standing next to you at the upload screen.

The three things that matter most

1. Face the camera

A straight-on face, or very nearly, gives us everything: the spacing of the eyes, the shape of the nose, the line of the mouth. A profile or a strong three-quarter angle hides half of that, and the character drifts towards "generic child". If you are taking a new photo, ask your child to look at you for five seconds. Offer a biscuit. Whatever works.

2. Soft, even light

The best light is a window on a cloudy day, or shade outdoors. Harsh midday sun puts dark shadows under the eyes and nose that the illustration will faithfully reproduce as strange dark patches. Backlight (a bright window behind your child) turns the face into a silhouette. Indoors at night with the ceiling light on is workable but flat and yellow; near a window in daylight is far better.

3. Nothing covering the face

Hats, sunglasses, face paint, a hand mid-wave, a dummy, hair swept across one eye. The eyes carry most of a child's likeness, so anything in front of them costs you the most. Glasses your child always wears are fine; they are part of who they are and we draw them.

Things to avoid

• Group photos. Even when you tell us which child, cropping a face out of a group shot usually leaves it small and soft. One child, filling a good part of the frame.
• Blurry or tiny images. A normal phone photo is more than enough. A screenshot of a screenshot is not.
• Filters. Beauty filters, cartoon filters, dog ears. The illustration copies what it sees, so it will copy the filter.
• Old photos. Children change quickly. A photo from the last few months gives a likeness your child recognises as themselves now.
• Extreme expressions. A wide-open laugh or a squint hides the eyes and distorts the face. A relaxed, gentle smile works best; a neutral face works nearly as well.
• Motion. Running, jumping, spinning children are wonderful and useless for this. Stillness, just for one frame.

A two-minute photo session that works

1. Sit your child on a chair or the floor facing a window, in daylight. Turn off overhead lights.
2. Hold the phone at their eye level, about an arm's length away. Do not zoom; step closer instead.
3. Ask them to look at the camera. Say something ridiculous to get a small smile rather than a big laugh.
4. Take five or six frames. Pick the sharpest one where both eyes are visible.

If you do not have a photo, or would rather not use one

Skip the upload and describe your child instead: hair colour and style, eye colour, skin tone, glasses. The character will match those features without being a portrait of any particular child. Grandparents ordering a surprise, and families who prefer not to upload a child's image, choose this route often, and the books are just as loved.

Checking the result

You see a preview of your child's character before the full book is generated. If the likeness is not right, try a different photo at no cost; a better photo almost always fixes it. After the book is generated you can still regenerate individual pages from the link we email you.

What happens to the photo

It is used to make your child's book and for nothing else. It is not used to train anything and never shared or published. If you would like it deleted after your order, email us and we remove it.

Questions we hear at the upload step

Can I use a photo where my child is wearing glasses?

Yes, if they usually wear them. We draw the glasses as part of the character. If they only wear them sometimes, choose whichever version they would recognise as themselves.

Does the background matter?

Only a little. A plain background helps, a busy one rarely hurts, as long as the face is clear and well lit.

My child will not sit still. Any hope?

Try right after a meal, or while they watch something short on a tablet placed just beside your camera so their eyes come towards you. Burst mode helps: take twenty, keep one.