Which photos you need
Which photos do I need?
For a book about one person, such as Grandma or Grandpa, the rule is simple. The whole family can be in the story: grandchildren, children, partner. With a photo we paint them true to life; without one, a few words will do. You only need a photo of the person the book is about.
To start, one recent, clear photo of them is enough. No photo to hand right now? You can carry on and add it later. We start painting once it is in.
Their younger years come after you order, on the step “Earlier photos”. For each age you can choose “Upload a photo”, “Create a younger version for me”, “I’ll describe them instead” or “Don’t show their face”, which paints them from behind or at a distance. A younger version is made from today’s photo, so it is never an exact likeness. A childhood photo is optional, and you never need a photo from their middle years. You see and approve every portrait before anything else is made.
For the partner, children and grandchildren, a photo or a few words is enough, whichever is easier. If you do add a photo of a child, you need a quick yes from a parent or guardian first. Section 9 of our privacy policy says more about photos of children.
A How We Met book is about two people, so it needs four photos. Before you order: one recent photo of each of you. After you order: one of each of you from around when you met. There is no younger version here, so it helps to look through old albums early. Anyone else in your story can come with a photo or a few words.
The steps below help you choose a photo that paints well.
Steps
- Choose a sharp photo where the face is easy to see, taken from about eye level. A phone snapshot is fine.
- Pick a photo with just this person in it. If others are in it, cut them out in the window that opens when you choose the photo.
- Only have a printed photo? Lay it flat in good light and photograph it straight from above, out of its frame.
- Black-and-white works too. Write their real hair colour in the box that asks how they look.
If you have no photo at all of the person the book is about, or for How We Met no photo of one of you from around when you met, write to us at hello@memolio.io and tell us which photos you do have.
Still stuck? Write to us at hello@memolio.io and tell us what you were trying to do.