The most common photo mistake is treating all photos as one category — picking the nicest-looking ones and hoping for the best.

Photos in a love book do two different jobs, and the criteria are almost opposite.

Reference photos: make the faces work

These teach the illustrator what you look like. This is the only place image quality genuinely matters.

What helps:

  • A clear, well-lit face. Even lighting beats dramatic lighting.
  • Looking toward the camera. A three-quarter angle is fine; a profile gives less to work with.
  • Nothing covering the face. Sunglasses, a hand, heavy shadow, or a mask all remove information.
  • Recent enough to look like you now, if that matters to you.

What hurts:

  • Very dark or blurry shots
  • Group photos where your face is small
  • Heavy filters that have already reshaped the face
  • Extreme angles — far below or above

Technically: a clear JPEG or PNG, up to 12 MB.

About likeness

Worth setting expectations. The result is a warm chibi-style character, not a portrait — an interpretation with the features that make you recognisable, not a photorealistic copy. A good reference photo makes the character recognisably you. It will not make it a drawing of the photograph.

People who expect a friendly cartoon of themselves are usually delighted. People expecting photorealism are usually not, and that is worth knowing before you start rather than after.

Story photos: make the memories work

These are the moments in the book, and the rules invert almost completely.

Quality barely matters here. The badly-lit photo from a kitchen at 1am is often the better source, because it contains something specific: the wallpaper, the mug, whatever you were both wearing, the cat in the corner.

What makes a story photo good:

  • Something specific in the frame. A place, an object, a piece of clothing, a pet.
  • A moment you both remember, not just one that photographs well.
  • Something you would have to explain to a stranger. That is usually the sign it means something.

What makes a weak one:

  • Posed shots that could be any couple anywhere
  • Scenery with no people in it
  • Anything you can't remember the story behind

A useful test: if a photo would look at home in a stock library, it will probably make a forgettable page. If it needs a sentence of explanation, it will probably make a good one.

You need fewer than you think

The instinct is to gather everything — a folder of two hundred photos, sorted later.

This makes it harder. A book of ten to twenty pages needs ten to twenty moments, and you already know most of them. Start from the memories you would be sad to leave out, then find the photo for each one. Working memory-first rather than photo-first produces a better book and takes less time.

Some moments will have no photo at all. That is fine — often better. A moment you remember clearly and never photographed can still be a page, and the illustration is built from your description rather than an image.

The photo you are embarrassed by

There is usually one photo where someone looks terrible and the moment was perfect.

Use it. Not as a reference photo — the illustrator does not need it for likeness — but as a story photo. Illustration is forgiving in a way photography is not: bad hair, a bad angle, and unflattering light do not survive into a chibi drawing, but the moment does.

This is one of the real advantages of an illustrated book over a photo album, and most people miss it.

Practical checklist

Before you start:

  • One clear, well-lit face photo of each person — the reference photos
  • A rough list of moments, memory-first
  • Whatever photos exist for those moments — quality unimportant
  • Note the moments with no photo. They still work; you will describe them instead.

Then start your book, or read the complete guide for how to structure what you have chosen.

FAQ

What kind of photo gives the best likeness?

A clear, well-lit photo with the face visible and unobstructed, looking toward the camera. Avoid blurry or very dark shots, sunglasses, and photos where the face is small. JPEG or PNG, up to 12 MB.

Will the characters look exactly like us?

No — they are warm chibi-style interpretations, not photorealistic portraits. A good reference photo makes the character recognisably you, but it is a friendly cartoon rather than a drawing of the photograph.

Do I need a photo for every page?

No. Moments you remember but never photographed still work — the illustration is built from your description. Some of the better pages come from moments nobody thought to photograph.

How many photos should I gather?

Fewer than you expect. Start with the moments you want in the book — usually ten to twenty — and find photos for those, rather than starting from a large folder.

Can I use old or low-quality photos?

For story photos, yes, and often they are better because they contain specific detail. For the reference photos that determine likeness, use the clearest ones you have.