How to choose the photos for your personalised colouring album

IBBy Ilan BinistiCo-founder, Memory Pencil

Picking the right photos drives roughly 80% of the result. Here are the 7 criteria we apply internally before validating an album.

Before we build a single personalised album, we run each photo through a 7-criteria grid. Here it is. Use it for your first selection at home: you'll save time, and the album will be better.

1. Sharpness of the main face

Zoom in to 100% on the main face or faces. If the eyes are sharp and you can pick out individual eyelashes, you're good. If the image goes blurry the moment you zoom in, set it aside. No processing recovers detail that isn't there.

2. Subject framing

The subject should fill at least a third of the image. Kids photographed from 10 metres away in a park turn into tiny silhouettes in the final colouring page.

3. Balanced light

Avoid harsh backlighting (a face in shadow against a window), frontal flashes that flatten features, and midday sun that carves heavy shadows under the eyes. Soft outdoor light in the morning or late afternoon is ideal.

4. Variety of scenes

Mix portraits with action shots. An album of 24 frontal portraits gets dull fast for whoever's colouring. Slip in roughly 30% of scenes (play, sport, meals, holidays) to keep the rhythm.

5. Presence of the people who matter

List the people the recipient loves seeing: parents, siblings, kids, grandparents, pets. Check that each of them shows up at least once. Otherwise they'll notice who's missing.

6. A spread of eras

Including photos from 1, 3, 5 years back builds a narrative. People recognise themselves at different ages, and the recipient watches the family evolve.

7. File format

JPEG or PNG at full resolution from the phone or camera. Skip images that have travelled through WhatsApp or Messenger: they get recompressed and lose sharpness. If in doubt, open the photo and check it's at least 1500 pixels wide.