Tips for Choosing the Right Photo for a Headstone

When a loved one dies, there are many decisions to be made. One of those is how to best memorialize them on a headstone. You can choose from many options, including text with a name and dates of birth and death or text with this information as well as a quote or phrase. You may also want to include an engraving as a headstone image.

Thanks to modern technology, we now have more photos than ever of our loved ones, be they on our smartphones, our digital cameras or printed on glossy photo paper from film. Not all photos will be the best candidates to be engraved as headstone photos, however.

Here are some tips for choosing the right photo for a headstone.

Technical considerations

One of the most overlooked aspects of choosing headstone photos is the technical side of things. Just because it looks fine on your phone does not mean it will look as detailed and clear when engraved onto a headstone. There are some things that will make sure the photo translates to this different medium.

One of those things is resolution. Headstone engravings use a digital copy of the image to translate it into stone. For headstone images, the original image needs to be high resolution to capture as much detail as possible. This means it should come from the original source, such as directly off the phone or camera that took the photo. For printed photos, it may work to scan the photo with a high-resolution scanner. If you choose this route, make sure the photo is crisp and in focus and that it is clean from dust or smudges before it is scanned.

Images from social media pages like Facebook and Instagram are not high enough resolution to work as headstone photos. This is because when a photo is posted to social media, it is reduced in file size from a large, high-resolution photo on your phone to a smaller, low-resolution photo that loads faster on the internet. These photos will look pixelated—that is, like a bunch of squares put together—if they are enlarged.

Choosing the best photo

In addition to keeping the technical considerations in mind, you want to choose the best photo for the headstone. That starts with finding a photo that best encapsulates the spirit of your loved one. Often, that is a photo of her or him smiling, possibly with a happy memory associated with it.

Another thing to consider is the aesthetic quality of the photo. You want to avoid cropped photos if possible, as any parts of the image that are removed cannot be filled in or fixed. You also want to consider the background. A plain background is best, so the image of your loved one’s face will be clearly visible.

When you need professional, compassionate services for headstone photos, get in touch with Phillipsburg Memorial Company today. We’d be happy to tell you more about our capabilities and help you find an option that meets your needs.

Categorised in: Headstone