How to choose and crop photos for photo tiles

Choose original photo files with sharp faces, good light and room around the subject. Test each image in the tile shape before ordering: a favourite wide photograph can lose people at the edges when cropped square. Inspect the individual crops, then preview the whole wall for balance and repeated images.

Updated 2026-11-09. Storytiles is our shop. This guide covers printing real photos; AI portraits involve an additional likeness check.

Make a shortlist before choosing the layout

Gather more photos than the layout needs. For a three-photo gift, for example, shortlist six so you can reject a blurred image or an awkward crop without rebuilding the idea.

Choose pictures around one story: a wedding, the grandchildren or a December holiday on the Garden Route. Mix a wider scene with closer portraits if that suits the story. For arrangement ideas, see our family photo wall guide.

Keep the original files together in an album or folder. A screenshot of a social post includes fewer useful image pixels than the original and may include interface elements you do not want printed.

Inspect focus and light before editing

Zoom into the original until you can inspect the face. Look at eyes, hair and clothing edges. If a moving child is blurred, increasing brightness will not restore the missing detail.

For a new photo, try soft daylight near a window and make sure the face is not hidden in shadow. Avoid a bright window directly behind the subject if it leaves their face dark. Choose the clearer photograph over the one with the more impressive background.

Use restrained edits. Heavy smoothing can remove facial detail, and a strong colour filter on one tile can look out of place beside natural skin tones. Black-and-white can make a mixed collection more consistent, but it cannot repair blur.

Test the shape before you crop tightly

Storytiles lists 21×21 cm and 31×31 cm square tiles, plus 21×31 cm and 29×36 cm portrait formats. These are tile dimensions, not a promise about the exact visible photo area. Frame and mat choices affect how the image is presented; check the actual designer preview.

A square crop from a wide photo removes material from the sides if it fills the square. A portrait crop is narrower still. Leave space around heads, ears, hands and feet until you have checked the chosen tile.

Worked example: a wide family group

Imagine a 4 000 × 3 000 pixel landscape photo. A square made using its full height is 3 000 × 3 000 pixels. Centring that crop removes 500 pixels from each side: one quarter of the original width in total.

If Gran stands near the left edge and a child near the right, that centred square may cut into both. Moving the crop helps only if there is enough room on the opposite side. If the whole group cannot fit, choose a different photo or another layout rather than sacrificing a face.

This is crop arithmetic, not a Storytiles upload requirement or a tested print result.

Judge the pixels left after cropping

A large original does not guarantee a detailed close-up. Cropping a tiny face from a distant group can leave very little image information, even when the original file was large.

For illustration, a 3 000-pixel-wide square spread across 21 cm has about 363 pixels per inch; a 900-pixel-wide square across the same width has about 109. That calculation uses 21 ÷ 2.54 to convert centimetres to inches. It shows why the retained crop matters; it is not a pass/fail threshold or the exact printed area of a framed tile.

Do not enlarge a small file and assume the newly added pixels recover detail. If the source looks soft, choose a less aggressive crop, a clearer original or ask Storytiles for advice before ordering. The photo-tile explainer covers sizes and the order process.

Ask family for the original, not another screenshot

A practical request for a family chat is:

“Please send the original camera photo of the children at the beach, rather than a screenshot of the post. If possible, share the original file or a download link so I can check the crop for printing.”

A WhatsApp copy is not automatically unusable. Compare the actual file with the original if available: check its pixel dimensions and whether faces retain detail when enlarged. Do not assume an HD label or a large file size proves that the photograph is sharp.

Check each tile, then the whole wall

The photo tiles page confirms that you can upload, crop each photo and preview the whole wall before ordering.

1. Check the face in each crop, including anyone near the edges.
2. Look for cut-off heads, ears, hands and unwanted objects.
3. Check whether the same photo appears twice unintentionally.
4. View the whole arrangement for very dark or unusually bright tiles.
5. Confirm the frame, mat, layout and live total.

A trio is R1 509,99, a portrait trio is R1 819,99 and a dozen is R3 629,99, including free delivery across South Africa. Choose a layout because it fits the images and wall, rather than selecting more tiles than you have usable photographs.

Questions about difficult photos

Should I use colour or black-and-white?

Choose colour when it is part of the memory, such as a summer beach holiday. Consider black-and-white for a consistent set from different years. Preview the result rather than applying a treatment automatically.

Can I print an old photograph?

A clear scan may work, but check the source and retained crop. Avoid promising a large, sharp print from a small or damaged original. Ask for guidance before placing an order if you cannot judge it.

Would canvas solve a poor-quality photo?

Changing the material does not restore missing detail. Choose the best source first, then use our photo tiles vs canvas comparison to decide how it should be displayed.

Workflow and sizes checked on Storytiles photo tiles on 9 November 2026.