Choosing a Photo for a Memorial Card

Monday, 14 September 2020

Including a photo of the deceased is common practice for funerals, whether it is in the funeral programme, as a memory board, or for personalised memorial cards. But when the decision to choose a photo rests in your hands, it can be difficult to know which is the best option.

At the end of the day you don’t need to put too much pressure on yourself in what can already be an upsetting time. We’ve put together a short guide to help you come to a decision, including some advice on what to do if you don’t think you have an appropriate photo.

The higher the quality of photo, the better. However, especially when it comes to smaller items like in memoriam cards, it isn’t completely necessary to have a photography-quality picture. Additionally, low quality photos can sometimes be fixed by photo editing professionals.

If the photo is already digital then that’s great, but you can always scan pictures to create a digital copy which can the be used for personalised memorial cards. For those who don’t have access to a scanner, many phones and tablets have excellent quality cameras these days. You can snap a picture of the original photograph on your phone, ensuring you use good lighting without flash for the best result.

When it comes to the style and layout of the photo, here are some general rules to follow:

Do ensure it shows your loved one in their best light. You don’t want to use anything that can be considered unflattering or insensitive, so make sure you find a pleasant image that reflects the person in question.
Don’t select a photo with a busy background. It’s perfectly fine to crop the person out of a group photo, just ensure that you can’t see anybody else in the background. It is best to have a clear and/or scenic background.
Do try and find an up to date photo. It is traditional to use a relatively recent photo of the person in question because it is a good reflection of the deceased, however do feel free to select a childhood photo if no others are available.

For those of you that are really struggling to find a high quality photograph, firstly you can try and look for photos of the deceased when they were younger, like we mentioned above. It’s up to you whether you want to use black and white or coloured photos, but if your picture is particularly old or damaged then we recommend using a photo restoration service before submitting it for a personalized memorial card.

If your loved one was particularly camera shy and you still can’t find an appropriate photo, you can choose to not use a photo at all, which is still completely acceptable.

We offer some photo restoration services here at Memorial Card Shop; Basic photo editing, such as enhancement and colour correction is just £12, with more advanced editing priced at £20. If you want to find out more about our editing services you can click here.

We hope this has been helpful for you. If you are looking for a personalised memorial card or acknowledgement cards from us at Memorial Card Shop, you can find out more about uploading photos to our website here. Alternatively, you can browse our range of in memoriam cards here.

Tags: Personalised memorial cards, in memoriam cards.