5 Tips On Using Photos To Make Jigsaws

Creating a jigsaw with a photo that's special to you can be a great present for puzzle enthusiasts and jigsaws are one of the many photo gifts members of the online portfolio specialists SmugMug can create from photos in their portfolio.

Some photos work better on jigsaws than others, though. So, with this in mind, here are some tips on choosing photos to turn into jigsaws.

Simplicity

Busy images are great to look at, but for a jigsaw they may not work so well. Think of the complexity of the puzzle. Too busy, and the jigsaw will be near impossible. But, too simple and it could turn difficult too if all you have are large sections of one colour to work with.

Contrast

Images with a few different colours that are bright and light work well. If a lot of the colours are the same, it can be more tricky to distinguish what goes where. It depends how tricky you want to make it, though! For a real challenge, use a black & white shot.

Subject

Think carefully about what your picture will be of. Macro shots of flowers can work well, as do vistas and portraits. Obviously, the photo needs to be interesting – no one wants to complete a boring jigsaw.

Quality

Make sure your image is sharp. However, you can get away with slightly blurred backgrounds as long as your main focus point is sharp. Make sure the resolution of your image isn't too low either as the larger the image file, the better the quality of the image will be on the finished product.

Leave A Note

Taking a photo of a message using magnetic letters or brightly coloured cake icing works well, even more so if you want to send a message to the person you're creating it for!

Find out more about SmugMug's products by clicking these links: Visit SmugMug's Website Take A Free Trial With SmugMug See Examples Of SmugMug Sites Learn More About SmugMug Pro