First, what is a picture engraved necklace? A picture engraved necklace is a necklace that is created by duplicating an original photo you’ve given us. The pendants are available in black and white, or in color—whatever appeals to you the most!

That photo is enhanced by our engravers and is then permanently etched onto the metal of a pendant of your choosing using state of the art engraving equipment.

Excessive darkness in a photo

Take a look at this photo. The lighting on the right side of the image is great. The picture is clear and the details are easy to make out. On the left side of the photo there are some real issues. The excessive shadowing makes it very difficult to extract any fine details for a successful engraving.

Be aware that photos taken outdoors typically have the most amount of issues with regards to excessive darkness. Indoor light can be controlled, but outdoor light is generally out of your control. To make matters more difficult, outdoor light is constantly changing with the rotation of the earth⁴.

An example of great lighting and clarity for a picture engraved necklace.

Look for a crisp, clear photo. Make sure it is completely free of any shadows, and that it isn’t blurry. A general rule of thumb is that the clearer and more focused the picture is, the better the photo will engrave into the pendant.

If you are looking through photos on your mobile device, search for photos that have clear details. If the photos are part of an iPhone photo burst⁵, look for a photo that has clear focus and great detail within the burst. Often time a photo burst will contain photos that change in clarity a bit while the burst was taken. Take some time and look for an image that has great clarity.

This is a great example of a well lit, up close and personal photo that would work excellent for a picture engraved necklace.

Close up shots work very well for engraving. A nice and clean “from the shoulders up” photo usually shows a good amount of facial detail, which allows us to make a good, quality engraving of your loved one. There are several resources out there for taking a great head shot², but sometimes it is worth hiring a professional to get that perfect photo.

A great way to think about it is to imagine the image in thirds vertically. We like to have some space above the head, usually no more than 1/3. The middle third of the image should be the area that you really want us to focus on for engraving. The bottom third of the image is what we refer to as 'extra'. Depending on the shape of the pendant, that 'extra' may or may not be engraved. For example, a heart shaped pendant does not have much 'extra' room vertically. A dog tag shapped pendant has a lot of 'extra' room vertically.

Photos that are too bright will wash out the details of the subject in the picture.

Photos that are taken in the sunlight, or any bright light in the background tend to wash out the subjects of focus that we are trying to engrave. Bright lights can often cast a shadow over the face and the front part of the person that we are trying to get good engraving details from.

We can use these photos, but keep in mind that they will require more extensive editing, and that may degrade the overall quality of the image that is engraved on your jewelry.

This is a great example of a head on shot. All of the subjects are looking straight at the photographer. This would be an excellent choice for a photo engraved necklace.

The best kinds of photos are those where the individual is looking straight at the camera. These are the best picture style because the engraving can then pick up all the intimate details of the photo subject’s face.

In contrast, if the photo is taken from the side, it can diminish the kind of clarity that we can get from the subject’s face. Side shots tend to have less contrast and the contrast is what helps our editing software to pick up detail.

Merging two people from two different photos on to one pendant.

If you have a situation where you have two different photos of two different people, but you want them on the same picture engraved necklace together, we can do that. We can actually take two separate photos and merge them together.

Our expert engravers can crop out each person from each photo and merge them into the same photo. They then soften the lines from the merging and are able to make it appear just like a natural photo of both of them together.

All we need from you is to make sure that the two photos are good quality photos. Having similar lighting in each photo helps to ensure the image that is engraved looks natural. Customers are always encouraged to have us take a look at their request before ordering, and we can let you know our thoughts on how the engraving will look.

A photo engraved necklace celebrating the birth of a child is a wonderful way to commemorate the occasion.

Pick a photo that makes you smile! Choose one that represents a specific moment you might have shared with the person in the photo.

This could be a big and memorable day like a wedding, proposal, birth day, the day they left to go abroad, or anything along those lines. Just make sure it’s a meaningful one.

You could even choose a picture you’ve got that captured a silly moment you might have shared with the person you are gifting the jewelry to—whatever kind of photo that best captures and symbolizes your relationship with them.