The photograph, on the image desk

Crop and a size limit

Crop uses the blue frame. Leave a little space around a face. Do not cut through the eyes or through text you still need. Resize keeps the proportions locked unless a form truly wants a stretched size. Unlocking the lock will squash a face, so leave it locked for a portrait.

When a website caps the file at a number of kilobytes, set the target a little under that number. Look at the download zoomed in. Faces and small print should still be readable. JPEG is the usual choice for a photograph. PNG keeps a transparent background, which is what a signature wants, and it is often larger. If the form names JPG, send JPG even when another format looks the same to you.

Signature, background, passport

Sign with a dark pen on plain white paper, in even light. Crop close to the ink. The signature card cleans the paper so the ink can sit on a document. Do not upload someone else’s signature.

Background removal is better when the person is clearly separate from the wall. After the cutout, look at hair and at the shoulder line. A similar colour in the shirt and the wall is where edges fail. You can replace the background, but a bright studio behind a dimly lit person still looks pasted.

Passport and ID cards ask for measurements, background colour, expression and how recent the photo is. Those rules come from the office that will receive the file, and they change. The studio can resize to a print size you enter. It cannot know whether that office will accept the picture. Read their current instruction, then match it.

Clothes, a cap, and glasses

In the photo editor the shirt, the suit, the cap and the glasses are placed from the face in the picture, not as a sticker dropped on the chest.

• The shirt and the suit use the collar. That collar is put under the chin, and the cloth is sized from the width of the face so it can cross the shoulders.
• A baseball cap uses the brim, placed at the brow. A peaked cap uses the same idea with its own shape.
• Rectangular glasses sit on the eyes. Aviators sit on the eyes as well, a little wider.
• The size slider at 100 is that fit. Up/down and left/right only nudge it, by a fraction of the face.
• None means that look is not drawn. Choosing a shirt does not turn on a cap.

The desk finds the face when it can, including when you open the photo and when you pick a look. A heavy hat, a face turned away, or a very small face can make that miss. The sliders are there for that photograph. Hair, when you pick a hair style, is anchored at the crown rather than over the mouth.

Pencil sketch, duotone, mirror and sharpen are their own cards. They do not change the editor. Round photo, border, canvas and a favicon pack are also separate cards. A favicon is a tiny centred mark. A detailed face will not survive at 16 pixels.

While you move a slider

The preview follows the pointer. During the drag it paints a lighter frame so the page does not freeze, then a sharper frame when you pause. Process & Download renders again at the finer size, so the file you keep is not the small drag preview. A very large camera photo is slower on the first paint. Wait for the status line. Refresh only if it stays stuck, and keep the original.

Questions about a tool go to Contact, with the card’s name and the status line. Do not send a password. The privacy policy says what happens to an upload. An advertisement, if one is shown, is not the download button.