The Best Photo for a Pet Cross Stitch Pattern
The chart can only be as good as the photo. These are the things that matter most, based on testing many coat colours and phone shots.
Works well
- The face fills at least half of the frame
- Soft daylight, eyes open and visible
- Pet at eye level, not shot from above
- A colour coat with clear markings (husky, ginger cat, calico)
Causes problems
- Pet very small in the photo: PetMagi crops to the pet, but a tiny pet in a big scene has little detail to work with.
- Dark photo of a black pet: the eyes and nose merge into the fur.
- Strong flash: this creates white glare and red eyes that become odd stitches.
- Blurry or heavily compressed images: an 80-stitch chart is forgiving, so even a 400 px phone photo can work. Blur still softens the outline.
Resolution
You need less than you think. An 80-stitch-wide chart uses only 80 pixels across, so sharpness and lighting matter far more than megapixels.
Try a free preview with two or three photos and keep the one that looks most like your pet.