A Photopainting, also known as a photographic mosaic, photomosaic, phosaic, image mosaic, or various other names, is any image made from tiling together many smaller photographs or artworks. The colours and shades in the small pictures combine to "Paint" a larger picture. We call it a Photopainting because it's how we "paint with photographs." Each photo blends with its neighbours to create a larger work of art.
All you need is a digital collection of photographs--the more, the better. 200 is a bare minimum for creating a Photopainting and will not generate a mosaic of the quality you see in the examples. If you don't have enough, don't worry--we can use our own stock photos to create your Photopainting if you prefer. All of the examples on this site were created with our general house collection, which totals over 200,000 photographs. We also have several themed databases of photographs if you are interested in themed works. Alternately, the Photopainting can be created using a combination of our photographs and yours. We also have the ability to transform your home movies into Photopaintings made from the still frames. This is an easy way to increase the size of your collection and highly recommended. We can also combine movie frames with traditional still photographs.
A custom Photopainting, made from your photos or ours, printed in any size you want. You can also order one or more of our stock mosaics, pre-made from our collection. These can be browsed on our site.
Contact us by email, specify what you'd like and, if you want to use your own photos/movies, send us your collection via email or US mail. We request that you please not flood our inbox with many separate photographs--if emailing images they should be sent in a zip file. For very large collections we recommend placing them on a CD or DVD and mailing it.
When will I receive my digital preview?
Allow for up to a few days' time, then we will email you your preview. If you're not completely satisfied, we will revise it, create a new one, or let you walk away without any obligations.
Can I send my photos/movies on CD or DVD via postal mail?
Yes, just contact us for mailing information. Unfortunately we cannot return any CDs or DVDs sent to us so make sure you only send a spare copy. When you mail us your collection please include a copy of your email and any specifications you'd like for the mosaic, so we know how to make it look and where to send the preview.
This Photopainting is a gift. Can I send it directly to the recipient?
Definitely, all you have to do is specify where you would like the mosaic mailed to.
How many photos do I need to make a Photopainting?
The more the better; here is where quantity really makes a difference. 200 is a bare minimum, and over 5,000 is preferred. Our house collection of stock photographs totals over 200,000, and this is just the main collection we use. We have many more collections of themed photographs, such as the beach, butterflies, pets, cars and more. The larger the collection, the more closely the photos can be matched to any tile on the large picture. Alternately the Photopainting can be created completely from our house collection, and/or it can be made from your own home movie stillframes. We extract the frames, transform them into images and make mosaics from them! The movies must be in compatible digital form: .avi, DivX, Xvid, MS Mpeg4, Mpeg, Mpeg-1 & Mpeg2, or .wmv.
What if I don't have enough pictures?
If you find yourself short of images, but don't want to use our stock photos, we will work with what you have and create extra photos using crops from your collection, for a slightly higher price. We also recommend just shooting a bunch of digital pictures or a digital home movie to generate more images. It's a lot of fun!
What is the maximum number of photos I can submit?
There is no maximum! The more images you have the better your Photopainting will be. Just keep in mind the limitations of email; very large collections or files should probably be snail-mailed.
How do you create the Photopainting?
We create it by feeding your images {or ours} into an advanced graphics programme custom-designed for making Photopaintings. The programme analyses each tile for hue, saturation and gradation and selects the images best suited to different parts of the mosaic. This can take many hours of computer time. After the initial mosaic has been created, we tweak it in any number of ways--switching tiles, adjusting colours, etc. to arrive at a Photopainting that satisfies you the customer. For more info on the mosaic-making process, see The Photopainting Process.
What works best as a main image?
Closeups work well, as do high-contrast photographs with simple compositions. If you're not sure, we recommend using your favourite photograph for the main image, and then if you do not like the way it looks in the preview we can select another photo.
Can I view my Photopainting before I buy it?
Certainly; we will email you a preview image of your Photopainting and if you are not satisfied, we will modify it until you are or let you walk away without any further obligations.
Can you create black and white Photopaintings?
Yes, we can easily convert any image into black and white.
Are you going to sell or share my email address?
No, we never disclose anyone's email address!
Still can't find the answers to your questions? Contact us!