Every studio in this trade tells you the same lie: send your "best quality" photo. Meaningless. Megapixels are a marketing number, not a painting number, and half the studios quoting them at you couldn't tell you why. I'm going to give you the one number that actually predicts whether your painting looks like your grandmother or looks like a stranger wearing your grandmother's cardigan, and it isn't printed on any camera box.

Five hundred pixels. That's the height of the face, measured in the actual file, not the frame around it. Learn that number and you'll know more about your own photo than most of the people who are about to charge you for painting it.

The 30-Second Answer, Because You Didn't Come Here for a Lecture

Here's the number that should annoy every printing company in this business: a hand-painted commission needs far less pixel data than a print of the same size. A 24 x 36 in (61 x 91.4 cm) giclée wants roughly 7,200 x 10,800 px — 77.8 megapixels — at 300 ppi. A 24 x 36 in (61 x 91.4 cm) hand-painted oil of the same subject is comfortable at 3,000 x 2,000 px, about 6 MP — roughly one-thirteenth as much data — because a painter is reading structure, not resampling pixels. An ordinary 12 MP phone photo is twice what the painter needs and one-sixth of what the printer needs.

And here's the number that ruins commissions: that same 12 MP photo, forwarded through WhatsApp, arrives at about 1,600 x 1,200 px — 16% of the pixels you started with. Photos pulled off Instagram cap at 1,080 px wide, about 7%. Most "my photo didn't work" complaints are not bad photography. They're a good photo, murdered by a chat app on the way here.

Price, for the record, on Mus3ums.com: a hand-painted oil from your photo runs $188 at 12 x 16 in (30.5 x 40.6 cm) to $822 at 48 x 72 in (121.9 x 182.9 cm), with 1-3 faces included free, +$75 for 4-6 faces, +$150 for 7-9, +$300 for 10+, and a 4-5 week standard lead time (under 3 weeks for +$30). Everything below is the working.

Three Kinds of Information Your Photo Carries, and Two of Them Can't Be Fixed Later

A reference photo carries three separate kinds of information, and they fail independently. Get this straight and the rest of the article explains itself.

Two of those three are gone the moment the shutter clicks. That's why the checklist below is worth ten minutes before you upload anything.

One more thing, free of charge: forget the print rule of "300 dpi at final size." That rule is for printers. A painting is interpretation, not reproduction, so what matters isn't pixels-per-inch of the finished canvas — it's pixels across the face. Any vendor quoting you print-DPI numbers for a hand-painted commission is applying the wrong standard, possibly to sell you a bigger file than you need.

The Checklist: Ten Checks, Ordered by How Often They're the Actual Problem

What face height actually buys you

Citable in one line: a reference photo is good enough when the face measures at least 500 pixels tall in the original file, is lit by soft directional daylight, and was shot from at least 4 feet away; at 12 inches the nose photographs about 30% wider than reality, and no amount of resolution corrects that.

The Arithmetic Nobody Shows You

A standard 12 MP phone camera shoots 4,032 x 3,024 px. That's the baseline for almost every photo anyone brings to a commission.

Take a full-length photo of six people, an adult head at roughly 13% of frame height. The original 12 MP file puts each head at about 390 px — usable, generalised. The same photo via WhatsApp puts each head at 156 px — under the 200 px floor, meaning the artist is inventing six faces. Same photograph. Same camera. One route works and one doesn't. The fix isn't a better camera — it's a tighter crop, waist-up instead of full-length, which puts each head at about 900 px in the same original file.

The Selfie Problem, and Why It Isn't About Sharpness

In 2018, Boris Paskhover at Rutgers and Ohad Fried at Stanford published a mathematical model in JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery of exactly how camera distance distorts a face. Their finding: at 12 inches — a typical selfie distance — the nasal base photographs about 30% wider and the nasal tip about 7% wider than the same nose at five feet.

The painter paints what the photo shows. Hand a studio a selfie and you've commissioned a permanent, hand-made, oil-on-canvas record of a nose that doesn't exist. This is the one defect that a higher-resolution file, a better artist, and an unlimited revision policy all fail to fix — because it isn't an error. It's an accurate rendering of a distorted reference.

Professional portraits are shot at 85-135mm equivalent because that range renders proportion close to how the eye perceives it at conversational distance. Your phone's main camera is roughly 24-28mm — a wide lens, built for a room, not a face. Its "2x" or "3x" telephoto is roughly 48-77mm, and is the better choice. Step back and zoom in. Do not step closer and crop — cropping a wide-angle shot doesn't fix perspective, because the distortion was recorded at the shutter.

Shooting down from adult standing height enlarges the forehead and shrinks the jaw. For adults that reads as "slightly off." For children and pets, whose heads you're typically three to five feet above, it's catastrophic — a skull and a nose, with the eyes vanishing off the top of the frame. The fix is free: get the camera to the subject's eye level. Kneel for a child. Lie on the floor for a dog. No flash on animals either — it produces green or blue retinal eyeshine that leaves the painter inventing an iris.

Group Photos and Composites

There's no hard cap on faces — our commission form prices explicitly up to "10 faces and more" — but there are two real constraints, and only one of them is money. The money constraint is modest: $25 per additional face, in bands. The physical constraint is the canvas itself, since ten faces on a small canvas become ten identical ovals with hair regardless of what the reference contains.

Combining several photographs into one painting is a real, standard service — a grandparent who missed the wedding gets added in, and there's no seam, because nothing was ever composited. The painter simply paints them in. Up to 10 reference files, 50MB each, are accepted for exactly this.

What makes a composite work: all sources lit from roughly the same side, similar colour temperature, all shot at roughly the same camera height, and every face clearing the 500 px floor. What makes it fail: mismatched light direction, one warm indoor shot mixed with one cool overcast one, and vague instructions. Write the mapping down — "Photo 1 for the composition, Photo 3 for Dad's face, Photo 4 for the dog, remove the harness." Studios edit these things out on request. They can't know to unless you say so.

Old, faded photographs are frequently the only image left of someone who has died — and it's the one case where a painting beats a print by the widest margin, because a painter reconstructs what a scanner can only record as damage. Fading, colour cast and creases are routinely recoverable. A tear through the eyes or mouth isn't, without a second photo of the same person at any age. And if the original print still exists, rescan it rather than re-photograph it — a flatbed at 600 dpi from a 4 x 6 in (10.2 x 15.2 cm) print yields 2,400 x 3,600 px, clearing every minimum on this page.

Price, Size, Faces and Lead Time — the Numbers That Matter

Live per-size prices on Mus3ums.com, excluding frame, options and shipping.

The size ladder, three brands

Common metric sizes on Mus3ums: 30 x 40 cm $187 · 40 x 50 cm $212 · 50 x 60 cm $242 · 60 x 80 cm $297 · 80 x 100 cm $394 · 100 x 150 cm $604.

The price per square centimetre falls as the canvas grows: 48 x 72 in (121.9 x 182.9 cm) is 18 times the area of 12 x 16 in (30.5 x 40.6 cm) but only about 4.4 times the price. Choosing between two sizes, the larger one is always the better value per square inch — and, for a group, the better choice full stop.

Number of figures and options

Pets count as faces. Options: senior/elite artist assignment +$100, customisation against the photo (new background, remove someone, alter clothing) +$50, urgent production under 3 weeks +$30, varnish +$15, bronze nameplate +$10, acrylic nameplate +$30. On varnish specifically: oil is touch-dry in 24-72 hours but cures for 6 months to 2 years, and varnishing before cure traps solvent underneath. A studio that ships unvarnished and tells you so is doing it right — varnishing later is a 20-minute job for a framer.

Three worked totals

I checked one of these numbers live, on a real painting, rather than take anybody's word for it — Renoir's crowded, sun-drunk Luncheon of the Boating Party quotes at $364 today for a 16 x 20 in (40.6 x 50.8 cm) hand-painted oil. That's not the from-a-photo commission price above — it's the same pricing engine at work on an existing catalogue masterpiece rather than your uploaded photo, and it's the honest way to show you a real number instead of a marketing one.

Lead time

That second row is the one to hold any vendor to — it's a configured, enforced date, not a courtesy, and it's your leverage: raise a likeness problem when you see the photo, not when the crate arrives. For a December gift, order in the first week of November.

If your photo won't support the painting you want

Here's the trap and the way out of it in one sentence: a print of a poor photo is worse than a painting of a poor photo, because the print reproduces every flaw at full size while the painter at least interprets them. If your only reference is a 1,000 px scan, buy the small painting, not the big print.

What Happens After You Upload

1. Upload up to 10 files, 50MB each, in .jpg .jpeg .jfif .png .webp .avif or a document format. HEIC isn't accepted.
2. Declare the face count — required for hand-painted work, drives price and composition.
3. Choose size and frame — cm or inches, rolled, stretched, or framed.
4. Add options and notes — the photo-to-face mapping goes here, along with eye/hair colour for black-and-white sources.
5. Share or save the configuration — genuinely useful when a family is deciding together.
6. The studio photographs the finished work and sends it to you within the 20-business-day window.
7. Revisions, then shipping.

Ask any vendor two questions at that step: will you send me a photograph of my specific canvas before it ships, and what's the deadline for that. A vendor with a real answer to the second is a different proposition from one with a policy page.

Benchmarked Against the Wider Market

Compare configured totals, never "starting at" numbers. Mus3ums at 20 x 24 in (50.8 x 61 cm) ($245) against PaintYourLife at the same size ($468 with frame) is a real gap on a comparable object — but everyone in this category promises unlimited revisions, and that promise is worth less than it sounds, because revisions fix interpretation, not a 150-pixel face or a selfie's proportions. Which is exactly why the checklist above is the part of this page that actually saves you money.

Against the reproduction and gift-art sellers, specifically

TOPofART's oils run three to four times everybody else's for the same square footage — not a scandal, just a different labour market wearing the same product label. Don't let anyone quote you their number as "what oil paintings cost."

What This Doesn't Buy You

• It will not rescue a bad photo. An elite artist paints a 150 px face more beautifully. It's still not your grandmother's face.
• AI enhancement is not a fix; it's an additional author. Every upscaler hallucinates detail — invented pores, reconstructed irises. Faces are precisely where that's most visible and most wrong.
• Fine texture gets simplified. Fur, hair strands, lace, embroidery are interpreted, not transcribed. Say so in the notes if a specific texture is the point.
• Colour won't match your screen. Your phone is bright and saturated. Paint is a physical surface under your room's light.
• A photo you didn't take may not be yours to use. The photographer owns copyright from the moment of capture, and a painting made from it is a derivative work. Use your own snapshots, or get written permission.
• It is not an investment. A commissioned portrait of your family has no secondary market. Buy it because you want to live with it.

Fixing a Bad Photo: The Decision Tree

1. Face under 200 px? Find the original, not the chat-app copy. Still under 200 px? Choose a smaller canvas or send two photos of the same person.
2. Taken at arm's length? Reshoot from 5-8 ft with the telephoto lens. Not possible? Send a distant photo for proportion and a close one for detail, and say which is which.
3. Flash-lit or backlit? Reshoot near a window, flash off. Not possible? Add the note: "the flash flattened her face — please model the cheekbones normally."
4. Shot from above (a child, a pet)? Reshoot at eye level. Kneel. Lie down. Free, and the single biggest improvement available.
5. Run through an enhancer? Send the original as well, and label both.
6. iPhone HEIC? Share to Mail or Files, or switch Settings → Camera → Formats → Most Compatible.
7. A print with no digital original? Scan at 600 dpi. No scanner? Photograph flat in window light, camera parallel to the print.
8. Everything passes? Upload the largest file you have, name the faces, and write down what to leave out.

Frequently Asked Questions

What kind of photo do I need for a custom oil painting?

One where the face measures at least 500 pixels tall in the original file (1,000-1,500 px is comfortable), lit by soft directional daylight rather than flash, shot from at least 4-5 feet away rather than arm's length, with the eyes in sharp focus. A standard 12 MP phone photo meets all of this easily, provided you send the original file and not a chat-app copy.

How much does it cost to turn a photo into an oil painting?

$188 for 12 x 16 in (30.5 x 40.6 cm) up to $822 for 48 x 72 in (121.9 x 182.9 cm), hand-painted in oil. 1-3 faces are included; 4-6 faces add $75, 7-9 add $150, 10+ add $300. Options are itemised: elite artist +$100, customisation +$50, urgent production +$30, varnish +$15.

How long does it take?

4-5 weeks standard, under 3 weeks for +$30, and the studio's deadline to send photographs of your painting is 20 open business days from order confirmation — about four calendar weeks, extended where the painting is genuinely complex.

Can you paint from a blurry or low-resolution photo?

Yes, but the result is a generalised likeness rather than a portrait. Below roughly 200 px of face height the artist is inventing features. Send several photos of the same person, and choose a smaller canvas — the same reference that fails at 30 x 40 in (76.2 x 101.6 cm) can succeed at 12 x 16 in (30.5 x 40.6 cm).

Is a phone photo good enough?

Almost always. A 12 MP phone file is about twice what a hand-painted commission of any catalogue size needs. Send the original file, and shoot with the telephoto lens from a few feet back rather than the wide lens up close.

Why does my selfie make a bad painting even though it's sharp?

Sharpness and proportion are different problems. At 12 inches, the nasal base photographs about 30% wider than at 5 feet. The painter reproduces that faithfully. Perspective is fixed at the shutter; no resolution, artist tier, or revision round undoes it.

Can you combine two or more photos into one painting?

Yes — one of the real advantages of a hand-painted commission, and there's no visible seam because nothing is composited. Up to 10 reference files are accepted. Success depends on the sources sharing lighting direction, colour temperature and camera height, and on writing down which photo governs which face.

Do pets count as faces?

Yes, at the same rate. They need the same photo discipline plus two extras: camera at the animal's eye level, and never use flash — it causes retinal eyeshine that leaves the painter inventing an iris.

Can I use my wedding photographer's photo?

Not without permission. The photographer owns copyright from the moment of capture, and a painting made from their photo is a derivative work. Many photographers grant permission readily for a private commission — ask in writing.

The Verdict

Ignore the megapixel count on the box your camera came in. Crop to the face, read the pixel height, and if it clears 500, you're not the problem — the chat app you used to send it probably was. Send the original file, shoot from five feet with the zoom, and get the camera down to eye level. That's the entire craft of taking a paintable photograph, and nobody selling you a painting wanted to make it sound this simple.

Sources

Reference-photo resolution and file requirements

• DPI & Resolution Guide for Custom Oil Paintings — Art in Bulk Help Center
• File Format Requirements for Photo Uploads — Art in Bulk
• Can Any Photo Be Turned Into a Custom Portrait? — Welham & Co
• Checklist for Ordering Custom Portraits — The Family Portrait Company
• Photos to Painted Portraits: What Photos to Use? — Rockwell Portraits

Camera distance, focal length and facial distortion

• Nasal Distortion in Short-Distance Photographs: The Selfie Effect — PubMed (JAMA Facial Plast Surg, 2018)
• Perceived Facial Distortions in Selfies — Fried & Paskhover (PDF)
• Selfies Distort Your Face by 30% — Live Science
• 50mm vs 85mm vs 135mm Portrait Lens Comparison — Fstoppers

Compression, formats and AI enhancement

• WhatsApp Image Sizes: 1600px and the 16MB Limit — Imagic
• Instagram Preps To Save Your Photos In 1080x1080 Resolution — TechCrunch
• iPhone Camera Formats Guide for HEIF, JPEG and Pro Options — AppleMagazine
• AI Image Upscalers in 2026: Where They Still Fall Short — Technology.org

Pet references and copyright

• Pet Photography tips — Canon Europe
• Copyright Law: Understanding Your Rights as a Photographer — Professional Photographers of America

Mus3ums.com references

• Luncheon of the Boating Party — Renoir, live-quoted at $364 for a 16 x 20 in (40.6 x 50.8 cm) hand-painted oil, cited in the price section above.
• Turn Your Photos into Custom Oil Paintings: A Professional Guide to Bespoke Art Commissions

Data as of 11 August 2026. USD, ex-frame, ex-options, worldwide shipping included. Check the live order page before quoting these numbers back at anyone.