Which photo of your child works best: seven rules

The whole book is built around a single photo. Everything else — the story, the illustrations, the layout — is already made and identical for every order. So the quality of the result comes almost entirely down to the picture you upload.

1. Facing the camera, not in profile

A photo where your child looks straight ahead, or turned no more than a quarter away, works best. A profile shot cannot work: on the page the hero faces the reader, and half the features simply are not in the source.

2. Soft, diffused light

An overcast day by a window beats bright noon sun. Hard shadows from sunlight or flash eat the shape of the cheeks and nose — and that shape is exactly what makes a child recognisable.

3. Close enough

The face should fill at least a third of the frame. A full-length shot where your child is the size of a thumbnail has no detail to work from. If your favourite photo is wide, crop it to head and shoulders.

4. One person in frame

Group photos are the most common reason an upload fails. Crop so that only your child remains.

5. Nothing covering the face

A low cap brim, glasses with reflections, hair across half the face, a dummy, a hand on the cheek — each of these hides precisely what needs to reach the book.

6. A calm expression or a small smile

A big laugh with eyes squeezed shut looks wonderful as a photograph, but it travels badly across twenty different scenes: on the page where the hero is surprised, shut eyes look wrong.

7. A recent photo

Use something no older than six months — and for children under three, no older than two months. Children change fast, and a book made from last year's photo is a book about a different child.

You can check your photo on the site for free, before paying: we look for a face, check there is only one, and check the shot is sharp enough. Only then does paying make sense.