Getting good photos
Flipr cuts each person out of their background and splits them into three. The cut is only as good as the photo. Five minutes of care here is the difference between a game that looks made and one that looks thrown together.
The short version
- Full body, head to toe.
- Plain background.
- Good light.
- One person per photo.
- Stand up straight-ish.
Head to toe
The game splits each person into three bands - roughly head and shoulders, torso, legs. If the photo stops at the waist there is nothing to put in the bottom row. Get the whole person in, with a little air above the head and below the feet. Shoes included.
One person, on their own
Crop other people out before you upload, or take the photo again. The cutout finds one subject. Give it one.
Plain behind them
A wall, a door, a fence, the sky. Anything without much going on. Busy backgrounds make the edges messy, especially around hair and fingers. A patterned wall is worse than a plain one. A crowd is worst of all.
Light on their face
Outdoors on an overcast day is close to perfect. Indoors, stand them facing a window. Avoid: strong backlight, harsh midday sun, a single overhead bulb. All three make the face dark and the edges hard to find.
Stand back and hold the phone upright
Portrait orientation. Two or three metres away. Hold the phone at about chest height rather than pointing it down from eye level - shooting downwards makes people look short and stubby once they are cut out.
Give them something to do
The flat standing photo works. The one where someone is holding a bat, pointing at the camera, or pulling a face is the one people scream at. Props are welcome. Wide poses are fine - we scale to fit.
What to avoid
- Sunglasses and hats that hide the face. The top row is the one people recognise.
- Sitting down. It breaks the three-band split.
- Motion blur. Take two.
- Screenshots of photos. Use the original.
- Very dark clothing against a very dark background. The cutout has nothing to grip.
If a cutout comes out wrong
Replace the photo. It takes seconds and it is free - you only pay when you publish, and changing anything afterwards is free too.
One last thing
Everyone in your game is a real person. Get their permission before you upload them, and check they are happy with the photo you have chosen. It is their face on the internet, not yours.