Turn a photo into art: which style suits which photo
An art effect is only as good as the photo you feed it. The same filter that makes a landscape look hand-painted can turn a group photo into mush. The trick is matching the style to the picture.
Quick match
| Style | Best photos | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Oil painting | Landscapes, still life, pets, flowers | Small, low-resolution photos: the brush strokes swallow the detail |
| Watercolour | Flowers, gardens, coastlines, buildings with clear shapes | Dark, night-time photos: watercolour needs light paper showing through |
| Pop art | A single subject on a plain background: a pet, a product, a coffee cup | Busy scenes; remove the background first |
| Low poly | Animals, mountains, cars, strong silhouettes | Fine textures such as text or patterned fabric |
| Stained glass | Bright, colourful photos: sunsets, flowers, fruit | Muted, grey scenes; the lead lines dominate |
| Duotone | Portraits, architecture, posters, a set of photos that should match | Photos whose colour is the point |
| Pencil sketch | Buildings, portraits, objects with clear edges | Soft, out-of-focus photos |
| Tilt-shift miniature | Streets, harbours and crowds photographed from high up | Eye-level shots: the illusion needs a view from above |
Prepare the photo first
- Crop to the subject. Every effect simplifies, and a small subject in a big frame simplifies away. The Image Cropper takes seconds.
- Fix the light. Effects exaggerate what is there. A dull photo makes a dull painting; lift it with Adjust or the AI Photo Enhancer first.
- Use the biggest version you have. More pixels mean finer brush strokes and more triangles before the picture loses its likeness.
- Remove distractions. A clean background makes pop art and low poly far stronger; the Background Remover or Object Eraser handles that.
Settings that tend to look good
- Oil painting: brush size around 1% of the photo's width. Thick impasto for drama, flat acrylic for a modern poster.
- Watercolour: high wash softness and pencil outlines on for a sketchbook look; low softness to keep faces and lettering recognisable.
- Pop art: a 2×2 grid with detail 2 or 3 is the classic screen-print look.
- Low poly: 300 to 800 triangles for bold and abstract, 2,000 and up to keep the likeness.
- Stained glass: 300 to 900 pieces look most like a real window.
- Duotone: a dark shadow colour with a light highlight colour; reversed, the picture loses its shape.
Printing it
For a print, check the pixel size against the paper size: about 300 pixels per inch for a close-up print, 150 for a poster seen from a few steps away. Our DPI and print size guide has the numbers. If the art comes out too small, upscale the original photo first and apply the effect to the bigger version: upscaling afterwards blurs the brush work.
All of these effects run in your browser, so the photo is never uploaded. For a hand-made version, turn the same photo into a paint by numbers kit or cross-stitch chart.