Better photos for card art
The difference between 'a photo pasted on a card' and 'card art' is mostly decided before you open the editor.
Light is 90% of it
Window light, slightly to the side, beats every lamp in your house. Side light gives faces and objects depth; overhead light flattens and shadows eye sockets; flash kills everything. For pets and people, shoot facing a window with the light falling across them at an angle — the phone does the rest.
Golden hour (the hour after sunrise or before sunset) makes outdoor shots look painted for free. Dark, moody templates love photos taken in shade or at dusk; bright templates want open light.
Backgrounds: simple or removable
The art window is small — a busy background turns into noise at card scale. Either shoot against something plain (a wall, sky, foliage) or plan to remove the background entirely: Card Forge can split the subject from the background in one click, which unlocks the subject-breakout effect where your subject overlaps the card frame.
If you know you'll want the breakout, shoot with the subject fully in frame with margin on all sides — a cropped-off ear can't break out of anything.
Frame for the window, not the phone
Card art windows are roughly landscape or square depending on template; your phone shoots tall portrait by default. Leave room around the subject when shooting so the crop has options, keep eyes in the upper third for characters, and get closer than feels natural — at card scale, tight and bold reads, wide and airy vanishes.
Small edits, big card energy
Before the photo goes in the editor:
- Bump contrast slightly — card frames are high-contrast objects; flat photos look pasted-in
- Crop out dead space — let the subject own the frame
- In the editor: a vignette or edge fade blends any photo into a dark frame
- Match photo mood to template mood — dusk shot in a Vintage frame, neon night shot in Neon