3 min readUpdated July 30, 2026
A lithophane works best with medium-to-high contrast photos, a face in the foreground and at least 1000 px on the shorter side. Very dark photos, backlit shots and images with many small people do not work.
A lithophane does not reproduce colour: it reproduces thickness. Where the photo is dark the wall is thick and less light passes; where it is light the wall is thin and more passes. The whole image is rebuilt in greys by the light going through it — which is why the choice of photo matters more than the resolution.
What works
- Close-up faces filling at least a third of the frame
- Soft side or front light, with visible but not harsh shadows
- A simple background — a wall, sky, or blurred field
- The original file from the phone, not a screenshot or a WhatsApp copy
What does not work
- Backlighting — the person becomes a black silhouette
- Group shots with ten people: each face ends up 4 mm tall
- Already very dark images: there is not enough light to get through
- Images forwarded several times on WhatsApp and already compressed