How to Choose Images

Choosing an image to be applied to your Millennia Wood box should not be difficult. In fact it should be an enjoyable project. It can be practically anything that is special to you, or strikes your fancy. Maybe you're inspired to some visual image by the grain pattern, or have a picture of a place that has special memories for you, or a pet that you are particularly fond of.

Whatever turns out to be the right picture for you, there are just a few simple guidelines that will help make sure you are pleased with the final result. These guidelines are especially important if you would like the image from a colored photograph applied to your box.

Here are some recent examples of images we have applied to boxes for customers. Click on the pictures to see a larger image, then use your browser's "back" button to return here.

	The girl in the picture on the left has a dark background, and as a result, she tends to blend in with it. Her face is also shadowed by her hair, further reducing definition. The girl on the right has a light background behind her. Her form and features are much better defined in the laser image on the box.
	For images of people, head and shoulder shots are best, providing better facial definition. The background in the photograph is too dark. With some additional image processing, we were able to remove it.
	This black and white picture has the ideal lighting, contrast, and clarity. Only minor processing to remove the slightly shadowed background was required.
	This picture was far from ideal for laser application to our boxes. The faces are unevenly lit, and deeply shadowed on one side. The use of air-brushing or soft focus translates to a very diffused image. The lack of contrast between the couple's hair and the background made it very difficult to remove the background and provide proper definition for their heads.
	We first applied this image without removing the background. In the color photograph, there is enough contrast in the colors to provide definition. But when applied to the box, the density of the background provided an unsatisfactory result. The same picture with the background removed shows a striking difference.

	For this box, we blended two photographs. We removed the cluttered background from both pictures, which would have detracted from the finished image. The woman's face is well lighted, providing good facial definition. The lighting on the little girl's face is a little too dark for optimal translation.
	The lighting on the tractor was good, with good contrast in the foreground. The dark, cluttered background, which would have created definition problems, had to be removed.
	Sharp focus and good, even lighting on this little girl, translated perfectly to the laser application. As with the example above, the blue background had to be removed.
	This picture is a good example of what you should try to avoid for your selected image. The combination of inadequate lighting, lack of proper focus and a dark background create a dark, muddy image, providing very little definition for the subjects.

If you have an image that you want applied, you can supply it in either one of the standard digital formats, or you can provide us a hard copy which can scanned in on a flatbed scanner.

Distracting backgrounds can be removed from your pictures / images for an additional processing fee.

If you look at some of the boxes and images we have in our gallery, they might serve as idea starters, and also give you an idea how different types of images appear when applied to the cedar.

And if you haven't seen it, and are curious how these unique boxes are crafted, we have a small audio-visual presentation you might like to see.