Intel selects Picture Mosaics to feature its mosaic technology at IDF 2015 Skylake press event
Intel picks Picture Mosaics’ app to show off its new Skylake i7 processor at the 2015 IDF press event! Picture Mosaics’ new 4K video mosaic technology optimized for Skylake to be featured in more upcoming Intel events. In front of the new demo are Joe Charpentier, VP of Engineering, and Al Charpentier, Founder and CEO.
At Picture Mosaics, we’ve spent the last 14 years pushing the boundaries of photo mosaic design in every way imaginable. We were honored to partner with Intel and present at the IDF 2015 press event in San Francisco! We were tasked with putting together a demo using our latest photo and video software to push the new Skylake i7 processor to its limit. Continue reading
Top Three DON’Ts of Photo Mosaic Design
With the release of our Online Mosaic Tool, we gave the users a sizable amount of power when creating their own photo mosaics. But as we all know: with great power comes great responsibility! True photo mosaic design isn’t something that just happens. It requires plenty of practice and a keen attention to detail. Throughout the years, we’ve seen a number of mosaic shortcuts that result in cheap, false photo mosaics. A number of factors go into the process of creating a mosaic, but I’m going to focus on the top three DON’Ts of photo mosaic design.
How-to: The Perfect Photo Mosaic
Our Online Mosaic Tool makes it super easy for you to create free photo mosaic using your photos in just a few clicks. Just upload, design, and create – it’s that simple. Here are a few simple tips and tricks to really help your photo mosaic to shine.
Shape Mosaics: The next big thing
***1/6/2015 UPDATE***
You can now place your Shape Mosaic order through our website!
Photo mosaics are a passion of ours. We work hard at pushing the mosaic concept to new heights every day. That’s why we’re super excited to introduce a new kind of photo mosaic to our gallery: Shape Mosaics. Rather than building a mosaic based on the color and detail within the source image, these mosaics build a specific solid shape out of your cell images. Perfect for brand logos, silhouettes, and solid shapes.
Choosing a Photo Mosaic Source Image
One of the most important components of a photo mosaic is the source image. A source image is the bigger picture that the smaller photos (called “cells”) will create. Any photo can be used as a source image, but not just any photo will the completed photo mosaic that WOW factor. The real question is how well the photo will survive the mosaic transformation. For this post, I’ll be focusing on portrait photos. Landscapes, logos, and other non-human subjects will be addressed in future posts, so stay tuned!
When using a photo of people as your source image, it’s important to consider facial recognition. In order for facial shapes and details to survive the photo mosaic transformation, you’ll want the faces to encompass a fairly large portion of the image, measuring at least 1/3 of the width and height of the entire photo. This will allow a great amount of detail and clarity to come through in the photo mosaic. Here are a couple examples of photos that should produce good facial recognition:
The 2012 Mona Lisa Photo Mosaic Jerry’s Artarama Catalog Cover
Jerry’s Artarama was looking for a unique, creative angle for their 2012 catalog cover. In the initial discovery phase, they reached out to us to help explore possible directions. The designers at here at Picture Mosaics knew straight away that our trendsetting Multi-size Mosaic technique would result in an extraordinary cover. Utilizing images that Jerry’s Artarama gathered over the years, the very first Multi-size Mona Lisa photo mosaic was born.
The ESPN Sportsnation Photo Mosaic Mural
With three years of airtime under their belt, ESPN Sportsnation was looking for the perfect way to bring every milestone together into one stunning piece. They contacted us to do just that. Using the well known, and complex, Sportsnation logo as the photo mosaic source image was one of our biggest source image challenges to date. After brainstorming several design techniques, we found a cutting edge solution that met their every expectation.
Bayfront Health System 2011 Photo Mosaic Billboard Ad Campaign
Bayfront Health System was looking to create two unique billboards for their 2011 marketing campaign, however the standard photo mosaic concept would not be enough to achieve the wide range of distances people would be viewing the mosaic billboards. After a quick brainstorming session with Picture Mosaics, it was quickly realized that our unique multi-size cell photo mosaic was an ideal solution. Bayfront gathered photos from past and present and that was all we needed begin our design process. Once completed and produced, the billboards were truly artful displays that created that wow factor up close and from a distance.
A one-of-a-kind Veteran’s Flag Photo Mosaic Mural
When Ty and his team at Extreme Makeover Home Edition were looking for that wow piece to bring the whole project together, they quickly realized the photo mosaic concept would be a perfect fit. Since time at EMHE is always critical and need for a piece that exceeded expectations was paramount, the call was put into Picture Mosaics. As soon as we heard about the project, we were on board.
The concept was to create the American Flag using photos of active and veteran women of the armed forces. Once Ty’s team delivered the photos, we were set to begin work one of our more artistic and impactful mosaic murals to date. The lead members of our design team worked around the clock for a total of two days, making sure every photo was optimally placed, colors were true and vivid as possible, and the mosaic was visually impactful as it was meaningful. Please take a moment to explore the photos and video clips below.