Lockets have long been more than a simple piece of jewellery, holding a certain emotional weight and importance that few other kinds of jewellery are able to emulate. That is all down to one simple, yet unique element, to the locket. The photographs stored carefully inside. Cherished memories hidden in plain sight below layers of precious metal. It's the photographs within that make the locket truly unique, personal, yours. So how do you choose the right photos?
Choosing Your Photos
Choosing which photos, which memories, belong in a locket, can be a difficult process. After all, most lockets have limited space, holding 1, or 2 photos at most. At Lily Blanche, we offer 4 photo and 6 photo lockets, but even then, the choice can still be a difficult one. The first thing to realise is that there isn't really a wrong choice, an older photograph may not mean a lot to a stranger, but it may hold many memories for you, stories sparked by a single image.
Another important factor to consider is the shape of the locket that you would like to store the photograph in. Lockets come in all shapes and sizes. What may work in an oval shaped locket may not work in a heart shaped locket. How to size a photo for a locket is one of the most common questions people have when it comes to buying a locket, but you can make it easier by making sure you choose a photograph that will work well in the shape of locket you would like to use.
How to Get the Perfect Finish
The clearer and sharper the original photograph the better for the final look of the photo in your locket. If you don't have a digital version of a photograph, taking the original photograph out of its frame and scanning it with a scanner can be a great way to maintain the original quality of an older photograph.
The next consideration you should make is how much background or space there is around the people in your photo, the more backgrounds the better as your photograph will be cropped into the shape of the locket. If you have faces too close to the edge of a photograph, there is a high likelihood some of that face will be cut off when the photograph is cropped. This applies to both circular and heart shaped lockets and is demonstrated below:
This photograph is quite crowded and won't fit very well in a photo locket:
This photograph, though crowded, works far better because of all the background around the people:
Oval Shaped Lockets
If you are interested in an oval shaped locket making sure to choose pictures with lots of background around the subjects of the photograph will still help get the best possible finish, however landscape, or wider images won't work so well. It is better to go with portrait style, vertical photographs in this case, as demonstrated below:
This selfie style photograph works well because of all the space around the person: 
This selfie style photograph doesn't work so well as it is very crowded and landscape:
Choosing the right photos for your lockets isn't easy, and it's best to take your time going through your photograph collection, whether digital or physical, to find the perfect pictures for you. If you would like more detailed advice and suggestions make sure to check out our tutorial video on the topic!
Find the Perfect Locket:
At Lily Blanche we have a range of photo lockets in sterling silver, yellow gold, rose gold and white gold vermeil. These lockets can take 1, 2, 4 and even 6 photographs! Browse our locket collection here.