The Christmas card is only as good as the picture you start with. Fairy lights, paper hats, and a warm lamp can still make a keepable Ottermagic front, if the faces are large and the eyes are actually visible. Upload that photo, run Style Swap or Face Swap (Pet Swap for the animal), look at a watermarked preview, and only then order a printed A5 or take the e-card. Printed cards are 148×210mm folded, 330gsm gloss, envelope included, posted with Royal Mail in the UK in around 3–5 working days or sent by airmail to US addresses in around 2–3 weeks.
Year-round photo advice sits in how to choose a photo for a personalised card. Face-crop detail is in Face Swap photo quality tips. This page is December: jumpers, groups, pets in hats, and the orange living-room problem.
Start at Ottermagic.com with a picture you can pinch-zoom without it turning to mush.
The two-minute test, with tinsel in the way
Open the photo full screen on your phone.
If you cannot comfortably see both eyes, the expression, and the shape of the head (or the pet’s face and body), pick another. Zooming a thumbnail from a group chat will not invent a likeness. A filter that already smoothed someone into a stranger will give Style Swap a stranger to restyle.
Phone photos are fine. Most good Christmas cards on Ottermagic start on a camera roll, not a DSLR. A picture from this week usually beats a stretched screenshot from 2019, unless the old print is sharp and that is the joke.
Hats, headphones, and hoods can stay if the eyes are still there. If the Santa hat sits on the eyebrows, take one frame without it. You can still write a hat joke inside.
Style Swap, Face Swap, Pet Swap: different Christmas jobs
Style Swap uses the whole photo. A bit of tree in the background can stay. The people should still be large. Photobooth, Cartoon, Watercolour, Sketch, Clay 3D, and Classic Cartoon all benefit from a face you could crop to a decent square. Side profiles can work for some restyles and fail for others; if the first preview feels off, try a straighter shot.
Face Swap cares more about a clean, face-on head. Hair and glasses should be visible. Heavy shadows under a cap brim will confuse the blend. One person in the crop is easier than two overlapping cheeks. Lucky Leprechaun is a costume-style example in the live set; the template is waiting for a face, not a wide scenic shot of the whole party.
Pet Swap wants the animal, not a hint of an animal. Whole body helps. Eyes visible. A black dog on a dark rug next to a dark tree skirt is a classic failure. Turn a lamp on. Take the paper crown off if it hides the eyes.
Text Swap needs no photo. If that is your situation, stop stressing and make the name card. If you can get a picture, come back to this list.
Live styles, for when the photo is ready: Brick, Chibi, Emoji, Anime, Watercolour, Caricature, Cartoon, Classic Cartoon, Action Figure, Clay 3D, Retro Halftone, Retro Game, Royal Portrait, Pixel Art, Bobblehead, Sticker Sheet, Tarot Card, Photobooth, Sketch, Lucky Leprechaun.
Light, without buying equipment
Stand facing a window. Overcast daylight in December is kinder than kitchen downlights. Avoid strong backlight (a face in silhouette against a garden at 4pm).
Fairy lights and candles look festive and hide eyes. Take a second picture with the overhead light on, even if it is less romantic. You can still write a romantic sentence inside the A5.
Evening indoor photos often go orange. That can still work if the face is bright enough. If everyone looks like a pumpkin, move nearer the window or a lamp, and try again.
Phone night mode is better than a black rectangle. It is not magic. If the faces smear when you zoom, retake it.
Groups, couples, and “everyone at Gran’s”
Faces similar in size beat a toddler on a lap and Dad three metres back. If you cannot get that, crop. Style Swap the people who are actually in focus. Name the others inside.
A ten-person blur will not become a keepable card. Two or three large faces will.
Couples: both people large, both eyes visible. For Face Swap, use a design that expects two faces, or make two coordinating cards. Do not force two heads into a one-face crop. More on that in couple and family Face Swap.
Children: a parent or guardian should upload, or have permission. That includes teenagers under 18. Do not lift a class WhatsApp photo.
Teenagers: skip the picture they have already asked you to take down. See Christmas cards for teens and tweens.
Pets, hats, and the official Christmas jumper
A dog in a hat is funny until the eyes disappear. One frame without the hat is the upload. The hat photo can live on your phone.
Cats rarely pose. Wait. A treat at camera height helps more than any style name.
Multi-pet households: Style Swap of a group photo if both animals are clear. Pet Swap prefers one star in the crop.
Matching family pyjamas can become part of Cartoon or Chibi. If the pattern fights the faces, pick a plainer frame.
Old prints, screenshots, and video freeze-frames
Nan’s favourite picture of the children might be twenty years old and slightly pink. Try it anyway. Retro Halftone and Watercolour are often kinder to older prints than a straight reprint. If the file is a tiny Facebook download, ask someone for a clearer copy.
A freeze-frame from a video can work if the eyes are open and the face is large. Pick the frame on a computer if you can, not on a rushing bus.
Do not screenshot a screenshot. Find the original.
If they have changed a lot and you can take a new photo, take a new photo. Memorial cards are the exception; use the picture the family already loves. See thinking of you at Christmas.
What to do with the preview
Ottermagic shows a watermarked proof in about a minute. Look past the mark at the eyes, the hair, the pet’s ears. If those are wrong, change the photo before you change shops.
Try a second style if the first is almost right. Sketch versus Clay 3D can change everything. Caricature can feel sharp on a tired Christmas-party face; switch to Sketch.
You can retry as often as you like before you pay. Guests preview without an account. Sign in at checkout. After payment, the e-card is hi-res and watermark-free; the printed A5 is the physical card, not a marked jpeg in an envelope.
If the preview is a likeness you would apologise for, do not order it. Support at support@ottermagic.com can help with account and order questions within one working day. They cannot attach a better original to a blurry upload.
Once the photo is right: print or e-card
Printed A5: 148×210mm folded, 330gsm gloss, envelope included, blank inside or a printed message, printed to order in the UK, recyclable stock, water-based inks. Dispatched within one working day, Monday to Friday excluding bank holidays. The UK shop posts with Royal Mail in around 3–5 working days; the US shop sends by airmail to US addresses in around 2–3 weeks. Standard post is untracked in both.
The e-card is the answer when the post no longer fits: inside about three weeks of Christmas for a US address, or inside 3–5 working days in the UK.
Posters and canvas are available from the same artwork. Check Ottermagic.com for live wall-art details.
Royal Mail’s published last posting dates for Christmas 2026 (they can change) are: 2nd Class Friday 18 December, Tracked 48 Saturday 19 December, 1st Class and Tracked 24 Monday 21 December, Special Delivery Wednesday 23 December. Confirm at Royal Mail last posting dates. Count print time on top.
Checkout is in pounds in the UK shop and dollars in the US shop.
Ready when you are
Pick a sharp, well-lit Christmas photo with a clear face or a visible pet, then let Ottermagic do the restyle. Preview until it looks like them. Print an A5 (148×210mm, 330gsm gloss, envelope), hang a poster or canvas, or download the e-card. Start at Ottermagic.com. Support: support@ottermagic.com (reply within one working day).
FAQ
Does the photo have to be high resolution?
It has to be clear. A modern phone original is usually enough. A tiny cropped thumbnail is not.
Can I use a photo with more than one person?
For Style Swap, sometimes, if both faces are clear. For Face Swap, one face in the crop is safer unless the template is meant for more.
What photo works best for a Pet Swap Christmas card?
The whole animal, eyes visible, decent light, not mid-zoom in a dark room. Skip the hat if it hides the eyes.
Should I edit the photo first?
Skip heavy filters. Straighten and a little brightness are fine. Let Style Swap do the stylising.
We only have a blurry night-out photo.
Try Photobooth or Chibi, and also take a two-minute daylight picture if you can. If the preview is unkind, do not order it.
Can I preview without ordering?
Yes. That is the point. See can you preview an AI personalised card before you pay.
