# Prepare cover images for Selfie Mirror

> Image specifications for Selfie Mirror covers and a step-by-step guide to preparing scenes and overlays that look good with every visitor.

A cover is the finished image a visitor takes home: their cut-out selfie placed into a scene you design. Each Selfie Mirror installation has up to three covers. In the Console they're called **Reference Backgrounds** and are set up under **Capture** in the installation settings.

## How covers are made

When the camera takes the photo, Selfie Mirror builds each cover in three layers:

1. **Background image:** Your scene, drawn at its full size. The finished cover has exactly the same width and height as this image
2. **Person:** The visitor, cut out of the photo, scaled to the full height of the scene and standing at the bottom edge, centred. **Person Placement** moves and resizes the person within each scene
3. **Overlay (optional):** Your frame or graphic, drawn on top of the person and stretched to cover the whole scene
4. **Combined:** The final graphic that merges all the layers

The finished cover is saved as a JPEG and sent to the visitor on WhatsApp.

## Cover image specifications

**Background image**

- **Formats:** PNG, JPEG, WebP, SVG, or GIF (only the first frame is used)
- **Size:** The cover keeps the background's exact pixel size, so the background sets the resolution of what the visitor receives. We recommend **1620x2160px** resolution for the images, but you can adjust to your needs
- **Orientation:** We recommend portrait orientation as the photos will be viewed on the phone

**Overlay**

- **Format:** PNG with transparency
- **Size:** Exactly the same width and height as the background image. The overlay is stretched to the background's size, so a different aspect ratio distorts it
- **Content:** Frames, titles, logos, or graphics that sit in front of the person. Leave the area where the person stands transparent

**Number of covers**

- At least one and at most three per installation. The visitor sees one option per cover on the selection screen

## How to prepare a good-looking cover

1. Choose a scene for your cover, a good starting point is the background
2. Design the overlay at the same size as the background, and keep the person's area transparent. Try to keep roughly the same positioning 
3. Have fun and try different designs until you are happy with the effect the two layers create when combined with the image of the person
4. Export the cover images at recommended sizes and orientation
5. Upload the files in the Selfie Mirror settings: [Set up Selfie Mirror](https://learn.phygrid.com/selfie-mirror/set-up-selfie-mirror/#how-to-set-up-covers)
6. Take a test selfie and adjust **Person Placement** until the person sits naturally in the scene

## Tips

- Make sure the location is providing adequate lighting, as it affects photo quality and can impact the effect
- If necessary, place a simple floor marker to show people where to stand, at the right distance from the screen