Memorial photo frame: keep the face you remember

Choosing a memorial photo frame is really about the photograph inside it. The frame can be black or natural wood. What people look at is the face. If that face has changed, or a crease still runs across it, the frame will not put it right.

If you are choosing a dad memorial photo frame, a mum memorial photo frame, or a personalised photo frame gift after a death, start with the print. A clear picture that still looks like them is the whole job.

When you need one photo for an order of service or a frame, we can have it ready to download today. Start on our memorial photos page.

The photograph comes first

Before you pick a frame colour, find the picture. Look in the shoebox, the album, the biscuit tin, or the envelope at the back of a drawer. You want their face in reasonable light, not turned away, and not lost in a crowd if you have a closer shot.

A small, sharp portrait often sits better in a frame than a wide scene. If a group photo is the only one you have, use it. Group photos are fine. With more than four faces, small faces are kept from your original, cleaned up.

Black and white, sepia and colour prints can all be mended. Faded colour prints from the 1970s to the 2000s that have turned orange, pink or pale can be enhanced without repainting anything. If you add colour to a black and white photo, treat it as a best guess at how the photo looked on the day. It is not a record of the real colours.

Photograph the print on a table, away from the window. If the paper is glossy, tilt it a little so the light does not flash across the face. Or upload a scan you already have. We do not take photos by post or scan them for you.

What a good memorial photo needs

Likeness comes first. They should still look like themselves, on that day. We never change anyone’s age or expression. We do not make someone smile, remove a person, add someone, or change a background. We only mend the photo you send.

Condition comes next. Tears, creases, folds, cracks, scratches, dust, stains, water marks, mould spots and fading can be mended, as long as the picture is still there underneath. If both halves of a torn photo still exist, lay them together flat on a table and photograph them as one picture.

What cannot be mended should be said plainly. A face torn away or missing from the print cannot be put back. That area is filled in plainly from what is around it, never with a new face. A badly blurred photo stays soft. We never invent detail the camera did not catch.

Every face in the mended version is compared with your original. If a face has drifted, we try once more with stricter instructions. If it still is not right, we keep your original face, cleaned up, with only colour added if you asked for colour. The free preview includes a face report, such as ‘3 faces found. All 3 match your original.’

The preview is free. You pay only for the photos you keep. There is no subscription and nothing renews.

Frame size, colour and crop

Once the photograph is right, choose how it will sit in the room.

Ages Ago offers two print options for UK addresses: an A4 fine-art print, and a framed print at 30 x 40 cm with a white mount. You may order up to 5 copies of each photo. Delivery to a UK address is included. We do not deliver prints outside the UK. The mended file can be downloaded and printed anywhere.

Your whole photo is printed with a clean white margin, so no head is ever trimmed. Framed copies are for upright and square photos. A wide landscape is better as an A4 print, in a frame you already own.

Eight frame colours are available: black, white, natural, gold, silver, brown, dark grey and light grey. All have a white mount.

Option	Size	Useful when
A4 print	A4	You already have a frame, or you need a file taken to a local printer
Framed print	30 x 40 cm	You want a finished piece for a wall or a table

An A4 print usually arrives in 3 to 7 working days and a framed print in 4 to 7 working days, after a two-hour window in which you can change the order. For a service very soon, download the file and take it to a local printer.

Memorial photo frame ideas

Memorial photo frame ideas do not need to be elaborate. One true photograph in a quiet frame is enough.

A personalised memorial photo frame is personal because of the picture you choose.

For a dad memorial photo frame, or a memorial dad photo frame, a picture from work, a garden, or a day out often sits more easily than a studio portrait you never much liked. For a memorial photo frame mum, or a mum memorial photo frame, a kitchen, a seaside wall, or a wedding they attended can feel closer to life. A brother memorial photo frame might be a match, a street, or a shared birthday. Use the photo you have, not an idea of the photo you wish you had.

A personalised photo frame gift for someone who is grieving should not surprise them with a face that has been altered. If you can, show them the free preview first. Let them say whether it looks like them.

Keep the frame simple if the room is already full. Black, white, natural or a grey often recede. Gold and silver read as more formal.

If you need the photo this week

For a funeral or a memorial, we can have one clear photo ready to download today. The full-size file is fine for an order of service.

Prints take a few working days, so do not wait on the post if the service is very soon. Order the framed copy when you are ready.

You can change a print for two hours after paying. On your order page you can switch to another version, change the frame colour, fix the address, or cancel the print for a refund.

How to order from Ages Ago

We mend old family photos online in about a minute. No person retouches them. You see a free preview. Keeping a photo costs £5.99. Then you can order an A4 print or a framed 30 x 40 cm copy for a UK address.

Details of sizes and frames are on our prints and frames page.

1. Photograph the print on a table, away from the window.
2. Send it from the memorial photos page and wait about a minute.
3. Look at the faces. If one has drifted, use Try again. You can ask for Stricter with faces, or for warmer or cooler colour.
4. Keep the photo only if it looks like them.
5. Download the file for an order of service, or order a UK print or frame.

If it does not look like them after you have kept it, you have 14 days to press It doesn’t look like them on your order page. A stricter version is made free. If that still is not right, you can choose a credit back or your money back.

When you are ready, start with Ages Ago on our memorial photos page and send the print you have.