Introduction: Simple and Quick Way to Prepare Photos for Laser Engraving

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Every pixel of a colored photo can be represented by a mixture of RBG (Red Blue Green) colors. Without manipulation of pixels, a colored photo can not be used for laser engraving. The machine simply engrave all pixels, and results are very unsatisfying. Currently, many posts and videos suggest to use a photo manipulating software like Corel or Photoshop to manipulate pixels. However this method demands a lot of time and expertise. The idea of converting a photo to the Grayscale format usually fails as many laser engraving machines can not dynamically adjust the intensity of engraving.

The basic and promising idea for preparing a photo for laser engraving is to convert a photo to the pure black and white format. However, as the brightness and contrast of photos are quite different due to different lighting conditions, skin tones, and cloth appearance, there should be an adjustment for level of darkness. A team of engineers at http://techiephoto.com/laser created a simple free tool for this purpose.

Step 1: Test Your Photo at Techie Photo Website

In order to prepare your photo for engraving visit http://techiephoto.com/laser. The embedded tool converts your photo to pure black and white and display it. Click on "Choose File" and select your photo. If you are on a mobile device, you can either navigate to photo library (Gallery) or simply take a picture with your camera. The tool can use different photo formats: PNG, JPG, ...

Step 2: Adjust the Level of Darkness (engraving Level)

Simply move the bar at the bottom of drawn photo to the left or the right to find your desired level of engraving. The default value is 50% darkness. The minimum and maximum are set to 20% and 80%, respectively. For bright pictures (photos), move the bar to a higher values. Similarly, for dark pictures move the bar to lower values. It is simple, and results are outstanding.

Step 3: Download Your Photo for Engraving

After adjusting the engraving level, simply hit "Download and Share" button, and save your photo. You can navigate to your preferred folder to save it.