Features
Faces framed in the circle, automatically
Punchframe's automatic photo cropping uses on-device face detection to frame each photo in your keychain circle, so the whole group stays inside the cut.
Updated
The problem
Automatic photo cropping for a photo booth has to know where the faces are, not just where the middle of the picture is. A keychain is a small circle, and most photos are tall rectangles. A plain center crop works for a single close-up, but it cuts the people on the ends out of a group shot and leaves a lot of background around someone standing far from the camera.
At a busy booth nobody has time to check every guest upload by hand. A bad crop is usually found when the keychain is already punched.
How automatic cropping works in Punchframe
Punchframe's automatic framing runs on photos guests send through the guest upload portal, and on photos you add yourself on the run screen. For guests it happens on their own phone, in the browser, before the photo is sent to you.
It finds the faces
Punchframe runs face detection on the photo right on the guest's device. The photo does not leave the phone for this step. Very small faces are ignored on purpose, so a face on a poster, a T-shirt or a person far in the background does not pull the crop off the real subject.
It fits everyone inside the cut
Punchframe sizes the automatic crop to the number of people it finds. A group photo is framed tightly so everyone fits inside the cut shape. A single person gets a looser crop with room around their head. If no faces are found, Punchframe looks for the subject against the backdrop instead, and if that finds nothing it falls back to a plain crop that covers the cut shape.
It also will not zoom in so far that the print goes soft. On a small or low-resolution photo, it keeps a wider crop rather than enlarging a blurry face.
The guest sees the result and can change it
In the Punchframe guest portal, the guest sees their photo framed in your keychain shape, with your printed border if you have one turned on. If everyone fits, the screen says "Looking good". If the crop could not fit everyone inside the cut shape, it tells them and asks them to tap Adjust. Adjust opens a cropper with pan and zoom so they can fix it themselves. If framing takes more than a moment, a "Position it myself" button appears so a guest is never stuck waiting.
Photos you add yourself
Photos you add with Add photos, and photos from a connected booth folder, open in the framing dialog on the run screen already framed on the faces, using the same steps as guest uploads. The photo shows right away with "Finding faces" underneath, and the crop moves onto the faces when detection finishes. If you start dragging or zooming first, your adjustment is kept. If detection takes longer than two seconds or fails, the photo stays on the default crop. Guest photos are already framed and are not cropped again.
To turn it off for booth folder photos, open the event settings, find Framing, and switch off Auto-crop booth folder photos. Photos added with Add photos are still auto-cropped. Drag to pan, scroll or use the slider to zoom, and press Enter to confirm. If a border is on, the dialog shows it, so you frame the photo inside the border.
At a real event
Here is how Punchframe automatic cropping helps at a busy wedding. A guest uploads a wide group shot of the bridal party from their phone. Punchframe finds every face, sizes the crop so the whole group fits inside the cut shape, and shows "Looking good" before the guest sends it. Later, the groom's cousin uploads a selfie taken at arm's length, and it gets a looser crop with room around the head. On your laptop, photos from the booth folder open in the framing dialog already framed, so you mostly press Enter and move to the next slot on the keychain sheet.
Common problems
- "We couldn't fit everyone". The group is too wide for the keychain shape. The guest taps Adjust and chooses who to keep in the frame.
- A photo you added stayed on the default crop. On photos you add on the run screen, face detection took longer than two seconds or failed. Drag and zoom by hand, then press Enter.
- You want to frame booth photos yourself. Switch off Auto-crop booth folder photos under Framing in the event settings.
- A busy background distracts from the subject. The framing dialog has a Remove background button.
Who it's for
Punchframe's automatic photo cropping helps most where many guests send their own photos:
- Wedding photo booths
- Corporate event activations
- Bar and bat mitzvahs
- Trade-show booths
- Party favor businesses
- Brand pop-ups
It is part of the guest portal, so it pairs with keychain, magnet and button printing wherever guests upload from their phones.
Questions
Does auto crop work for group photos?
Yes. It finds every face above a minimum size and sizes the crop so all of them fit inside the cut shape. If a group is too wide to fit, the guest is told and can adjust the crop before sending.
Are guest photos uploaded to a server for face detection?
No. Face detection runs in the guest's browser on their phone. Only the finished photo is sent to your queue when the guest taps send.
What happens if there are no faces in the photo?
Punchframe looks for the main subject against the background, which can help with pets and objects. If it cannot find one, it uses a plain crop that fills the circle, and the guest can still adjust it.
Does auto crop also work on photos from my booth camera?
Yes. Photos you add and photos from your booth folder open in the framing dialog already framed on the faces. You can still pan and zoom before pressing Enter, and you can turn it off for booth folder photos in your event settings.