My apologies for veering off the photo mosaic path here, but I just had to share this. I discovered artist Alexey Steshak through his own submission on Bored Panda where he documented the creation of a stunningly simple mosaic. Using everyday ceramic tile, he hand-cuts each piece of tile to suit his source image. As you can see in the photos, he simply sketches his source idea, then adheres the tiles directly to the wall.

“You’ve got to ask yourself one question. Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?”

I love to doodle. I never thought of myself as much of an artist in that respect, I was always more of a photography person (photo mosaics too :-D), but I often find myself doodling whenever my mind wanders. I’ve always loved the idea of just randomly sketching out small, simple ideas that spring into my head. It’s like a form of meditation!

Anyway, during one of my photo mosaic hunts, I found the work of Sagaki Keita, a pen and ink artist living and working in Tokyo, and I was absolutely blown away.

I love photo mosaics (duh!). But I really love when artists incorporate inventive and unique ideas to elevate the mosaic concept even further. Transforming old, sometimes unused, objects into works of art is even better! I guess I don’t need to tell you my interest was piqued when I came across these stunning photo mosaic installations from audiovisual artist Daniel Canogar.

Finding creative inspiration in the everyday routines is a rare gift. For five consecutive years, Montana resident Gary Tallman has created intricately detailed mosaics out of chopped firewood, also referred to as cordwood. Each design takes more than 20 hours of labor to construct, not counting the initial design and sorting of the wood by color. The variety of colors and shades that naturally occur in the wood grain is phenomenal; in an interview with the Great Falls Tribune, Tallman compares each piece of wood to a pixel in a digital image. By combining different colors of wood, he can create lush shades and textures.

There’s nothing quite like the love a fan feels for their favorite team. Especially football fans, they must be some of the most devoted supporters out there. That being said, it came as no surprise when I found the Ohio State University True Fan Mosaic, an online photo mosaic dedicated to the OSU Buckeyes. Fans can submit their photos to show their support and enter to win tickets to an OSU game!

Nostalgia has become a significant part of pop culture in the United States. Clothing, furniture, technology, music, etc. from our childhood can leave a lasting impression on our personalities. In my ongoing search for the latest and greatest photo mosaics, I stumbled onto Austrian designer Kay Knight‘s work. Knight has figured out a way to channel that love for nostalgia into art by creating photo mosaics from outdated keyboard caps. Knight first plucks off each individual key, photographs them, then creates photo mosaics of vintage electronics, from arcade games to the Walkman.

Although our review pages are very informational and helpful, there is nothing more concrete than a side-by-side comparisons.
Instead of using digital versions of the mosaics, we decided to take high resolution digital pictures of each printed mosaic; in this way the final results are more easily understood and revealed. Each printed mosaic was mounted on a black foam board.

Below you will find three views of each mosaic that was reviewed:
1) A distance view to see the overall target source clarity
2) A close up sectional view to see the cells and reveal how each mosaic is created
3) A super close up for detail/clarity and resolution (dpi)

Distance Views: Although all of the mosaics look similar at first glance, it is soon becomes clear that one of these maintains more true colors and vividness compared to the other three.

Picture Mosaics (above): Using only a grid of 51 by 51 cells (2601 total cells), this mosaic had the clarity and vividness that make this mosaic stand out from a distance. None of the orginal colors were muted or colorized. The overall clarity of the source image was remarkable. Also, this was the only mosaic printed with a border (white) in addition to the print area to allow for easy framing.

Big Mosiacs (above): Using a grid of 96 by 80 cells (7680 total cells) this mosaic had ultra small cell photos, the smallest we have ever seen! Source clarity from a distance was good, however since the mosaic had so many cells, the cells were too tiny to see. The mosaic was printed on a high gloss paper which produced so much glare that we had trouble viewing, and photographing, the mosaic. The cells on the outside edge of the print were cut in half (borderless), and made framing a challenge.

Design A Mosaic (above): Using a grid of 27 x 28 cells (756 total cells), this mosaic was very faded and lacked that wow factor. It was clear, even from a distance, that the target source image was superimposed giving the mosaic a fake appearance. The source image and it’s colors were so superimposed that the cells became difficult to identify since they were so faded.

Mosaically (above): Using a grid of 52 by 53 cells (2756 total cells), this mosaic looked good from a distance and had good color/contrast attributes. Something we quickly noticed was the loud permanent sticker of the company logo in the lower right hand corner, which we assumed to be advertising. It was also clear that quite a bit of colorization/superimposing was used, which detracted from the overall mosaic effect.

Close Up Views: In this view, we positioned our camera about 6 inches from the mosaic to reveal a close section view of each. We also placed a US nickel to help with perspective and sizing on different monitors. The nickels are the same size in each image for easy comparisons. We found some interesting (and somewhat undesired) techniques used in the creation of each mosaic.

Picture Mosaics (above): A closer look reveals large vivid cell photos, with minimal to no colorization. There is no source superimposing and the true colors from each photo are used to create the target source image. This mosaic has the wow factor!

Big Mosaics (above): A closer look reveals that the cell photos are very tiny and hard to see. The cell photos are 3x to 5x smaller than the other mosaics we reviewed. Additionally, we quickly noticed that they unfortunately decided to crop all of our photos to squares. There was also evidence of strong colorization of the cell photos. Lastly we noted that duplicates were repeated in very close proximity to one another.

Design A Mosaic (above): A closer look reveals that the cells, although large, have little impact on the creation of the target source image. The company has chosen to strongly superimpose the source image on top of the cells. In the above photo, you can see the ultra dark blue color and stripes from my nephew’s shirt superimposed on the source. This strong superimposition makes the cell photos faded and difficult to see.

Mosaically (above): A closer look reveals average size cells that attempt to create the target source, however the source has been strongly superimposed. In the above photo, you can seem the ultra dark blue color and stripes from my nephew’s shirt superimposed on the source. This strong superimposition makes the cell photos faded and difficult to see.

Super Close Up Views: In the views below, we use a 10x Loreo Lubot (a photographer magnification lens) to explore the actual print resolution (dpi) of each mosaic. The greater the dpi (dots per inch), the clearer and sharper each cell photo can be.  The results are pretty clear (no pun intended).

Picture Mosaics (above) at 10x magnification. The cell photos are very clear, minimal ink dots can be seen at this magnification. Cell photos are non-faded and maintain the orginal color.

Big Mosaics (above) at 10x magnification. Ink dots are visible and graininess results. The small cells further degrades clarity.

Design A Mosaic (above) at 10x magnification. The cells are large, however they are very faded (due to colorization and target source superimposition); ink dots/pixelization can be seen.

Mosaically (above) at 10x magnification. Clarity and resolution is good; unfortunately cell photos are slightly faded due to colorization.

We wanted to create a review process that was completely impartial and unbiased. Using the same target source image and cells, we chose the top four photo mosaic design companies and online photo mosaic tools. We recorded our experiences with each company and online tool along with the quality of their mosaic results.

To be considered for review, each company and app had to meet the following criteria:
1) A listing that appears in the first three pages of Google or Yahoo search results for the term “photo mosaic” or “picture mosaic” OR appear in a “sponsored listings” section of either of these search engines.
2) Reasonable pricing. Equal to or less than $300.00 (USD) for a mosaic product with a print size of approximately 18″x24″
3) Offer online ordering.

The following source images were used for our review: 

Photo Mosaic Designer Source Image

Online Photo Mosaic Tool Source Image

We were looking for somewhat complicated source images, however not too complicated that it would be impossible to create a quality mosaic. We chose photos with people to test the facial recognition abilities of each mosaic company and app.

We also used with the same 400 cell photos to create each mosaic, here is a small sample of the cell photos we submitted:

After a few weeks, we had recorded our experiences with each company and online tool and fully analyzed the final mosaic results.

Check out our “Design Services” and “Software & Tools” pages for our full reviews. If you or anyone else has used one of these services, please feel free to write your own review! Hopefully these reviews are helpful in selecting the mosaic service that’s right for you.