LIGHTING
Natural light is best. Maybe near a window, or outdoors - but not in direct bright sun (will cause glare on metal keys). Don't use a flash, that also causes glare.

SURFACE & BACKGROUND
For decoding, the keys might have to come off their key ring. Put them flat on a plain (not heavily patterned) neutral-colored surface (not white - wood or darker material is usually fine). It's good to put multiple keys in the same photo. Place them close together. A rule (millimeters preferred) alongside a key is sometimes helpful.

POSITION
Place your camera directly over the middle of the key or keys. Straight overhead, not favoring one end, not at an angle*. The keys should appear flat and parallel, and the same width one end to the other. (*Jaguar/Ford Tibbe keys are an exception, roll sides over a little at an angle to show the cuts better).

FOCUS
Test the focus, if your smartphone/camera does not grab sharp focus move it away until it does. On a smartphone-size screen the focus may look good when it actually isn't, so take a photo and then review it by zooming in to see detail. Cuts need to be seen in sharp focus even when heavily zoomed in (magnified).

SHADOWS
Ensure that cut edges are well lit and not in deep shadow. For keys cut on one edge only: light that side. For keys cut on both edges: get light evenly over both edges or take 2 photos, swapping the light and dark sides.

FILE TYPE
Common graphics format please: such as JPEG, PNG, TIFF, HEIC(HEIF). Probably your camera's default format is fine. Other formats? PDF is not ideal, as compression can take out the detail we need. And Word DOCX is not appropriate for photos!

SENDING 1: FILE SIZE
Not tiny, but not huge! Modern smartphones/cameras take photos of very large file size. When sending images most email apps allow you to adjust the outgoing size - choose "large" or "medium" rather than the extremes of "actual size" (maybe too big to send) or "small" (too small = pixelated and not usable). (As a guide: 200Kb to 2Mb per photo is often a good size depending on whether you've cropped the image to remove unnecessary background).

SENDING 2: HOW?
Inquiries can start with our Inquire/Contact form. Wait for our auto-response (confirming we got your inquiry) and then hit reply to that email and attach photos, or put them on a hosting site and send us the URL (again, see the form for that). If sending photos by email, after having sent a form, your name or email address will be enough for us to link the two things together.

PLEASE, NOT A SCANNER!
Cameras, including smartphones, take much better key images than scanners can. Avoid using a flatbed scanner, unless it is all you have.