diff --git a/src/hope_dedup_engine/apps/faces/services/image_processor.py b/src/hope_dedup_engine/apps/faces/services/image_processor.py
index 7e3a0bad..fa744276 100644
--- a/src/hope_dedup_engine/apps/faces/services/image_processor.py
+++ b/src/hope_dedup_engine/apps/faces/services/image_processor.py
@@ -97,19 +97,18 @@ def _get_face_detections_dnn(
                 # Decode image from binary buffer to 3D numpy array (height, width, channels of BlueGreeRed color space)
                 image = cv2.imdecode(img_array, cv2.IMREAD_COLOR)
             (h, w) = image.shape[:2]
+            _h, _w = (
+                self.blob_from_image_cfg.shape["height"],
+                self.blob_from_image_cfg.shape["width"],
+            )
+            if h < _h or w < _w:
+                raise ValueError(
+                    f"Image {filename} too small: '{h}x{w}'. It needs to be at least '{_h}x{_w}'."
+                )
             # Create a blob (4D tensor) from the image
             blob = cv2.dnn.blobFromImage(
-                image=cv2.resize(
-                    image,
-                    dsize=(
-                        self.blob_from_image_cfg.shape["height"],
-                        self.blob_from_image_cfg.shape["width"],
-                    ),
-                ),
-                size=(
-                    self.blob_from_image_cfg.shape["height"],
-                    self.blob_from_image_cfg.shape["width"],
-                ),
+                image=cv2.resize(image, dsize=(_h, _w)),
+                size=(_h, _w),
                 scalefactor=self.blob_from_image_cfg.scale_factor,
                 mean=self.blob_from_image_cfg.mean_values,
             )
diff --git a/src/hope_dedup_engine/config/fragments/constance.py b/src/hope_dedup_engine/config/fragments/constance.py
index 32fe0b38..0abde749 100644
--- a/src/hope_dedup_engine/config/fragments/constance.py
+++ b/src/hope_dedup_engine/config/fragments/constance.py
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@
         int,
     ),
     "FACE_ENCODINGS_MODEL": (
-        "small",
+        "large",
         """
         Specifies the model type used for encoding face landmarks. It can be either 'small' which is faster and
         detects only 5 key facial landmarks, or 'large' which is more precise and identifies 68 key facial landmarks
diff --git a/tests/extras/demoapp/demo_images/818x1232.jpg b/tests/extras/demoapp/demo_images/818x1232.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..43bcfd76
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diff --git a/tests/extras/demoapp/demo_images/Aaron_Eckhart_0001.jpg b/tests/extras/demoapp/demo_images/Aaron_Eckhart_0001.jpg
index 4d2fb8db..3da86181 100644
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diff --git a/tests/extras/demoapp/demo_images/Aaron_Guiel_0001.jpg b/tests/extras/demoapp/demo_images/Aaron_Guiel_0001.jpg
index c2fb5d0f..bac4a9f8 100644
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diff --git a/tests/extras/demoapp/demo_images/Aaron_Peirsol_0001.jpg b/tests/extras/demoapp/demo_images/Aaron_Peirsol_0001.jpg
index b1cc3287..df2b0923 100644
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diff --git a/tests/extras/demoapp/demo_images/Aaron_Peirsol_0002.jpg b/tests/extras/demoapp/demo_images/Aaron_Peirsol_0002.jpg
index cf561ab4..d934ad0e 100644
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diff --git a/tests/extras/demoapp/demo_images/Cathy_Freeman_0001.jpg b/tests/extras/demoapp/demo_images/Cathy_Freeman_0001.jpg
index f2d6b5d8..c3921aea 100644
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diff --git a/tests/extras/demoapp/demo_images/Cathy_Freeman_0002.jpg b/tests/extras/demoapp/demo_images/Cathy_Freeman_0002.jpg
index e4f8f62c..233d3f1c 100644
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diff --git a/tests/extras/demoapp/demo_images/Ziwang_Xu_0001.jpg b/tests/extras/demoapp/demo_images/Ziwang_Xu_0001.jpg
index 2665ebc0..b8495b82 100644
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diff --git a/tests/extras/demoapp/demo_images/Zoe_Ball_0001.jpg b/tests/extras/demoapp/demo_images/Zoe_Ball_0001.jpg
index f26223d2..c41d655f 100644
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diff --git a/tests/extras/demoapp/demo_images/too_small.jpg b/tests/extras/demoapp/demo_images/too_small.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..60fca585
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diff --git a/tests/extras/demoapp/demo_images/without_face.jpg b/tests/extras/demoapp/demo_images/without_face.jpg
index e3b70996..d870b9ba 100644
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