P H O T O   A D V I C E

All of my portraits are painted from my clients' own photos. It is important that I receive a good quality photo to work from, so I've put together some key tips & examples to help you when you're choosing/taking a photo for your portrait. I am always happy to discuss photos on an individual basis, so if you're still unsure after reading this then feel free to send me some of your favorite photos and I can talk through whether or not I can work with each one.

A N   I D E A L   P H O T O   W I L L   B E :

 •    Taken in natural daylight, outdoor pictures are great, but alternatively, light from a window will work well too. Pictures done indoors should have bright lighting pointing towards your pets face, with none of your pet’s face in shadow. Having light in your pets eyes is extremely important.

  •    Taken close to your pet without using the zoom function.     

  •    Taken at your pet’s eye level rather than from above or below.    

  •    Clear and crisp showing lots of fur, eye and nose details. You can check if it will be clear enough by zooming in on it and checking that it doesn’t look very blurry or pixelated. The more detail I can see, the better I can make your painting!

• One trick for your pet to look directly into your camera lens, is to hold a treat near the lens. 

• I am able to use photo shop to lighten pictures, so it is possible that your photo will work. So please send me several photos and I will let you know which ones I can or cannot work with. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

D O U B L E   P O R T R A I T S

•        For a double portrait, it is more important for me to have good photos of the individual pets than one poor photo of them together. I will need a couple photos of them together to see their size difference.

 •        Separate photos of the pets should ideally both be taken from a similar angle to ensure for a natural looking composition of the painting. 

Note - These tips are intended to help you provide to me the best quality photo under the best possible circumstances. If you are unable to provide a high quality picture for any reason, I will be more than happy to discuss the photos that you have with you and work something out between us, just send me a message or email 😊

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This is my Family! Tigger (Yorkie) is my Mom & Dad's dog, he is best friends with my dogs, Darlin (Black Lab/Pit Bull Mix) & Nutmeg (Chocolate Lab). I knew there was no way I could get a good picture with all three of them together. So I took them separately. I got at their eye level on the floor, made sure their faces were well lit, and held treats right next to my phone's camera lens to capture these pictures.  The photo below is the Family Portrait I was able to create.