Photo Tips for Custom Pet Portraits
If you’re thinking of ordering a hand-painted portrait of your beloved pet, here’s how to pick the perfect photo so the portrait truly captures their spirit.
How to Take Good Photos of Your Pet
Following these tips will give the best possible result for your portrait:
• Choose soft, natural daylight
A window’s gentle light or a shaded outdoor spot works beautifully. Try to avoid harsh shadows or bright sun that can wash out fur colours or cast parts of your pet’s face into shadow (make sure your flash is switched off!) If it's a sunny day, photograph with sun behind you to the left or right hand side.
• Your pet should fill the photo
Avoid being too far away from your pet as details in their coat or expression can be lost.
• Try to get down to your pet’s eye-level
Photograph them sitting or standing at the same height as you, facing the camera, so their expression and eyes are clear and natural.
• Photos should be clear and in focus
Avoid screenshots or images with small file sizes. High resolution images let me see every detail and colour accurately.
example of a good photo
How to Select the Best Photos for your Portrait
• Choose a photo that shows their personailty!
Calm and regal, playful and alert, or cozy and relaxed. That spark of who they are — that’s what will make the painting feel alive. You may wish to suggest a preferred photograph for me to work from, or which photo best reflects the details such as their eye or coat colours.
• Send the original images
When emailing your photos, please send me the original digital images from your phone or camera (photos sent by WhatsApp or social media are compressed and their quality can be reduced).
• Send a selection
You probably won’t capture all of these things in one photo! You can send me as many as you like & then I’ll advise you on one that works well for the portrait. I'll usually recommend the best photo for using as the main reference and sometimes I'll refer to others for sourcing details.
• My dog has died and I only have a few poor quality photos
I can often work with what you have! If your pet has recently died and you only have poor photos please read this FAQ for more information.
Here’s a Quick Summary
• use natural light (avoid indoor flash).
• your pet should fill the photo.
• try to get down at the animals level.
• say which one captures their personailty!
• photos should be in focus and in colour.
before
after
Poor Examples
Here the dog is not filling the photo, making it difficult to see the detail in the coat and eyes etc.
This overhead shot causes the portrait to have a "contorted" feel. Both these photos are also "grainy" - their resolution is too poor to work from.