PHOTO GUIDE
My goal is to make your portrait as realistic as possible, therefore selecting the right photos is the most important step in the process.
PERSONALITY
Select a photo that captures what you love about your pet or loved one. A photo that makes you smile and remember them fondly. This can be a serious pose or action shot that brings them to life.
For pets especially a tilt of the head or that look they have when anticipating you throwing a ball, etc. make wonderful portraits.
I usually work off of one main photo for the pose but additional photos help to provide details.
COMPOSITION
Ensure that your pet/loved one fills the frame without having parts like ears cropped off and include the neck or chest. Traditionally, you want to see both eyes but if you love a side view pose then the rules are meant to be broken! I can also do full body portraits - the same general rules apply but to the entire body. In general it is best to take the photo at the same eye level as the subject - this is a more natural pose. But, art doesn't have to follow the rules so if you have a photo that doesn't conform to that guideline that you love we can do that too.
IMAGE QUALITY
The photo needs to have as much detail as possible so it needs to be in focus. I want to see those glimmering eyes, little hairs and tiny details that bring the subject to life! Lighting and contrast are also key to a great photo. Too bright or too dark and details are lost in the highlights or shadows but you want enough variation to create depth. Light reflections on the eyes bring the subject to life in a portrait but avoid using flash as this changes colors and creates "green/red eye".
PHOTO RESOLUTION
The higher the resolution of the images the better. Both cameras and cell phones can take high resolution photos. They key is to not compress the image file when attaching to the email. You may have to send more than one email if you have multiple photos. Similarly, photos received via text message have been compressed and don't have enough detail to work with. If downloading a photo from Facebook it is best to do so on a computer so that compression doesn't occur on your phone. You can also achieve a higher level of detail if you don't use the digital zoom on your phone or camera - optical zoom is great but digital zoom degrades quality.
Many of my commission requests are of people or pets who have already passed away. In this case we don't have the opportunity to take that new, perfect photo. You can send me what you have and I'll evaluate whether or not I can produce a quality portrait. Sometimes this requires working from multiple photos and doing my best to fill in missing details. This is more time consuming and may require additional fees.