Choosing the Best Photo for Your Pet Portrait

The quality of your reference photo makes a huge difference in the finished painting. When choosing your photo, try to look past how much you love the moment and focus on how clearly I can see your pet.

Natural lighting is best. Photos taken outdoors on an overcast day or in bright, indirect natural light are ideal. Try to avoid dramatic shadows, harsh sunlight, sun glare, or photos where parts of your pet's face disappear into darkness.

Details matter — probably more than you think.

I paint in a photorealistic style, which means I include far more detail than you might expect.

People are often surprised to discover that the tiny dark speck in their cat's right eye made it into the painting. Or Bruce's slightly crooked canine. Or that weird little cream-colored stripe on their turtle's shell.

I see those things. And I paint them.

The higher the resolution and the more detail I can see in your reference photo, the more of those wonderful little details I can bring into your finished painting. A clear, high-resolution photo allows me to capture not just what a dog, cat, horse, turtle, or other pet looks like — but what your pet looks like.

Personality matters, too.

Technical quality is important, but the best reference photo should also look like your pet.

Is Spot a goofy pug whose tongue is perpetually hanging out of his mouth? Send me that photo — not the perfectly posed portrait where he's sitting politely with his mouth closed.

Maybe your cat always looks mildly offended by your existence. Maybe your dog has one ear that never quite cooperates. Maybe your rabbit has a particular way of sitting that everyone in the family immediately recognizes.

Those things are part of their portrait, too.

When you're choosing between several good-quality photos, choose the one that makes you think, "Yep. That's him."

Your favorite photo isn't always the best painting reference.

That photo of Fido at the beach may be your absolute favorite because of the memories attached to it — but it might be the worst choice for a painting.

Bright sunlight, reflections from the water, deep shadows, and sunset colors can completely change the appearance of his fur and hide the features I need to see.

Ignore the background. Seriously.

Unless the setting is important to the portrait — for example, you have a hunting dog and specifically want him painted with a tent and forest behind him or your golden (I can always super impose a different background onto your painting as well)— don't choose your photo based on what's happening behind your pet.

Fido sitting in front of the trash cans beside your garage while your mother-in-law picks weeds in the background might actually be the perfect reference photo if it's overcast, outdoors, close-up, and I can clearly see his face.

I can get rid of the trash cans.

And your mother-in-law. (not like that, don't get any ideas)

What I can't do is recreate details that aren't visible in the original photo.

Can't decide? Send me a few.

You don't have to choose just one photo. If you're torn between several, send them! I'm happy to help determine which one will make the strongest painting.

Multiple photos can also be incredibly helpful even when we're primarily working from one. Another angle may give me a better look at an eye, marking, fur color, tooth, or other detail that isn't quite as clear in the main reference photo.

Tell me what stays — and what goes.

If there's anything you specifically want changed, removed, or not changed, please let me know when you submit your photos.

Does Fido's collar stay? Should it go? Is that particular collar important because he's worn it for twelve years?

If you don't have a preference, that's completely fine. I'll make those decisions based on what I think will create the strongest finished painting. But if something is important to you, tell me so I don't lovingly paint it out of existence.

A note about senior pets

I will paint your pet as they are represented in the reference photo, with one small exception: I will generally bring some color and clarity back into foggy senior eyes unless you tell me otherwise.

If you'd prefer your senior pet's graying face to be restored closer to their younger years, I'm happy to do that — but please let me know before I begin painting and, whenever possible, provide an earlier photo I can use as a reference.

Those gray hairs may be something you treasure. Or you may always picture Fido with the dark muzzle he had for most of his life. Neither choice is wrong — I just need to know which version of him belongs in your painting.

Memorial portraits

If you're ordering a portrait of a pet who has passed, please don't worry if you don't have the "perfect" reference photo.

I understand that the photos you have are the photos you have.

Send me what you have. Old photos, imperfect lighting, different angles, multiple pictures — I'll do my best to work with the references available and bring those pieces together to create a beautiful memorial portrait of your pet.

Look for a photo where:

• Your pet's face is clear and in focus

• I can clearly see their eyes, nose, and facial features

• The lighting is natural and even

• There aren't deep shadows across the face

• There isn't harsh sunlight or glare

• The photo is taken fairly close to your pet

• Their fur, feathers, scales, or other coloring looks true to life

• There's enough resolution to see the little details

• And, most importantly, it looks like them

Remember: you're not choosing the prettiest photograph. You're choosing the photograph that gives me the best information to create the prettiest painting — and the one that best captures the pet you know and love.