How to choose the photo for your pet portrait

A good portrait starts before the portrait — with the photograph you hand to the artist. If you’ve ever wondered why one snap of your pet feels like them and another doesn’t, this is for you. A few things matter; most don’t.

The eyes are the portrait

If a portrait fails, it almost always fails in the eyes. Your reference photograph should be taken with the camera at the pet’s eye level — not above looking down. Crouch, kneel, sit on the floor. The catchlight (the tiny white sparkle on the pupil) is what makes them look alive on canvas, and you only get a catchlight when natural light hits the eye from roughly in front. Don’t fight the lighting; just lower the camera.

One photo, sharp

Send the single sharpest photo you have, not the most carefully posed. A spontaneous look in soft daylight will outperform a “say cheese” shot every time. Phone cameras are entirely fine — newer phones in particular. Avoid flash: the reflective layer at the back of a pet’s eye turns flash into a green or yellow disc that’s painful to undo in print.

Daylight, indoors or out

Mid-morning or late afternoon, by a window or in open shade outside, is ideal. Direct midday sun flattens features and washes out colour in pale-coloured pets. Overcast days are unexpectedly perfect: the cloud cover acts as one enormous soft box.

Skip the costume

Bandanas, jumpers, party hats — they’re charming in the original photograph and a strange shape on a wall. Unless the costume is the point of the portrait, choose a frame where your pet is themselves.

Close enough to fill the frame

The artist needs the face large enough to work from. Fill at least half the photograph with the head and shoulders. If you have to zoom in or crop heavily to even see the eyes, the portrait will lose detail in the parts that matter most.

A useful test

Look at three or four candidate photographs in a row. Whichever one makes you stop and think “there they are” — that’s the photo. Not the one that’s most flattering. The one that’s most them.

When you send it to us, we’ll proof the portrait digitally for your approval before we print. If we think the photograph won’t hold the likeness, we’ll say so and ask for another. The portrait either looks like your pet or it doesn’t ship.