PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS
Most of the following information is geared towards animal subjects, however, the same general ideas definitely apply to humans too, particularly children!
If the subject(s) of your portraits are sadly no longer with us, you may not have high quality photos available. If that's the case, please click here to see what might be possible. I will absolutely try my very best to help you.
POSE
A high quality photograph is key for a good portrait. Most of the portraits I get asked to do are head and shoulders shots. Full body poses are also an option, but it's important to consider the pose of the subject when opting for this. Some poses can look very awkward when the background has been removed.
Animals can be tricky to get into the pose you want. With most animals, food can be a fantastic motivator. I usually use a treat in one hand to guide the eyes of the animal while taking the photographs. Sometimes this is tricky for you to do alone (particularly with a really eager pet!) so it might be useful to have a helper to stand behind you and do this. If your pet isn't food motivated, you could try a favourite toy. Excited noises can also work - I often get strange looks when I'm taking a photo of my dog on a walk because I will be making various high pitched noises to get his attention!
Always try to take the photograph from the same level as your subject. We often take photos of our pets from above, but the best photos are taken at eye level. This generally means getting down on the floor in front of your pet. Alternatively you can raise the animal up, by sitting them on a chair for example. The photos below are of my old dog, beautiful Bubba, and show the huge difference that's made just by the angles of the photographs.
FOCUS
Reference photos need to have the subject in focus, and in the highest resolution possible. Ideally, I need to be able to zoom right in to see the individual hairs, wrinkles and various textures. Below is a photo of my big boy Ernie, in the snow recently. From first glance, it may look like a good photo. However, when zoomed in, you can see that the camera had focused on the snow on his face, meaning all of his facial detail was blurred.
However, I took lots of photos that day (which is very useful when trying to take a good reference photo!) and here is another photo that was correctly focused.
TAKE LOTS OF PHOTOS
Animals are very good at moving at the last minute, which is why taking multiple photos is so useful. The more the better! Below are two photos of my cat, Hodge, that were taken one after the other. You can see that in the first photo he was moving ever so slightly, creating the blurry image. However the second image has captured him perfectly!
LIGHTING
The best lighting for a reference photo is natural light. If you can't take the photos outside, which is perfectly understandable with British weather in particular, try to take the photo in a very well lit room. Be aware of where the light is coming from, as light from small focused sources can throw unusual shadows and obscure certain areas of the face.
The below photos are good examples of this. The photo on the left looks good at first glance, and the focus is great. However, you can see that the left side of the photo is in a shadow which has obscured a huge amount of the eye detail. I could definitely still work from this photo, but with animals that have distinctive eye features like heterochromia, I would need to see other images of both eyes to make sure I get the obscured eye right!
The photo on the right was taken with the lighting mainly being behind Ernie, which has caused his lovely muzzle to be left in a shadow that has hidden all of the detail there.
MAYBE
WHAT IF I CAN'T TAKE ANY MORE PHOTOGRAPHS?
I still may be able to help you! Cameras have improved so much over the last few years, and most phones are now able to take better quality photos than old digital cameras could! If the subject of your portrait is now gone, you may be left with a handful of low quality images.
In this situation, I would ask that you send me as many images of the subject that you have, to give me the best idea of distinguishing features that may not be visible in all images. It is sometimes possible for me to use the pose from one photograph, but use other images to put the details into the portrait.
I am also able to edit the photographs to try and get as much detail from them as possible. There is some fantastic software available now to do this.
In situations like this, I would also advise opting for a smaller portrait - usually A4 sized or occasionally A5. Larger sizes will make it more obvious that there isn't as much fine detail.
HOW DO I SEND YOU MY PHOTOS?
Digital files need to be sent to me via email. Please send them at their original resolution and not compressed - if you are asked to reduce the file size when sending images, please say no. If you are unable to attach it as a file due to the size, upload it to Google Drive so it can be shared with me. If you're not sure how to do this, I'd be happy to explain this to you.
Please do not send me photos via Facebook as the quality is automatically reduced as Facebook will compress the file. Try to get the original image file where possible too rather than saving a photo that has been uploaded to Facebook, for the same reason. I understand that this isn't always possible though when the portrait is a surprise gift!
Physical copies of photographs can be sent to me in the post by recorded special delivery. I strongly advise against sending them via any other untracked/un-insured delivery service, and I cannot guarantee their safety in the postal system. I will only send them back via recorded special delivery, and I do not charge you for that. Alternatively, please scan them in on a good quality scanner at the highest resolution possible and email the file over. Please DO NOT photograph the photographs. This will take away even more of the precious detail.
