How to choose the perfect photo for your custom pet portrait

Here's something most portrait artists won't tell you upfront: the photo you send is about 80% of the final portrait. A great photo gives the artist everything — the glint in the eyes, the exact markings, the expression that is your dog. A poor one means guesswork, and guesswork shows on canvas.

The good news: you don't need a fancy camera. Nearly every portrait we paint starts life as a phone photo. You just need to know what to look for. Here's our studio checklist.

1. Get down to their eye level

The single biggest upgrade. Photos shot from standing height looking down flatten your pet's face and make the portrait feel distant. Crouch, sit, or lie down so the camera is level with their eyes. The resulting portrait feels like they're looking at you — which is the whole point.

2. Light matters more than your camera

Soft, natural daylight is everything. Take the photo near a large window or outside in open shade (not harsh midday sun). Good light reveals the true color of their coat and the detail in their eyes; bad light hides both.

3. Catch their personality, not just their face

A technically perfect photo of a bored dog makes a technically perfect portrait of a bored dog. The portraits people treasure capture character: the head tilt, the goofy tongue, the intense stare they give the treat jar. Scroll your camera roll for the photo that makes you laugh or melts you — that's the one.

4. Resolution: what actually works

You don't need a 48-megapixel RAW file, but the photo should be sharp when you zoom in on the eyes. As a rule of thumb: if the photo looks crisp on your phone at full zoom around the face, it will paint beautifully. Screenshots of screenshots, heavily compressed social-media downloads, and tiny thumbnails are where quality goes to die — always send the original file.

5. What to avoid

• Direct flash — it flattens features and turns eyes into glowing discs.
• Heavy filters — they shift coat colors. The artist needs to see the real tones.
• Motion blur — a slightly soft nose is fine; blurry eyes are not.
• Busy backgrounds — they don't ruin a portrait (we paint our own backgrounds), but a clean background helps you judge the photo itself.

6. Multiple pets? Send multiple photos

Getting two or three animals to pose perfectly together is nearly impossible — and you don't need to. Send us the best individual photo of each pet and we'll compose them into one portrait. Just mention it in your commission request and we'll confirm the layout in your proof before anything is printed.

7. Old photos and memorial portraits

Some of the most meaningful portraits we paint come from old, imperfect photos of pets who've passed. If the only photo you have is faded, blurry, or small, send it anyway — tell us what's important about it (the markings, the expression) and we'll work with you on what's possible. We treat these commissions with extra care, and you'll approve the proof before we print anything.

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