Some tips to keep your photos good quality

Important tip!

I often get people contacting me wanting a portrait and the only photos they have are from Facebook and the quality isn't good enough to paint from..They take the photos on their camera or phone and then upload them to Facebook.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure Facebook automatically reduces the size / quality of any photos when you put them up so they take less time to load and also because thats' the way it's set up.
Often the horse or pet has passed away and thats' the only photos they have and I have to tell them we can't do a portrait + they don't have any decent photos of their animal because as soon as you enlarge the photos the eyes are blurry etc.

TIP - Before you put the photos onto your computer make a folder up and name it -original and your pets name and date e.g -original Rusty 1 -10 - 2012 .You can then download your photos from the camera to your computer and put the photos in this folder.
When you download to the computer make sure that the camera doesn't automatically make them smaller and doesn't erase them afterwards. Keep a copy on the camera until your finished.

Do not do anything with these photos!!.
They are your original / master copy.
Make a copy of that folder on your computer.Now you can upload the photos in this copied folder to Facebook , edit them etc . Make sure you give the copied folder another name so you don't accidently change the master ones -e.g - Fb photos of Red 1 - 10 -2012
Once all this is done you can erase them off the camera if you wish.
 This way you will always have decent quality photos of your animals and if you want a portrait created at some time - even after your pet has gone - we can do a great portrait.