I have never met your pet or loved one so
your photos are the only way I have of getting to know them and
creating your memories. The better the photos the better the portrait!
I can accentuate any character in a photo but I can’t make a sad photo happy .
When you or your pet ‘smiles’ their whole
face change shape – the face becomes shorter and wider , their eyes
change shape and close up and their mouth obviously changes shape. If I
just make a smile with the mouth without changing everything else it
will look unnatural and creepy..lol’s.
Without a photo to show me how their
face changes shape I am only guessing and I won’t be able to make it
look like your pet. So a happy flattering photo is best.
Ideally your photos will be sharp , nicely lit and exposed and with your pet happy and showing some of it’s pet’s character.
Generally though that’s not the case and I do the best I can with the photos I receive.
I always tell people ‘ Take heaps of
closeup sharp photos of your pets when they are alive! even if you never
get a portrait created at least you will have some nice photos of them.
Often people only realise they don’t have any sharp or flattering
photos of their pet after it has passed away and they need a memorial
portrait created. I can create portraits using less than perfect photos
especially if we have other sharper ones from a similar angle – they
don’t need to be as flattering as your favourite – I can use them to
help me with face structure and nose and eye details.
Although I don’t include every detail in
your portrait I need to be able to see the structure of your pets face
and if we have the eyes and nose sharp I can use the photo to let me
give the little accents that really bring your pet to life! Whereas a
photo shows everything in equal detail I choose to only accent the
important things in your portrait to bring your subject to life and
bring back the connection.
‘ A photo freezes a moment while a painting melts hearts!
Cass’s head is distorted in this photo.
His nose is too large. When taking photos of horses don’t get too close
or you will get the big head effect. You also need to stand in the
centre of their body with them parallel to you if you are taking a full
body pose. If you stand with them crooked with one end closer to the
camera it will come out too big for the rest of the body. Sometimes it’s
not easy to tell that a pets face isn’t normal. Luckily I had taken
some other photos of Cass so realised this wasn’t normal. I reduced the
size of his nose in the portrait and created a neck that was hidden
under the rug. Ideally he would have had his neck showing in the photo.
Don’t worry about background distractions I can remove those.
Cass
30 x 40cms
Oil on gallery wrap canvas
Cass’s portrait minus big nose and rug!
‘Hi Sue,
I just wanted to let you know I received Cass yesterday. I am very pleased, it is so lifelike and like him.
You certainly are gifted.
Mum loves the portrait. There were lots of tears, but we all agree it’s a great likeness. ‘
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