A FEW GENERAL TIPS on how to best photograph your pet for the purpose of portrait painting
NOTE: If you live within 50 miles of Hudson, NY, I would be happy to arrange a photo shoot at your location for a fee, which would include a free print of whichever photo I use for your painted portrait. Please inquire at info@christinewoodsart.com.
1) Keep your camera at the ready and take pictures over a day or two. Your pet will get used to the camera, making your task to capture his or her most expressive and best-loved moments easier. Try catching your pet when she’s settling in for a nap, all curled up; you can then snap her to attention for a few seconds with a squeaky noise.
2) Shoot at the highest resolution possible. We are aiming for clarity of detail, particularly in the eyes and face.
3) Be on eye-level with your pet. (Photographing from a standing position looking down on your pet will produce a distorted image with the head appearing too large for the body).
4) Decide which head angle is best to capture your pet’s distinguishing features and expressions. It's usually NOT for your pet to be looking up too high or down too low; slightly up or down is fine. For a DOG, usually it’s NOT best to have his face facing the camera absolutely straight on, because it gives the muzzle a flat appearance with no character or shape, not good for painting. Catch the face at a slight angle at least. A CAT, on the other hand, whose snoot is shorter, can be painted straight on with adorable results.
5) Focus the camera on the eyes.
6) Take 40-50 shots or more (easy if you have a digital camera) to increase the probability of getting good shots. The “burst” feature, if your camera has it, is useful to take continuous shots of an animated pet.
7) Fill the frame with either the head and chest only or the full body (depending on which format you are choosing), making sure that all the extremities - ears, tail and limbs - are fully within the frame, not lopped off.
If you are choosing a full-body portrait, also take close-ups of the face at the same angle.
8) Try to get a shot of your pet sitting, or halfway lying, with the tail curled around the front and not jutting out, unless you are aiming for a show-style full-body side view of your pet with the tail extended. 9) If you are attempting a single photo shoot, solicit the help of 2 people. You’ll need one to calm and keep your pet posed, and one to arrest and direct your pet’s attention with a treat or squeaky toy.
10) Please keep in mind that I can only paint what I can see in the reference photo - I can’t make things up! Sometimes it’s possible to create a composite using two or more photos - eg. using the tail in one photo with the body in another - but the photos must have coordinating reference points.
LIGHTING
1) Create a 30- to 40-degree angle between the camera and source of light in relation to your pet. That is, imagine a slice of pie with your pet at the center, and the camera and source of light at the edge about 30-40 degrees apart.
2) Outdoors, a slightly overcast or hazy day is best, during the hours when the sun is NOT directly overhead.
3) Bright sun is too harsh and causes animals to squint, but you can try positioning them so the sun is behind them at a 45-degree angle to them, and using flash to fill in.
4) When photographing indoors, stand near a bright north window with it behind you so the light falls on your pet.
5) When using artificial light...
arrange enough "existing" light so that you don’t need flash, which washes out color and flattens detail (although bouncing flash off a white ceiling or wall at an angle halfway between you and your pet is good);
arrange the light so that it falls across about 3/4 of your pet, with some soft shadow on the other side to “sculpt” and give him dimension;
if using floods, position them 5-8" feet away from your pet and 2-4" above their head level;
avoid creating extremes of dark shadows or drenching bright light.
6) Animals with a black or dark coat need strong illumination to bring out the details.
COLOR
If you are using a digital camera, check your LED screen for color. Compare the color of your pet with the image. Adjust the white light balance setting if necessary. I can only match the color I see in an image, so make sure the color closely matches that of your pet.
BACKDROP
If you are not requesting scenery or anything special as a background for you portrait, it would be best if you could set up a solid backdrop for the photographs - a sheet, say, or a blank wall. Use a light background for a dark animal, and vice versa.
