It is axiomatic, generally speaking, that the better the photo you can
provide me with, the better the completed portrait will be. Sharply focused,
nicely posed, high resolution photos that are packed with fine detail,
are a pet art portrait artist's dream. If I were taking photos myself,
of your pet, I'd first set up a tripod, to steady the camera, and would
also use a cable release to trigger the shutter, as even that action from
your finger, can cause an almost imperceptible shake, that does reveal
itself in the photo when it is printed. I'd also have someone at hand to
steady their animal, and hold it in the desired pose, as much as possible
(your hands can be removed in the portrait, if they partially obscure part
of the pet's body in the photo). Perhaps the single biggest "mistake"
people make, when shooting snapshots of their pets...at least it's a mistake
from the standpoint of presenting the best pose possible for a portrait...is
that we tend to shoot downward at our pets. This presents a really unatural
looking angle, and sometimes causes an awkward foreshortening of the pet's
body proportions. If you can, kneel down; get yourself on your pet's level,
or as close to it as you can. It makes for a much more appealing perspective!
And, lastly, if you can, shoot outdoors...flash exaggerates colors and
shadows. Good, natural light is much to be desired.
You may choose to have the photo I use as the reference for your portrait,
drawn essentially "as is". This is dependent, of course, on the
amount of detailed objects, if any, in the background of your photo. I
consider detailed backgrounds, of the customer's choosing, to be "custom"
backgrounds, subject to a higher cost, if you want those details shown.
But, if the opposite is true, and the background of your preferred photo
is very unattractive, even distracting, keep in mind that the background
of your photo can be eliminated entirely. It can be replaced in my portrait
either with soft, "photo studio" colors, or if you enjoy the
variety of improvised "nature" scenes I create in the majority
of my portraits, I'd be happy to develop such an outdoors scene for your
commission. Neither of these background choices costs you anything extra.
Simple, soft colors have the virtue of drawing the entire focus of the
viewer onto the subject of the portrait, whether it's a pet art portrait,
or a person that you're having me draw. As a lover of "the Great Outdoors",
I very much enjoy creating land and sky scenes, whose colors and context
seem to me to be in keeping with the subject of the portrait. If you enjoy
nature, and like lots of color in art, an improvised outdoors"scene"
may be right for you. Thus, when you're evaluating which of your possible
photo choices might make the best portrait, be aware that the surroundings
in your pictures are entirely extraneous to the completed piece. If there's
a ton of distracting items in the picture you prefer, or if the lighting
is poor, or if some object partially covers the subject, those things can
all be eliminated in the completed portrait.
You'll note that in the pictures below, not only are the kitty's forelegs partially covered, but an all-too-common case of "redeye", or in this case a "glassy" look, from the camera's flash is annoyingly apparent. I probably could have anatomically recreated the shape of the concealed portion of the legs and paws, but there was no other reference photo to cue me regarding any markings on the lower legs and paws, so I opted to simply fade out the legs in the portrait, as attractively as I could. And, there's no real trick in making the eyes look "normal", once you have an understanding of how they ought to look without the camera flash's effects.
I trust that most of you do read your digital camera's instructions, and if you have an expensive, multi-megapixel camera, you would certainly choose to use all of that wonderful resolution. Why so many people transfer those big, high resolution images to their hard drives as JPG's, saved in much smaller sizes than the camera's flash drive contains, is beyond me. Send me the biggest
pictures you have, folks! And, if your digital copies are scans from snapshots
that you've had developed, get in the habit of setting your scanner to
at least 400dpi...the bigger, the better, for my purposes. Failing that,
if all you have access to is a small JPG, hope is not lost. First, I have
very sophisticated graphics software that does an astonishing job in enlarging
small images, with a minimum of the usual noise "artifacts",
that accompany enlarging digital images. Second, my interpretive skills
are very highly tuned, after working on so many pet art portraits, for
so many years, so I can create portraits that are vastly superior to any
digitally enhanced imagery...sharper, clearer, and with color saturation
that may have been lost in the original photo's digitization process.
I can accept, and use, either digital images sent as email attachments,
or hard copy photos that you send through the mail.One concern that customers
often express (and those who don't are often thinking it), is "How
will my pictures be cared for", in the event that you send actual
snapshots? In the years before I joined the computer age, I was forced
to draw with my pastel pencils in one hand, and a magnifying glass held
up to a snapshot, with the other hand, studying those very small photos
for detail. Now, I enlarge images to completely fill my PC monitor, either
by scanning your photos at the high resolution I recommended above, or
enlarging your digital images with my specialized software. To be able
to examine such big, bright, beautifully detailed images on a 24"
monitor, while you work, is a true Godsend for a portrait artist. For you,
as the owner of what might be very, very precious photos, that you don't
care to have handled excessively, rest assured that your pictures will
only be handled minimally. Once the photo has been carefully scanned, it
goes right back in your mailing envelope, safe from harm, until it is returned
to you with the completed portrait!
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