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PRICING

Size

Price

9×12

$190

10×14

$250

12×16

$340

14×20

$490

THE PROCESS

All portraits are hand-painted on a cold pressed/ 100% Cotton/ acid-free/ archival/ 300gsm Arches watercolor paper. Once we approve the reference photos, a 50% non-refundable deposit is required  prior to starting the portrait. The other 50% is due before shipping, once a scanned image of the portrait is approved by you.  All portraits are shipped unframed.

IMAGE GUIDE

One of the most important things for a good portrait of your pet is providing good reference photos. To help you get these, we came up with some tips and tricks for you. 

Here are the most important things:

  • Lighting – The best light for good photos is the natural daylight. The best time of the day for it is early morning and before sunset, when the sun is down and you can get beautiful colors and rich shadows. Taking photos at noon is not recommended, not only because everything will be overexposed and you can’t have nice shadows, but because of the heat it won’t be pleasant for you and your pet. Ensure the whole face and neck are visible, avoid bad lighting or staying in the shadows. Lighting from an angle is always best. Always look for a light coming from either left or right, not center, back or above. Any dark/artificial lighting will not work as it doesn’t portray the true colour of your pets’ coat.
  • Pose – always take a pet photo at eye level with your pet. Never take photos from above. Make sure your pet’s eyes are open and try a ¾ or full profile pose of the head (straight on shots are creating the illusion of a flat face). When taking a full body shot, look for a dynamic pose. 
  • Quality – Please, make sure you’re taking your photos at the highest resolution your camera allows you to. With a wide lens or a phone camera, keep a distance from your pet, so you don’t get any angle distortion or “fish-eye” effect. 
  • Color – If you want a full color portrait, always make sure you’re taking full color photos. 
  • Background – shoot against a plain or uncluttered background.
  • Have fun! – the most important thing. You and your pet should enjoy the process and have fun during the photoshoot.
  • Eyes – always keep the focus on the eyes and try having at least one of the eyes on the light side. 
  • Flash – do not use the flash of your phone/camera and avoid hard lighting
  • Distance – please, when using your phone, keep some distance. When the phone came/wide lens is close the the photographed object there is a big distortion

Please, refer to the photos below as an example for good and bad practices. 

If you’re still unsure whether your photos are good enough or you have any other questions, please feel free to send me an email.

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Bad Photo – A photo from above, eyes are not visible, overexposed.

ludmii-liev-pet-portrait-watercolor-painting-photo-guide.jpg

Bad Photo – A photo from above, the dog is in motion and the image is all blurry, the lighting is not good.

ludmii-liev-pet-portrait-watercolor-painting-photo-guide3.jpg

Bad Photo – Low resolution, poor lighting, a photo from above.

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Bad Photo – poor lighting, cropped image