Image Guidelines

Your photo is the single biggest thing that decides how good your portrait looks. Our artists draw what you send us, so a minute spent choosing it is the best minute you will spend on this order.

What makes a great photo

  • Get close. The more of your pet's face fills the frame, the more detail the artist has to work with.
  • Shoot at their eye level. Crouch down so the camera is level with their eyes. Photos taken from above flatten the face.
  • Use daylight, and turn the flash off. A bright room, or an overcast day outdoors, is the easiest good light there is. Flash flattens the fur and changes its colour.
  • Keep the whole head and neck in frame — and if your pet has long floppy ears, make sure both of them are in the picture too.
  • Sharp, not blurry. Wait until they settle. If it looks soft on your phone, it will look soft on your wall.
  • No heavy filters. We match your pet's real colouring, and a filter tells us the wrong one.
  • At least 500 × 500 pixels. Anything from a modern phone is comfortably above this. A screenshot of a screenshot usually is not.

Photos that work

A close, well lit photo of a golden retriever taken at its eye level

Good — close up, eye level, sharp, the whole face and neck lit evenly.

A close, well lit photo of a tabby cat taken at its eye level

Good — cats follow exactly the same rules. Ears up, eyes on the camera.

A cocker spaniel photographed with both long ears fully in frame

Good — long ears, and both of them completely inside the frame. The collar is fine; it will not be drawn.

Photos that don't work

A dog turned away from the camera with half its face in shadow

Not ideal — turned away from the camera, and the only lamp is behind, so half the face is lost in shadow.

A dog photographed from above while lying down

Not ideal — taken from standing height while she was lying down, which flattens the face and hides the neck.

A dog photographed from too far away across a garden

Not ideal — lovely photo, but from this far away there is almost no detail in the face to draw from.

Three things people do not expect

  • Collars, leads, bows, bandanas and outfits are not illustrated. Your pet is drawn wearing whatever the portrait style calls for, so anything they have on in the photo is left out. Send the photo you like best and do not worry about taking the collar off first.
  • Whatever pose you send is the pose you get. A photo taken from the side is not rejected — it is drawn from the side. If you want your pet facing forward in the portrait, send a photo facing forward.
  • One clear photo per pet. For a portrait with two or three pets we need a separate good photo of each. A group shot where nobody is quite in focus gives the artist very little to work from.

Not sure about your photo?

Send it anyway. Every photo is looked at by a person before an artist starts. If it will not make a good portrait we email you within one business day and help you pick a better one — nothing is drawn and nothing is printed until we are both happy with it.

And if the guidelines simply cannot be met, tell us. We make a lot of memorial portraits from the only photograph somebody has left, and we are used to working with what exists rather than what is ideal. More often than not, we can still make something beautiful.

Email info@petgoghstore.com with the photo attached and we will tell you before you order.