The following guidance is intended to help you take, or select photographs that I am best able to work from.

The day-to-day difficulty with portrait commissions (especially people) is the poor quality of photographs that customers often submit. That's not to say that I need studio photos to work from (far from it), but I do need to be able to see the detail of a face.

I cannot use guess-work to make-up missing details; the result would be a portrait of an imagined person, who may be quite different from the subject.

The image above is a typical snapshot photo (it's my wife's travel card photo when she was in her teens, and shown at about 2x actual size). Please take a moment to click on this image , and observe how it looks when enlarged.

I get nervous when asked to work from photographs that have this level of detail or less. Experience has shown that, too often, customers ignore advice not to proceed with such a commission, and I invest a good deal of time and effort producing a sub-standard drawing or painting, which does not sell.

If you send me a photo like the one above, I am very likely to reject your commission!

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Your equipment

• If shooting with digital, put your camera on the highest possible resolution setting.
• If you have a zoom lens, avoid wide-angle and interpolated zoom settings. The former introduces too much distortion, and the latter diminishes sharpness. Go for an optical zoom setting where the subject looks the same size in your viewfinder/screen as when you look at them directly. A focal length of 85 to 100mm is best if you use an SLR with interchangeable lenses.
• If you have a tripod, use it. It will aid sharpness by reducing camera shake, and help you compose the picture so you do not crop bits of the subject.
• Try and avoid using flash as the main light source. Flash always give the subject a "black halo" (fill-in flash is fine).

The location

• Pick a well lit location. Sunlight is best, but keep-out of bright direct sunlight.
• Look for neutral backgrounds, and be aware of tonal contrasts (e.g. don't shoot a black dog against a dark backdrop).
• When photographing people, put them in a setting/pose that is natural and comfortable. Give them something to do with their hands.
• When photographing animals, choose a location that is familiar to them (otherwise cooperating with you will be the last thing on their mind).

The photo session

Be patient! Photographing an animal or child can take a long time.

Get down to the same level as your subject! You wouldn't stand at the top of step-ladders to photograph your partner, but that's the way most people photograph their children or dogs - looking down on them.

Fill the frame! Don't waste pixels by having a big space around the subject, but don't get so tight that you crop bits, which leads to the next point.

Don't crop bits off the subject! Don't remove bits of bodily parts by getting too close (I can put back missing hands and tails, but I'd prefer it if I didn't need to).

Sharp focus and correct exposure are critical! Practice a little before you start shooting. Get the eyes in focus above all else. Black dogs are particularly difficult to photograph; many cameras (even very expensive ones) under expose, and hunt for a focus lock. Bracket your exposure - if your camera allows you to (many film cameras will allow you to deliberately under and over expose shots).

Selecting existing photographs

• Don't rely on Photoshop to correct errors. If your image is digital, let me see it unaltered.
• Check to see if they satisfy the above, and eliminate the "black dogs against black backgrounds, shot from the top of a step-ladder".
• Ask me for an opinion; it's free, I'm friendly, and I won't hound you to commission a portrait.
• I don't need or demand perfect photos. Often "snaps" can make great artwork, because they capture "the moment", or "that look". But I do need to be able to see the detail of the subject.

Do you live locally?

• If you live in reasonable traveling distance (up to 30 miles), I will come and photograph the subject for you (currently no charge for this service).

©2008 A&B Artwork