how to choose good reference photos

To guarantee optimum results, the photos you send me must be of very high quality. You can send me as many as you like, and I'll give you a choice of 3 montages, more if necessary depending on the photos you have (I know it's sometimes difficult to get good photos, and I'll do my best to guide you in your choices).

Your pet must be :

• clean,

• lit in natural light,

• avoid overexposure (no midday sun!) and, on the contrary, underexposure

• be at your pet's eye level

• no application filters

The problem here arises from the difference in exposure between the areas that are strongly exposed to sunlight and the shadows. My paintings generally have no background, and the result will not be harmonious.

On the left, the whites are burnt out, erasing all detail in the overexposed area.

On the right, the lack of light makes the photo far too dull.

On the left, the light source for the first cat comes from the left,

while the second cat's light comes from the right.

Here, the photos are not taken at eye level.

The dog on the left is photographed from above, while the second is photographed from below.

Putting them together doesn't make sense. These framings distort your animals, hiding or showing areas that don't belong in a portrait.

On the left, the photo is distorted (unless you want to use this framing for humorous effect).

In the middle, the photo is taken from a low angle, which magnifies the horse's nose and makes its eyes particularly small.

On the right, this photo is not usable: light problems, head on the ground: I can't reproduce it as a portrait.

Eye-level photos, uniform lighting, perfect photos for a rendering that will show off your companion to best advantage!

To ensure a consistent result, you should, wherever possible :

• avoid having photos taken under different lighting conditions (e.g. don't have one animal photographed indoors and the other outside in direct sunlight),

• If one animal is lit from the left and the other from the right, the composition will be unbalanced and less pleasing to the eye; if you have no choice, in the case of deceased animals,

• avoid framing them differently (one animal photographed at eye level and the other from above),

• try to provide me with ten or so photos per animal, so that I can make different proposals, making the composition as coherent as possible.

Here are a few examples:

Photos from applications such as WhatsApp or Snapchat will be refused, as their quality is too degraded. Likewise, don't send me a photo taken with your phone, of the photo on your computer screen! This kind of photo will be automatically rejected. They must be of sufficient resolution (a photo of less than 1MB is generally too small to work properly).

Grouping of animals :

Finally: Some examples of perfect shots !

Size (Resolution):

Photo selection :

In the case of a group of animals on a painting :

Points to bear in mind: