Pet Photo Guide: The Reference Photo Rules for Custom Pet Portraits

Start with the technical minimum

Any phone from the last several years is more than enough. What matters is that the file is the original, not a screenshot, a social media re-upload or a messaging-app copy — those are recompressed and lose the fur detail we print.

Send the largest version you have, straight from your camera roll. If the face fills a good part of the frame in the original, we can print it crisply at large sizes.

• —Original file from your camera roll, not a screenshot or chat forward
• —Face reasonably large in the frame — we crop in, we cannot invent detail
• —Sharp eyes and whiskers when you zoom in at 100%
• —JPG, PNG, HEIC or WebP, up to 5MB per upload

Light does most of the work

Soft, indirect daylight is the single biggest upgrade you can make. A metre or two from a window, or outside in open shade, gives even light that keeps detail in both black fur and white chests.

Skip the flash. It flattens fur into a grey mass, throws green or blue eye-shine, and hides the exact texture an artist would otherwise paint. Hard midday sun creates the opposite problem: blown-out highlights and eyes lost in shadow.

Shoot at eye level, not from standing height

Photos taken looking down shorten the muzzle and hide the eyes — the two features that make a portrait recognisable as your pet rather than a generic animal of the same breed.

Kneel, sit or lie down so the lens sits level with your pet's eyes. For small dogs and cats, that usually means getting on the floor. It feels silly and it changes everything.

Frame for the product you want

Different pieces crop differently, so it helps to know roughly what you are ordering before you shoot.

• —Canvas and framed prints: head and chest, portrait orientation, a little space above the ears
• —Blankets and pillows: fuller body works well, since the print area is wide and square-ish
• —Mugs, caps and apparel: tight head crop, because the print area is small and the face has to read at a glance
• —Royal and costume styles: head and shoulders only — the artist paints the uniform or gown beneath

Two or more pets in one piece

You do not need a single photo of them together, and you should not fight for one. Send one strong solo photo per pet and tell us the order you want them arranged. Our artists composite them into one scene with consistent light and scale.

Photos shot in similar light and from similar angles composite most naturally, so if you can take them in the same room on the same afternoon, do that.

Memorial and older photos

For memorial portraits the photo is whatever you have, and that is fine. Small, grainy, slightly blurred, a scan of a print, a frame pulled from a video — send it. Our artists rebuild texture by hand and work from the strongest detail available in the file.

If you have several imperfect photos, send the one with the clearest eyes and mention the others. Eyes and muzzle shape carry the likeness; background and body can be reconstructed.

The mistakes we see most often

• —Screenshots and social-media downloads instead of the original file
• —Flash photos with reflective eye-shine
• —Photos taken from above, so the muzzle looks short and the eyes are hidden
• —The pet very small in a wide scene, with the face only a few dozen pixels across
• —Heavy filters, beauty smoothing or portrait-mode blur across the ears and whiskers

What happens after you upload

You upload the photo in the customizer, pick a style and size, and check out. Our artists hand-render your piece and send you a digital proof by email. Nothing goes to print until you approve it, and revisions are unlimited — so if the photo turns out to be weaker than expected, we ask for a better one before production rather than after.