Photo Tips

Rainbowdog portraits are custom pieces painted from photos supplied by my customers.  These photos do not need to be professionally composed, cropped or lit.  To create a successful portrait, all I need is a well-lit photograph, IN FOCUS, that shows your dog’s markings and coloring. Natural light works best – use a flash to help create additional highlights on a black dog.

Clear and close-up are the key things to remember. If your pet has some specific marking that makes him or her unique, make sure you mention it in your contact e-mail and that it shows in the photo the way you’d like it to.

Get down at eye level with your dog.  Photographs with your pet looking directly at the camera make terrific portraits, although shots of your dog looking up adoringly at you can work well, too.  The eyes are so important – make sure they are visible!

Have a friend or family member help you. Your assistant can do the dog wrangling, and you can snap the picture when the pose is right. The sound of a crinkling cellophane wrapper will often get your dog to prick up his/her ears.

I can correct minor photographic problems, for instance, fix an improperly flopped ear, remove a bandana, or work around flash-reflective eyes.  It's difficult to create a great portrait from a shot that is blurry or deeply shadowed.

Finally, don’t limit yourself to one shot.  If you have several shots of your pet and they all reveal something of his/her appearance or personality, send them on!  It never hurts if I have more information about my subject.