Photo Guidelines

A good portrait starts with a good photo. Take a moment to review these guidelines to help you choose the best photo for your portrait.

• Take a photo or choose an existing photo that is taken in daylight or in a brightly lit room.
• Use a smartphone or high quality camera
• Ensure the whole face & neck is visible and not in shadows.
• Avoid overly filtered photos to ensure we correctly capture your pet's coloring.
• Make sure your pet is looking directly at the camera at eye level, facing forward. Other positions are acceptable, but your pet will be shown in that position in the final portrait.
• Please keep in mind: collars, leashes, bows, hats, and other cute outfits will be illustrated in your final portrait. In some cases we are able to remove collars, tags and leashes (you can make a note of that in the notes box at checkout), but your pet should look exactly how you want them to look in the photo as you want them to look in the portrait.

Good Example:

• Facing forward
• Well-lit with natural lighting or in a bright room
• Face is visible
• Neck is visible

Bad Example

• Angled face
• Poor lighting (backlit)
• Ear is cut off 
• Not facing forward
• Not at eye level with pet
• Poor lighting
• Body not visible
• Pet is lying down

Not sure whether your images will work?

Email your image to us  (help@paintedmemory.co) and we'll let you know. We often create portraits of pets that have passed away, so we understand it's not always possible to follow all of the guidelines above.

In many cases, we can still make it work.