The creation of a colourful pet portrait, featuring a long-haired dachshund and a very colourful house.
A lot of my pet portraits come with a white or solid colour background. This is great and might be what you want. However, you may want something a little different. This portrait of a little long-haired dachshund was going to be going into a very colourful house, so it was decided to include the background in the portrait.
You generally need to have the background you want to be included in the reference photo you take of your pet, that way, the lighting of the background matches the lighting of the pet in your portrait. Whether you want just the background to be of a room in your house like this one, or you could even use a printed background, such as a colourful photography backdrop.
I really loved the colour of the wall and the nice green cheese plant. The whole portrait photo had a nice overall aesthetic, which would work well when made into a pastel pet portrait. Another thing I liked about this photo was the light reflecting off his coat, which added a lovely effect.
In this portrait, I drew out the dog first, but he was not fully complete when I then added in the background. The reason for this is you do not want a "halo" around your finished dog. The background and foreground of your portrait want to be seamless.
I love the aesthetic of this pet portrait and it will really suit the home it is going into.
If you want a pet portrait from a photo indoors, it is still important to think about the lighting when taking your photo. In this pet portrait there was a nice window with light coming through, this light lit up the face of the dog and gave a nice reflexion in his eyes.
Ideally you want to be in a room with at least 1 good light source, such as a large window with a good amount of sunlight coming through. Try to time your photography session for when the sun is facing the window, rather than when it is round the other side of the house.
Think about the colours you want in your final portrait, are there furnishings that you could add or take away? You do not want the background to be so busy that it distracts from the main feature; your pet!
If you're thinking of commissioning a colourful pet portrait of your pet, why not get in touch.
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