The Modern Portrait
Studio portrait photography, the kind a person sits for. Soft directional light, a warm neutral backdrop, and every single hair rendered.
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About This Style
The Modern Portrait is the one style in the catalogue that does not dress your pet as anything. There is no robe, no crown, no helmet and no joke. There is a seamless warm grey backdrop, one large soft light placed high and to the left, and an animal looking straight down the lens.
That restraint is the whole point. Costume styles work by contrast: the gap between a small dog and imperial regalia is what makes people laugh. This works the opposite way. It takes the face you already love and gives it the treatment normally reserved for a person sitting for a professional headshot: shallow depth of field, the eyes and the nose tack sharp, the far shoulder falling gently out of focus, a clean catchlight in each eye, and every whisker and hair resolved.
It suits pets whose expression is the thing you would miss most. Older animals photograph especially well in it, because the light finds the grey around a muzzle rather than hiding it.
As a gift it is the safe one, in the best sense. Nobody has to be in on a joke to love it, and it hangs in a living room without explaining itself. It is also the style people order for themselves after buying a costume portrait for somebody else.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this just my photo with a filter on it?
No. It is a new portrait built from your photo. The pose, the lighting, the backdrop and the depth of field are all constructed, which is why a phone snapshot taken in a kitchen comes back looking like it was shot in a studio. Your pet's face, markings and coat carry through; the photograph around them does not.
Will it work if my photo was taken outdoors on a phone?
Yes, and most of them are. What matters is that the face is clear and reasonably lit, not that the original was a good photograph. Outdoor phone photos are the most common source we work from.
Is this a good choice for an older pet?
It is the one we recommend most for older animals. The soft directional light finds the grey around a muzzle and the texture of an older coat rather than smoothing them away, and the result reads as dignity rather than as age. Owners tell us it is the portrait that looks most like the animal they actually live with.