1. Look at the eyes, then the whole face
Zoom in a little on your original photo. Can you see the eyes and the edge of the nose clearly? If those features are blurred, sharpening cannot reliably recreate them. A crisp face matters more than a large file size.
For a front-facing portrait, look for both eyes. A side profile can be lovely too, especially for a horse or bird; choose it deliberately rather than because the face is partly hidden.
2. Choose gentle, natural light
Window light or a bright, overcast day usually shows a coat well. Harsh flash can flatten the face or reflect in the eyes. Strong sunlight can leave one side of the face in deep shadow.
Black coats need visible detail, not a heavily lightened filter. White coats need enough shadow to show the shape. If you have two similar photographs with different lighting, send both.
3. Leave a little breathing room
Try to keep the ears, chin and any distinctive whiskers in frame. We can crop a photograph, but we cannot recover an ear that was never in the image. A little space around the head helps us fit the portrait to each layout.
For the round keepsake, the picture fills the disc. A little space around your pet helps the circular crop. On the standing keepsake and the garden stake we fit the layout to the photo, so the picture gets as much room as possible.
4. Send the original, not a screenshot
The original phone or camera image is usually sharper than a screenshot of a social-media post. Avoid text, stickers and heavy portrait filters across the face. If the only photo you have is a scan or an older print, send it anyway and tell us.
On WhatsApp you can send up to three favourites together and say which one you prefer. We will tell you if a different image would make a clearer engraving.
5. Keep the personality
A favourite expression is worth more than a technically perfect photo that does not feel like your pet. A tilted head, sleepy face or familiar perch may be exactly the memory you want. Tell us what matters.
The portrait is an interpretation in fine engraved lines, not a colour photograph printed on metal. The free preview is the chance to check that it still looks like them before anything is made.
If you only have one photograph
Please do not feel that you need to find a better memory. Send what you have, without trying to edit it first. We can assess it and explain what will and will not translate clearly. There is nothing to pay just to find out.
