Does Your Portrait Photo Tell a Story?

Brother and Sister Portrait Photo

Portrait Photo for Cameo

If you were asked to show a friend just two or three photos that capture the “essence” of your loved one which would you choose? These are the images that I need for your cameo jewel.

My goal is to have the portrait photo that best shows the spirit and character of the person. Does the photo tell a story? An example is how a photo of a father holding his child shows the love between them. Send me as many photos as you want. I can help advise on the best choice for the portrait cameo.

Photo of Two loved Grand-children

Portrait Photo of a Wife

Send more than one photo if at all possible, from a number of angles. The more good images I have, the greater the accuracy of the finished Cameo. Select the Photos that best show their Spirit and character.

I want to capture in your portrait carving the feeling of pride and recognition that you experience when you see the photos of your loved one.

New born baby held in Parents Hands

Portrait Photo for a Cameo

Portrait Photo of a Beautiful 3 year Old Daughter

Portrait Photo of a Young Daughter

High resolution and Large file sizes are very welcome. These will be used by the cameo artist to design your personal cameo portrait jewel. The photos are printed to 10 by 8 size to study when carving.

Photo of a 3 Year Old Girl

Pet Portrait Photo Bo

Photo of a Silent Angel

Printed photographs can be scanned and uploaded to my secure server or posted to me, Antique photos can be taken out of their frames for this. I will return the original photograph with the finished cameo.

Hire a Professional Photographer for Superb Photos

Consider using a good professional studio in your area. They are experts in how to get the best images of people.

Please ask your photographer to contact Gareth at Portrait Cameos. I can advise on what format of photo will work best for your cameo portrait.

The Camera Lies !

Working from photos can be difficult. An inexperienced artist will accept the photo as perfect and attempt to copy it exactly.
A camera with a 100mm focal length lens that is centered on the face and is not tilted up, down or pointed to the sides will show the face accurately.

Barrel Distortion

There are two types of distortion, the one caused by the camera lens is known as barrel distortion. A lens smaller than a 100mm focal length will make the face rounder than normal. The nose and mouth will be larger than normal and the outside of teh head is shrunk inwards. This describes most phones and compact cameras that often use 28 – 35 mm lenses.

A telephoto lens larger than 100mm will distort in the opposite way. I can correct for this distortion if I know the type of camera used for the photograph.

Angular Distortion

When a camera is not centered then you get angular distortion. You can see this best when you see an extreme example. A camera pointing up at a face will make the forehead larger and make the lower half of the face smaller. Pointing down at the face from above has the opposite effect. A camera pointing from the side will introduce perspective issues that change the face.

I have studied these issues in detail and I have learned how to correct for these potential distortions. Ask your portrait artist if they know about these issues.