Designer's Holiday Ordering: Tips for Taking Photos

For custom silhouettes, you only need a few things. A digital photo is a must. Patience is helpful, but we know that may not be abundant when taking pictures of little people and pets. You're probably not a semi-professional photographer, and it doesn't matter. Here are some tips that will help you achieve quality silhouettes.

Please know that anything you want ON your subject should be on during the picture. (Fairy wings, cowboy chaps, hats.) Anything OFF your subject that you don't have can be added by us. These are considered embellishments. (Fishing pole, musical instrument.)

General tips:

Use a white or light background. Sheets, towels and pushpins work great.

4 feet away from your subject is a good distance.

Separate feet and arms. If they are together they will look like a strange mass of human.

Make sure the chin is up, looking straight ahead.

When your subject is taken straight on it will provide a better silhouette. If you are too high or too low, facial features won't stand out and chins merge into shoulders. (See examples below.)

Sometimes shadows are inevitable, but try to eliminate as best as possible by changing lighting, flash, natural light, etc.

Full size silhouettes-outfit selection. Any outfit works fine; some show more details than others. Its a matter of personal preference if you care to highlight details. Consider these suggestions to capture the most from the personality of your subject.

Crew neck shirts or collared shirts (unless you want a smooth line), bows, ribbons, skirts, pant legs that have defined bottoms (pant legs or shorts that hang from the skin versus clinging to it.)

Full size silhouettes-multiple children.

A few inches in distance can make a difference in height! To show accurate height differences, it helps to have the children standing at the exact same spot. If it helps the kids, it might help to have them stand on a piece of masking tape. If someone is an inch forward on the ground, it can make them appear an inch taller in height.

Bad example:

Good example:

Same set of kids, and some small details that make all the difference.

Finished product:

The baby is obviously added in separately. You might want to consider doing the same. We tried both ways with this group of kids. The older kids held his hands and it didn't work too well. We think the finished product still looks great and no one (besides anyone reading this) knows that he was added in from a separate picture.

Bad example: This picture is taken too high. The facial features actually turn out fine but notice the small amount of space between the chin and arm. And of course part of the head is missing. It seems obvious, but be sure to get every toe, finger, etc in the picture.