The Photo a Portrait Deserves

One photo is enough — but not every photo. Three pointers from the practice of the workbench.

First: the face must be sharp. Not the whole cat, not the room — the muzzle. A portrait lives on the eyes, and out-of-focus eyes we cannot bring back without guessing.

Second: reasonable light. Daylight by a window is ideal; backlight and flash are the two quickest ways to flatten a coat.

Caught between two photos? Send the duller one. Sharp and even beats striking and blurred.

And third: eye level. A photo from above turns every cat into a startled child. Drop to your knees — your cat has been posing for years, you only had to kneel.

— the atelier