How to ask a customer for a better pet photo
· 5 min read
The message that works blames the file rather than the photographer, and asks for one specific action. Nine times out of ten the customer already has a perfect photo — the version you received was recompressed by WhatsApp on the way to you, which is nobody’s fault and is trivially fixed.
The message you can paste
Copy this, change the name, send it. It works because it opens with something positive that is genuinely true, explains the problem as a technical accident, and asks for exactly one thing with instructions.
Copy-paste template
Hi [Name] — thank you, [Pet’s name] is gorgeous and this is going to make a lovely portrait.
One quick thing before I start. Photos lose a lot of detail when they go through messaging apps — the app shrinks them automatically — and the version that reached me is a bit small for the [size] print you ordered. Your original is almost certainly fine; it is just the copy I got.
Could you send the original straight from your camera roll?
On iPhone: open the photo, tap the share button, choose Mail, and when it asks about image size pick Actual Size.
On Android: attach it in Gmail rather than sending it through a chat app.
Send me three or four if you have them and I will pick the one that will print best. Daylight photos taken at [Pet’s name]’s eye level work wonderfully.
Thanks so much — I will get started as soon as it lands.
Why this wording and not another
It blames the app, which is accurate
“Your photo is too low resolution” invites the customer to feel judged, and some of them will get defensive rather than helpful. “Messaging apps shrink photos automatically” is true, is not about them, and points at a fix.
It asks for one action with instructions
Most people do not know that Mail offers an Actual Size option, and they certainly do not know it is the difference between 1200 pixels and 4032. Two lines of instructions convert a vague request into a thing they can do in fifteen seconds.
It asks for several photos
Asking for “a better photo” makes the customer the judge of what better means, which is a job they cannot do. Asking for three or four makes them the supplier and you the judge, which is the correct arrangement and is also less work for them.
It opens and closes warmly
This is a small purchase from a small shop, and the tone of the exchange is part of what the customer is buying. A compliment about their animal is free and it is also sincere — people who commission pet portraits want to hear that their dog is handsome.
What to ask for when the original genuinely is not good enough
Sometimes the full-size file arrives and it is still unusable — shot indoors at night, or motion-blurred. Then you are asking for a new photograph, which is a bigger favour, so be specific about what makes one work:
- Daylight. Near a window, or outdoors on an overcast day. Overcast is better than bright sun, which produces hard shadows across the face and blown-out white fur.
- Camera at the animal’s eye level. Crouch down. A photo taken from human standing height looks down at the pet and reads as a snapshot; at eye level it reads as a portrait. This single change improves more photos than anything else on this list.
- Fill the frame. Close enough that the pet occupies most of the picture. Every pixel spent on the carpet is a pixel not spent on fur.
- Eyes in focus, catchlight visible. Tap the animal’s face on the screen before taking the shot.
- Plain-ish background. Not essential — the background is coming out anyway — but a busy background of similar colour to the fur makes the edges genuinely harder to separate cleanly.
The squeaky-toy trick, worth passing on
Tell them to have someone else hold a treat or a squeaky toy just above the camera. It produces the alert, ears-forward, looking-straight-down-the-lens expression that makes a portrait, and it takes one attempt instead of twenty.
When they push back
Occasionally someone will insist the photo is fine because it looks fine on their phone. It does look fine on their phone — a 1200-pixel image is more than a phone screen can display.
Do not argue the numbers. Crop the eye area of their photo at 100%, crop the same area from a photo that prints well, put them side by side and send it. Thirty seconds of work, no one has to be told they are wrong, and the conversation is over.
Screen first, then ask
All of this is much easier if you find out on day one rather than day three. Run every incoming photo through the resolution checker the moment the order lands — it takes one second, nothing is uploaded, and it tells you exactly which sizes the file supports so you can quote a specific number in your message.