Welcome to Art Studio 21 Photography!

Summer is the perfect time for having portraits taken during family reunions and gatherings.  Make sure you take lots of photographs of your family and friends!  Keep people in the shade for nice, clean skin tones and to minimize squinting.  There are so many beautiful places to photograph portraits in Victoria and all over Vancouver Island.   Here is a client’s portrait from the other day– I love how there are three generations in this one image.  What a priceless memory!  Please give David a call if you have any questions!

We just finished shooting and retouching some wonderful maternity photographs for our clients last week.  They were fantastic images!  We had lots of cool ideas and props for some unique and memorable images.  It was their first baby, so there were super excited about everything.  Last week, their baby girl was born!  Congratulations you guys!

Yasuko and I are huge sports fans.  We think sports bring out the best in human spirit– teamwork, commitment, respect, and the pursuit of excellence– the same traits we bring to our business.  These images were taken to celebrate children, sports, and the quiet moments while one finds their resolve to go forward and do their best.  To all the people who compete hard every day!

Many clients ask me what sizes I recommend for portrait prints.

I feel the only thing worse than not celebrating your family through portraits on your walls, is having prints that are not suitable for the space they need to fill.

There are a few things to consider– the face size of the subjects, the object below the portrait, and the distance from which the portrait will be viewed.

If the portrait is to hang in a hallway, it will be viewed from quite close, so smaller faces of the subjects will be fine, which will allow for a smaller portrait, perhaps an 8 x 10 or even 5 x 7.

If the portrait is to hang above a sofa in the living room, it will be viewed from much further away, so the face size of the subjects will have to be much larger, and the portrait size will have to balance with the size of the sofa.  For balance, the finished portrait with mattes and frame should equal at least half of the total length of the sofa.  Anything smaller is too small and will look unbalanced.  Typical portrait print sizes would be 24 x 30 or 30 x 40 inch prints.

If the portrait is to hang above a bureau on a landing, the portrait will somewhere in between these two previous examples.  A typical size of an appropriate portrait would be 11 x 14 or 16 x 20 inches.

Professionally created, retouched, and finished portraits will likely outlive your furniture, and likely move with you to a different home.  They will be heirlooms for your children and your children’s children.  Please speak with David for suggestions on sizes and frames to preserve and celebrate these moments forever.