FAQ's

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How do I take a good profile photo?

First be patient, remember we are creating a piece of portrait art that will last hundreds of years, so don't rush it, if your child isn't cooperating today, try tomorrow. One tip is to get them distracted with their favorite show, and then get on their level, straight on from the side and wait for a relaxed face or a very slight (no teeth) smile. Also don't worry too much about getting the perfect lighting or how cluttered the background is. The most important thing is that is straight on from the side, meaning the camera needs to be right on their level, not above, below, behind or too forward.

 

What's the best camera to use?

A full sized camera with an 85mm lens. This way you will have the least distortion of the face. This is the lens most professional portrait photographers use, because it results in an accurate and more flattering photo.

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Can I just take their picture with my iPhone?

Yes, BUT you need to take the picture from 4 to 6ft away to minimize the distortion that is unavoidable with the smartphone's small lens. This is for ALL smartphones no matter the brand or how new and expensive they are. So just get back about 4 to 6 feet and place their head in the middle of the frame and take the shot. Be sure to email us the entire photo with all the background (not cropped) so we know it was taken with a smartphone, that way our artist can compensate for the slight distortion that is left even at this distance.

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I have an old photo that doesn't quite meet the requirements, can I still use it?

Maybe, just email it to us at photos@basreliefportraits.com and we'll let you know.

 

What about hair?

Of course do their hair nice for the picture, but don't worry too much about a little flyaway here and there, our artist will ignore those and smooth it out.

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What if my child has really long hair? 

Hair longer than about 4 inches past the shoulder, which will be a lot of girls, will need to be done up in your favorite up-do like a french braid for example. A simple braid will also do if it's able to shorten the hair to around shoulder length. Have fun doing a fancy up-do for them, it's going to last a hundred years.

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Does my child need to smile for the reference photo?

No, a relaxed face is fine, our artist aims to give every child a very slight smile in all the portraits anyway whether they are slightly smiling or not.

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What't the best way to email the photo?

Just be sure when you attach the photo to the email, send it at full or large size, not scaled down or compressed. For example on an iPhone when hit send on an email with a photo attached, it will ask you if you want to reduce the message size by having the email software scaling down the photo to Small, Medium, Large or Actual Size. Pick "Actual Size". If the photo is very big, like over 6MB in size you can scale it down to Large which will be fine as well.

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Can I email more than one photo of a child?

Yes, if you have a good reason too, like you like the hair in one and the face better in the other. BUT both photos must be a straight on profile, not a face from the side and another photo of the hair you like from a different random angle.

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Discounts for a deceased child?

Our very first portrait was for a child that passed away in our neighborhood, and his parents happened to have a recent good side profile photo of him. So yes, if you happen to have a good side profile photo, just email us that and a copy of the funeral announcement or obituary and we will do the portrait free of charge as a gift to the parents.

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What are the portraits made from?

The sculpture is made from a mixture of powdered marble and powdered porcelain bound together with resin and gypsum. It's actually stronger and more resilient than a similarly thin piece of straight marble or porcelain. Meaning if the frame fell off your wall or got hit by a baseball or something it wouldn't shatter.

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Why does my sculpture looks different than the sketch?

While the preliminary sketch we email to you does give a good indication of the shape of the final sculpture, it is in the end a black pencil drawing on white paper. Whereas the facial features in the all white final bas-relief are only formed by light and shadow. For example the contrast of very dark eyebrows on light skin shows up easily in a pencil sketch, but doesn't show up nearly as well in bas-relief. Although this may seem like a sacrifice the timeless look of an all white marble bas-relief is achieved no other way.

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My child isn't white, can I get a brown sculpture?

We are currently experimenting with mixing finely ground pecan shells with the marble powder to give the sculpture a darker look, but we don't have it perfected yet, we'll let you know when we do. In the meantime black people still look great in white marble, one of our favorite bas-relief sculptures is "Little Ida" by Charles Calverley at the Met and of course there's the white granite MLK memorial sculpture in DC.

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Can I touch the portraits?

Yes, if fact we encourage it, it won't damage them, just wash those grubby mitts first.

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Why are the portraits so inexpensive?

Even though these are all handmade, by making the sculptures a bit shallower and simplifying the casting process we are able to reduce the labor and material expense quite a bit.

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Do you offer any discounts?

Not at this time, but in the future we are planning on doing a monthly mother-daughter and father-son lookalike contest from submitted photos. A free portrait will be awarded to the photos with the most likes, so follow us on Instagram @basreliefportraits if you want to know when that monthly contest starts. We just barely went public so it will take a few months to get enough followers to make it happen.

 

 What kind of wood are the portraits mounted on?

They are securely mounted on a cradled birchwood panel stained a light neutral farmhouse brown.

 

Can I get the wood stained a different color?

You could, but we don't encourage it. We experimented with alot of different shades and darknesses of wood and found a light neutral brown brought out the features of the portrait best and showed the handcarved name best.  It's subdued neutral light brown color also will go with most decors and won't clash with future decors, something to consider since this portrait is going to be around a long time. Also a dark or very colorful stained wood starts to visually compete with portrait and a dark stain makes it the hand carved name harder to see. But if you still want the wood stained a different color or shade, email us and we can work something out.

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I don't like the white frames, can I get the portrait unframed and frame it myself?

Yes, but after much experimentation we settled on the white frame because it visually unifies with the white of the portrait and ties the entire piece together from a design sense. But if you still want it unframed, let us know in the notes and we will refund you back $20. If you are framing it yourself the interior size you'll need is 11x14, which is the size of the unframed birchwood panel.

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How long does it take?

Depends on how backed up we are, but usually about 3 weeks.

November 2022 update: We are currently overwhelmed with holiday commissions, but you are welcome to order a Gift Certificate for Christmas arrival.

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Do you offer gift certificates?

Yes, and they area customized with the child's first name, hand written on a 5x7in card which arrives in a gift box tied with a white ribbon with a to: and from: tag on it as well. Just include the child's first name, address and indicate in the notes what you want written on the tag that will be tied to the ribbon. Which makes the gift certificate an actual physical gift they can put under the Christmas tree and open. The gift certificate will be mailed USPS and takes about 4-5 days to arrive at the recipients address after order. Of course if you prefer we can email a PDF of the gift certificate to you (or them) if this a last minute gift, just let us know an email address in the notes.

 

Rush fees?

No, but we are considering it.

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Why only from the side, why not the front?

Bas relief from the front view of the face just doesn't translate as well, that's why you rarely see them. Besides, our favorite view of a child is a side profile. Like when you are holding them and looking at their sweet face as they look straight ahead in wonder, at the first snowfall they've ever seen, for example. That view is where their pure innocence and simple joy beams through. That is what we are trying to preserve.

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Other questions? Just email us at: photos@basreliefportraits.com