A border collie, mid-stare, exactly as yours does it
Anyone who lives with a border collie knows the stare: head low, eyes locked on a ball you haven't thrown yet. That look, the ears (matched or not) and the exact line where the white blaze splits the face are what make a collie yours — and all of it comes straight from your photo.
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How this coat prints
A black-and-white collie is the most graphic coat on this page, and it pays to use that. On a black shirt the printer lays no ink where the picture is truly black, so the deepest black in the coat is simply the garment showing through, while the blaze, collar and muzzle carry the image. Mid-grey works the opposite way: the white reads lighter than the fabric and the black reads darker, so both halves stand out at once — which is why those are the two shirts shown here. Red-and-white and merle collies keep their colour placement on the photo presets and look strongest on the black.
The photo to use
A black-and-white dog fools a phone's exposure: the camera splits the difference, so the white chest blows out and the black head turns into a flat shape with no eyes in it. Tap the screen on your collie's face to set the exposure there, and shoot in open shade, where the gap between the two halves is gentler. Hold a toy right beside the lens to get the stare — that fixed, forward look is the expression people recognise. If the ears sit differently from each other, that's the dog; just keep both in frame so the tilt carries through.
Presets that suit this dog
The dog leaning out of the cherry-red car door on the Co-Pilot tile is a red-and-white collie type with its ears streaming back, and a working dog with its head in the wind is as close as a border collie gets to switching off.
The coat is already two tones, so One Ink has little to decide: the white takes the ink, the black is left as bare shirt, and the face reads instantly.
Five cutouts of the same dog at five angles, most with mouths open — a collie mid-fetch has at least that many faces, and its name goes across the top.
Questions
My collie's ears don't match — one up, one folded. Will the artwork straighten them?
No. Ears are on the list of things the artwork is told never to change, and a lopsided pair counts. The only way they go wrong is if one is hidden behind the head in the photo, because then it has to guess.
Is One Ink a good idea for a blue merle?
It works, because merle is a pattern of light and dark: the white markings and pale patches take the ink, the darkest patches stay bare shirt, and the grey in between breaks into grain. What it can't carry is colour, so a blue eye prints as tone, not blue.
My collie never stops moving. Can I use a frame from a video?
You can, but video frames are usually softer than photos, and softness is the one thing the artwork can't fix — if a render comes back soft, the preview tells you so. Burst mode is the better tool: hold the shutter through the action and keep the sharpest frame.
Ready to see yours?
Upload one clear photo. We'll make the artwork and show you the shirt before you pay anything.
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