Artist Brings Pets And Their Younger Versions Together Into Photos (30 Pics)

Emma Ackerman
Oct 27, 2023
Oct 27, 2023

Our beloved pets seem to grow up in the blink of an eye. Before we knew it, they'd transitioned from tiny, playful puppies to full-grown, loyal companions. All that's left are cherished memories, adorable snapshots, and the occasional gnawed shoe as a reminder of their puppyhood.

Mandy Helwege, just like many pet parents, wanted to freeze those precious moments when her puppy was, well, a puppy. She first tried using professional services to carry out her idea, but the results were a letdown. So, she took matters into her own hands.

Fast forward to today, and Mandy's become a pro at creating heartwarming images. She goes by the name "Seeing Double Edits" and loves giving pet owners the best of both puppy and grown-up dogs in one adorable picture.

Talking about the reason why she started this work of art, Mandy shared the full story of how she started the project of combining images.

“It all started with my six-and-a-half-year-old Great Dane, Elliott. When she was about a year old, I saw someone on Instagram do one for their dog and sent a message asking if they’d be willing to do one for me. They asked me to send a couple of photos and sent the result just a little while later. It was cool, but I was disappointed because it was very obviously photoshopped, as there had been no blending done to bring the two photos together.

I figured with my background in art and experience with photography and Photoshop that I could maybe bring the two together in a more realistic fashion, and I’ve been creating them ever since!” wrote Mandy.

Since Mandy has become a professional in her field, she revealed that there was a waitlist of people who wanted her to combine their pictures.

Mandy shared: “I do run commissions off of a waitlist and book 1-2 months in advance on my website.”

It is no surprise that Mandy is in such high demand. She has worked so hard for it. She said that in order to attain such realism in her images, she employs "an average of 75+ individual layer masks to make lighting and color adjustments to blend the two images together."

Mandy also revealed that she occasionally uses stock photo images of puppies to place alongside adult ones.

“Most of the time, the owner will send me a current photo of their dog and a puppy photo of the same dog, and I bring the two together. I also do this for dogs who were rescued as adults and, in those edits, I’ll source a similar-looking stock puppy photo and will then match markings/colors/features to bring to life my most educated guess on what I believe that dog would have looked like as a puppy,” shared Mandy.

And lastly, Mandy added: “I just think they are a really beautiful way to capture the life of our four-legged best friends. We share so much time and love and create so many memories with them and these edits bring all of that together in one image. I feel so very fortunate to get to share not only my talents but love for animals with so many others around the world through my art!”

So amazing, isn’t it? For now, let’s check out Mandy's 30 incredible creations yourself!