Working from photos

How to make it work

Working from photos isn’t ideal, but it allows me to work anywhere and at any time. A photo doesn’t have all the color that real life would have but what it does have is the information and idea that I need to practice at nap time, bedtime or whatever free time I have available. And that is a huge advantage to a busy life.

Use your own photos!

You may find this hard at first because you may not have a huge library of reference photos. But given enough time, travel or family outings your library will grow. And the next time someone asks for a horse painting you’ll remember that hay ride you took and be ready to go with an original one of a kind painting that is truly your own.

I thought I could borrow. Right?

Copyright is a copyright. Right after college was the last time I used an image other than my own. One of my teachers told us that all we needed to do was change the image enough and copyright would be nil and the piece would then be original to ourselves. But how much is enough and how much is infringing on another artists copyright. In class, we were narrowing it down to a very small window of the image and the outcome was unrecognizable to the original so I do believe what our teachers told us was probably correct at the time. But if I’m painting a specific well known location then people want to know and recognize that location and I can’t really change someone else’s photo enough to feel like it’s really mine. It just doesn’t work for me. In this digital age copyright is often imprinted on the image so no matter how much cropping and rearranging you do that image is still someone else’s. As I said, shortly after college I said no more to borrowed photos, unless its a commission for a customer and its their photo, otherwise I have always used my own photos from that day to this. I know there are books and sites that you can freely use the images or even pay to use the images. It just depends on what your needs are and the choices that are right for your artwork. But those photos have never spoken to me. For all my photos I was at that site and saw that butterfly drinking in the sand or saw those magnificent mountains. I know the essence in the scene that wasn’t and can not be captured but is a part of my memory of the moment. For me that’s important.

Avoid flash

If you can don’t use flash (for people shots especially). There are times when it is a must because of the lighting but it’s a killer. I’ve tried to paint people from flash photography and it doesn’t work. The eyes look like two dead pebbles. Just the other day I took a picture of my 1 year old. As I was holding him and watching him enjoy the view outside, I saw his eyes and the reflection. It was gorgeous the kind of light reflection I’d give anything for in one of my paintings. Amazing! The light was literally laughing in his eyes as you can see. Even if I don’t create anything from this I can add it to my reference photo library or simply study the play of light, so next time I find myself painting a person with dead eyes I have a reference photo that will help me add depth and life.

Time & patience

As in all things, gathering worth while photos you’ll use in your art takes time, practice and experience. As you look through your camera or phone lens gathering snapping shots you’ll start to see the painting it could become someday. How the fog is drifting over the lake or the boats are moored at the dock. In this digital age, I take way more photos than I can ever use but the one painting that comes out of it was worth the moment it took to pause and snap a few shots. As you start, you’ll find the next time you’re on a hike you’ll think “I want some photos of bark or a bank or moss”, or “I need another shot of a horse”, or “this sky would make a beautiful backdrop for that image I captured the other day” and you’ll snap your way into an endless file of ideas just right for those moments your time is all your own to start creating.