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Wednesday, July 10, 2013

A Simple Approach for Using Reference Photos in Painting

'A Colorful Hillside'            8x10         pastel        ©Karen Margulis
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 I'd like to chime in on a recent discussion online regarding artists being copiers.  Specifically when it comes to copying reference photos. The majority of my work is done from reference photos.  I am well aware of the pitfalls of using photos so I work hard at using them to help my paintings rather than hinder them.

 I don't ever want to copy a photos no matter how much I like it! And I encourage the same for my students.

I am always looking for ways to allow me to use my photos to help me interpret the scene rather than make a copy of it.  For example I will only use photos I take myself. I actually prefer bad photos since they give me freedom to make the painting better than the bad photo.  I like to print out my photos on regular printer paper....again making them less precious and easier to make changes.

Lately I have been using a new way of working with photos. I learned about it at an IAPS demo with Marla Baggetta.  She paints from the tiny photos on a contact sheet!  I think this is genius!  What a wonderful way to force you to interpret a photo and be more expressive.  You cannot see the details in a tiny photo so you aren't really able to copy the photo!

My painting along with the reference photo
Most photo programs will allow you to print a contact sheet. I use iphoto and I am able to choose 12 photos and they print all on one page. (a great paper saver as well)  When I scan this sheet of tiny photos I can immediately see the photos that have good painting possibilities. I can only see the big shapes, interesting lights and darks, interesting color notes. But no fussy details!

If you are looking for a simple way to help you be more expressive in using your photos then try using tiny contact photos!  Thanks Marla for the great tip!

5 comments:

Marian Fortunati said...

Great ideas, Karen... I never use good paper to print photos and often print them small, but haven't tried the contact photos or thumbnails. Really a good idea to force us to use our artistry rather than copy a photo.
My favorite painting of a family member was done because I didn't come prepared to a class having forgotten to bring reference photos. I was forced to use my cell phone photo... tiny... It worked well for me... forced me to invent quite a bit which made the painting more "painterly".

Karen said...

Great idea to use your phone photos Marian! I'll have to try that! Thanks for sharing!

Sea Dean - Paint a Masterpiece said...

Great tips Karen and Marian. I also use poor photos so I can embellish. I find if I use detailed photos my work gets too fussy. When I take reference photos I set the camera to a small size so I don´t use much memory and it is less detailed.

Anonymous said...

This sounds like a great idea!

robertsloan2art said...

This is so true! Back when I was a street portrait pastelist, I used to sometimes have clients come up and give me a spouse's driver's license to paint from. I knew I had to get the likeness without copying the photo. Or they'd want their uncle who wasn't there and stood fourth in the back in a group family snapshot with his face 1/4" tall if that big.

Yet I managed to get those likenesses. Little photos give you all the detail you need for a painting, especially in pastels.

I don't use a film camera, I use my iPhone. But I can always look at my photos right on the phone for the sight of them on a small screen, same thing.