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 Last week I discussed how the influence of time affects how you work from photographs. This week we’ll look at other ways photos differ from life and how you can compensate for it.  First let’s look at the limitations of a photograph.

Value clumping- Our eyes see a broader range of values than cameras.  A camera clumps the middle tones into either light or dark.  This is why, in a photograph, shadows will appear black and light areas look washed out.  The middle tones, where the color resides, are usually lost.

 An example of value clumping. The light side of my son's face is too light and the shadow side of his hair is too dark.

Edges- Our field of vision focuses on one object at a time and makes all other edges softer.  A camera will tend to focus all edges the same.  If we want depth and atmosphere in our paintings we must choose which edges will be hard and which will be soft. 

Perspective- A camera will read the objects closest to the lens as larger than reality. This is true in real life as well but a camera will exaggerate the perspective creating a “fishbowl” effect.

 The perspective in this photo is distorted giving my daughter a huge forehead and small chin.

Color- Color in photographs will differ from real life depending on a number of factors.  Color in a photograph is affected by what type of camera you use, the lens, the monitor, the printer, the ink, the levels of ink, and the quality of paper.  Each of these act as a filter and each filter steps you away from a true representation of color.  If you try to match your colors to the photograph, you are copying a false representation of life.

Understand that I am not talking about professional photographers who know how to adjust settings and create beautiful images that are art in themselves.  I am talking about photos that most people take, myself included, using a point and shoot technique.

How to Overcome these Problems

Work from life, work from life, work from life- It doesn’t matter if it is a still life, figurative or plein-air landscape - working from life will give you the knowledge of  how the eye actually sees values, edges, perspective and color.  Whenever you work from life you are building a bank of experiences to draw from.  Visual memory is an important skill artists develop when they work from life and memory helps us translate a photograph into your own visual story.

Take your own photographs- Then you can photograph for different exposures and compositions.   Do not use studio or other copyrighted photographs.

Learn to use photo editing programs- Adobe Photoshop and other editing programs allow you to make changes to your photographs so they are artist friendly.  You can crop for different compositions. You can lighten shadows, darken highlights, adjust contrast, move objects and shift colors. 

Approach your subject as if you were painting from life- Do value sketches and color studies to interpret the subject.  Keep a sketch book on hand, and use it to take notes from life.

 I did this watercolor in my sketchbook very quickly to record the color notes. The sky was so blue and I knew the camera would not do the colors justice.

 Here is the photo I snapped right before I painted.

 My 8x10 oil painting "Dolomite Morning"  I hope to do a larger painting of this image in the future.

Hang your photos so that you can view them while you paint- I attach a horizontal strip of cardboard coming off the side of  my easel, then tape the photos to it so I am viewing the painting and the photo at the same time.  If you work from a monitor, make sure it is set so you can see your easel and the monitor without turning your head.

Photos are a great resource to work from as long as you understand their limitations. Working from life as often as possible will help you expand your ability to interpret photos into personal expression.

The photo reference and thumbnail sketches for "Turnaround"

I will be teaching a workshop Expressive Portraits from Photographs: all medium, April 28-30, Grosse Pointe Art Center, War Memorial. Grosse Pointe, Michigan. For more information click here