WHAT LEARNERS WANT TO KNOW
ORIGINAL PHOTO REFERENCES
It is important to use your own source material for your paintings. When you use a photo taken by another person, that person has copyrights to the use of that image. Those rights belong to you when you take the photo. The photo and any art made from it can then be displayed in public venues. Here are some practical tips for using your phone camera every day to take a variety of photos for your personal photo reference library. While making art, look at the photograph through the phone or print the picture in color 8”x 10”.
SET THE FOCUS: Your camera will automatically choose a focus in the foreground, but you may want to focus on a different subject. Open the camera app and tap the screen where you want to sharpen the view. It will automatically adjust the focus and lighting to this location. Take the shot. USE NATURAL LIGHT: Use natural light for the best photographs for art references. Flash photos wash out the shadow, which is a very important aspect of painting a realistic image.
THINK COMPOSITION: Think about ideas like balance, finding rhythmic patterns, high or low viewpoints, and other compositional arrangements for more interesting photos. To get the wildflowers in the foreground of this picture, I lowered my viewpoint by getting closer to the ground.
EMBRACE NEGATIVE SPACE: Capturing areas around and between the subjects, the negative space, can really improve an image. An expanse of open sky, a wall, water, a field, or paved sidewalk can become negative space. Negative space makes the subject stand out.
APPROACH CAUTIOUSLY: When shooting wildlife, take a photo as soon as you see the animal. Take a step closer and take more photos. As you approach, the animal will move at some point, but with luck you will get many photos before that happens. Delete all but the best few photos. Never take risks and approach dangerous animals. Using zoom-in will make the photo grainy or pixelated, but you can often get enough information to make a good painting from a not-so-perfect photo.
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