5 Tips for Better Use of Photo Reference In Your Art

What's Not Good about Using Photos to Create Your Art?
We tend to believe that photos don't lie, yet photographs show things very differently than the way the eye sees and the mind perceives.

How photos can lie about what you see:
Photographs tend to pick up more details and show them much sharper than does the human eye. 

Photography also flattens the three-dimensionality and distorts (yes photography distorts) your subject. Objects coming toward you look larger while subjects moving away from you appear smaller than normal.

I often see the tale-tell signs in student work that clearly shows they copied directly from photographic reference. When I comment on it, they usually say, "But that's how it looks in the picture!"

I then suggest taking 'Artistic License' and changing what the photo shows.

Here are some hints on how to know what to adjust when using photographic reference:
 
1 - When working from a photograph, downplay the sharpness of value changes.

2 - Leave out and soften some of the detail.

3 - As the subject recedes leave out more and more detail. For example, distant hills or mountains in a landscape should have very little detail.

4 - Spend time observing your subject in real life. Draw or paint from real life. This may be more difficult to begin with, but if you keep working this way I guarantee you will:

• Start seeing how values work correctly
• Begin understanding how even the smallest distance from the viewer will soften details
• Become aware of color changes (and just how many variations of colors can exist in one subject)
• Understand how light and shadow affects your subject matter
• Understand how your subject matter affects light and shadow
• See three-dimensionally so you can recreate three-dimensionally

 5 - Use the photographs ONLY as reference and study notes.

If all you have to work from are photos, then keep this knowledge in mind and make the above adjustments in your work.