Paintings from Photos vs. Life

We Weigh in on a Historic Debate

Photographic technology has been a helpful tool for artists for hundreds of years.  Leonardo da Vinci and Johannes Vermeer are thought to have 

used a camera obscura.  Artists like Edgar Degas, Alphonse Mucha, Paul Cezanne and Pablo Picasso have all used this tool. A camera captures the fleeting moments of sunrise, the flight of a flock of birds, a family of bears fishing.  Like legions of artists, we utilize photography in our work.  However, just as having a hammer does not make one a carpenter, it is the effective use of photography that is important.

36 x 48 oil by Kathryn M. Turner

"A Camera Never Lies?" 

While tremendously helpful, a photograph also has serious limitations. It distorts and flattens the subject.  The shadows lose light and color. It captures a level of detail that is far beyond what the human eye can naturally perceive.  Colors can either lose their luster or go the other way and look artificial.  When using photography, it is important to be aware of these inaccuracies and adjust for them. The knowledge of how to do so is gained from working from life. Proportions, color, and the subtlety of light are gained from critical observation.  This is why working from the live model, studying anatomy and movement, learning atmospheric and linear perspective and painting on location are so important to us.  In this way, life is our primary reference.  Photography is supplemental information.

                                                                                                                                photo by Mike Flaherty

The Poetry of Painting

None of the three of us are what you would call photo-realist painters.  We want to capture the impression or essence of a scene or subject rather than a photographic depiction.  When working with photographs, we do a great deal of editing in order to serve the intention of the painting.  Lots of extraneous information is left on the cutting room floor.  Then the key elements of the photo are rearranged and re-scaled.  Edges are blurred and colors are adjusted.  As artist David Hockney says, "Optical devices certainly don't paint paintings. "  It is the painter's hand that can bring a different essence to the spirit of an image.  

20 x 26 Watercolor by Kathryn M. Turner