PaintsightTreat a reference photo as notes for a painting. Pick one with clear light, allow for what the camera got wrong, plan the values before you paint, and leave out most of the detail.
What the camera gets wrong
The darks and the lights. In a high-contrast scene, one exposure can't hold detail at both ends: the shadows go black or the sky goes white. Cameras work around this by combining exposures. An iPhone takes several and blends them, which keeps more detail in both but can leave the shadows lighter and busier than they looked. Either way, the darkest and lightest values in the photo are the camera's choice. Expect to adjust them, and to simplify every shadow.
The color of the light. White balance shifts the colors so they look natural whatever the light, which can wash out what made the scene worth painting: the orange of evening sun, the blue of shade. Shade is lit by much bluer light than the sun: Nikon's settings put it at about 8000 K, against about 5200 K for direct sunlight. See warm and cool colors and how to choose colors from a photo.
Shapes up close. A phone's main camera is a wide-angle lens. Apple lists the iPhone 17's main camera as 26 mm and its 2x setting as 52 mm; Nikon counts 14 to 35 mm as wide-angle and 50 to 60 mm as standard, the closest to the angle of view we see. To fill the frame with a wide lens you have to stand close, and closeness enlarges whatever is nearest the camera. In a 2018 study, researchers at Rutgers calculated that a selfie taken about 12 inches from the face makes the base of the nose look about 30% wider than a photo taken from 5 feet. For faces, figures and still lifes, step back and use the 2x setting.
Depth. A camera sees with one eye. Leonardo noticed that solid objects seen close up with one eye look like a painting, because two eyes see a little way around each form and one eye can't. A photo has lost that depth before you start, so put it back with the painter's means: overlapping shapes, and cooler, less defined forms in the distance.
Edges. Within its focus, a photo draws every edge equally sharp. Harold Speed complained that trees painted with hard, cut-out, photographic edges lose their beauty, and pointed out that when you look at a whole scene rather than at each object in turn, the edges of the masses melt away in some places and sharpen in others. Paint edges the way you'd see them, not the way the lens recorded them.
Choosing a reference
- Use your own photos where you can. You were there, so you know what the light was like and what the shadows held that the camera lost.
- Look for clear light. A distinct light side and shadow side give you a value plan. Flat light can make a fine painting, but you'll have to design more of it yourself.
- Test the design small. A notan or a three-value study shows in a minute whether the big shapes work. The notan and value study maker makes one from any photo.
- Take more than one. One exposed for the lights, one for the shadows, and one from farther back at 2x. If you can, make a quick color note or sketch on the spot as well: it records what the camera won't.
- Crop to the canvas. Crop the photo to the canvas's proportions before you draw, so nothing has to be squeezed or stretched later.
Plan the values first
Make a study of 3 to 5 values from the photo (see how many values), then decide what to change. Merge busy shadow shapes into one. Darken a background to set off the subject. Lighten a dark that the camera turned to black. Squint at the photo and at the study (see why painters squint): the painting should be built from the shapes you see then, not from the detail.
Grid or freehand
A grid gets proportions right quickly and pays off where small errors show, such as a portrait or a building. Drawing by eye is slower and trains your judgment. Harold Speed thought the camera of use only to artists who could do without it, those who can "look, as it were, through the photograph" and draw with the freedom they'd have from nature. If you grid, see the grid method and the drawing grid maker. Either way, place the big shapes first and loosen the line once they're right.
Leave things out
A photo gives every leaf and brick the same weight. Speed warned that a picture made of many small parts, each focused on separately, won't hang together as one impression. Choose the focal point, keep the sharpest edges and strongest contrast there, and let the rest go softer and simpler. If a detail doesn't help the big shapes, leave it out.
Sources
- Apple, "Adjust HDR camera settings on iPhone", iPhone User Guide: several photos at different exposures, blended for more highlight and shadow detail.
- Nikon, "HDR Overlay", Nikon Z f Reference Guide: combining exposures to keep detail in the highlights and shadows of high-contrast subjects.
- Nikon, "White Balance", Nikon Z f Reference Guide: the purpose of white balance, and about 5200 K for direct sunlight and 8000 K for shade.
- Apple, iPhone 17 technical specifications: main camera 26 mm, 2x telephoto 52 mm.
- Nikon, "Understanding Focal Length", Nikon Learn & Explore: wide-angle and standard focal lengths.
- Brittany Ward, Max Ward, Ohad Fried and Boris Paskhover, "Nasal Distortion in Short-Distance Photographs: The Selfie Effect", JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery, 2018. Summary: Rutgers University, ScienceDaily, March 1, 2018.
- Leonardo da Vinci, The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, translated by Jean Paul Richter, 1888, sections 28, 29 and 534, on seeing relief with one eye and with two. Project Gutenberg.
- Harold Speed, The Practice and Science of Drawing, 1913, chapter XIII, "Rhythm: Variety of Mass" (edges, and photographic trees), and chapter XXI, "Conclusion" (the camera). Project Gutenberg.
