Post an example of - A Good Reference Photo - Page 3

Elizabeth Schott · 03-12-2003, 10:26 AM

I couldn't help myself.

Michael, I know you asked for good photo reference, but I had to share this one.

This is my first-ever paying commission, way back before I was ever stroked by some of the geniuses on this site. This couple is on their honeymoon, and I believe they added the patriotic theme because of 9-11.

Please don't ban me for life, I promised I would never do this again after my last bad reference post.

Michele Rushworth · 03-12-2003, 11:15 AM

Here is a series of photos I'm working from for a current commission. I hardly ever use just one photo for a painting. Even if one shot has exactly the pose I want, I still need closeups of faces, feet, etc.

All these were shot in exactly the same lighting (indirect daylight from a large window) and I didn't change where I was shooting from, so I can mix the reference shots together.

The girl is not happy with her weight and she and her mom asked me to "trim her down a bit" which I will do for the painting.

This overall shot also makes the boy look too small relative to his sister. I will bring him forward in the final composition so their sizes are more accurate compared to each other.

Michele Rushworth · 03-12-2003, 11:15 AM

Here's one of the face closeups. This is the expression I will use, not the one in the overall shot.

Michele Rushworth · 03-12-2003, 11:17 AM

I blow these detail shots up to the size I will be painting at.

Michele Rushworth · 03-12-2003, 11:28 AM

The girl had her hair and makeup specifically done for the photo shoot. I don't like her hair in this trendy style so I will be shooting additional photos.

Michele Rushworth · 03-12-2003, 11:32 AM

I didn't like how the girl's arm and hand were positioned in the overall shot so I asked her to move it.

Eventually you'll see how all these photos come together in the final painting on my website in a couple of months. The canvas is 48" x 26".

Leslie Ficcaglia · 03-12-2003, 11:46 AM

Beth, since my photos were all taken outside, except for the child on the chair, I assume you weren't referring to them. I always take my photos out of doors and, as Michele mentioned, try to shoot them from the same vantage point so that I don't run into mixing and matching body parts with different light sources.

Michele, it was fascinating to see your reference photos. What kind of camera, film and lens do you use? How did the girl react to your wanting a more natural-looking hairstyle? And what did you have in mind? I'm looking forward to seeing the finished piece after having had a peek at the process.

I too never work from just one photo; aside from the fact that everything is rarely perfect in one shot I think it's more interesting and challenging to build a completely new image on my canvas. It was hard to find examples of decent reference photos that were complete in themselves, to post here, because I normally pick and choose elements from a series of pictures. I actually started out as a photographer rather than a painter, and having the ability to select and delete body parts, backgrounds and so forth still feels like an incredible luxury.

Marvin, will you work from that photo or is it a value study? The subtle range of shades is lovely.

This is fun, seeing what others consider to be good resource photos, but then it would be nice to see a finished painting derived from them.

Marvin Mattelson · 03-12-2003, 12:41 PM

Leslie,

I posted the finished painting last year in the professional unveiling section at http://forum.portraitartist.com/show...=&threadid=945

Michael,

I use two strobes, a main and a fill. I don't like a fill card because it is too uneven and directional filling the shadows unequally. I recently did a photo workshop for portrait artists in Atlanta and went to great pains to demonstrate the inequities of the fill card. I know many use it but I disagree with its effectiveness (me disagree?)

The main light can be modified to control the hardness or softness of the light. The fill is always very soft. Using the strobe lights allows me to use 100 asa film (very detailed) while shooting at f11 (good depth of field). Using b&w film allows me to control the amount of information the film captures, by varying the development times (under developing) I can extend the tonal range (Ansel Adams

Leslie Ficcaglia · 03-12-2003, 12:58 PM

Marvin, thanks for the link to the finished portrait. Yes, it's beautiful and I definitely see your point about tonal ranges. But it's beyond me how you can capture true color with only studies in life to aid you. There is so much detail in your work that I would think that the life paintings would have to be almost as realistic and complete as the final portrait to assist you in knowing what color to use where the hand reflects a warmer light onto the jaw and so forth. It's amazing.

Michele Rushworth · 03-12-2003, 01:27 PM

Leslie, you asked for the details of the equipment I use to take my pictures.

I don't pay much attention to my equipment at all. I use a digital Minolta 3.4 Megapixel S304 camera. I don't use studio lights, I don't care about exposure, aperture or any of that. I let the camera set the exposure and the white balance automatically.

I'm sure I could take better pictures with better equipment and lights, and if I concentrated on manually controlling the camera settings, but my point is that you don't need all that stuff to take decent pictures to paint from.

Maybe at some point in the future I will concentrate on the technical aspects of reference photo taking. For now I concentrate on the composition, natural lighting, facial expressions, etc.