How my Digital Camera Helps My Art

[Julie Deane]

I just got my first digital camera last week- it's used and has lower pixels than the newer ones out there. Still, I am very happy. Here's some things I have noticed already:

1. The most obvious is that I can take a photo and tell immediately if it has been correctly exposed or if I need to take it again. And generally tell if the photo shoot has been a success. Saves from having to call the person back to get better shots.

2. The biggest benefit is to take shots of my work in progress and put it in Photoshop next to my original photo. With both of them the same size and next to each other, my eye is really helped to see what I need to correct. The mistakes jump out at me. Somehow, this works when other methods don't.

3. At least with my lower-end camera, the cools and warms are semi-posterized. I had been reading about how cool and warm tones alternate around the form, but with my digital prints, I can see it easier than I could with my prints taken with film.

It would be interesting to hear others' thoughts about how a digital camera has helped them.....

[Ilaria Rosselli Del Turco]

If your camera has the B&W option, shooting your painting in B&W and maybe comparing it with the resource photo is a fantastic way to judge the tones !

Ilaria

[Chris Saper]

Unless I have grossly misinterpreted what I've read (always possible), shooting additional digital frames in B&W is an excellent decision.

I think that each time you shoot at a given resolution, the camera will consume all the available megapixels it has to image the shot. Color consumes a LOT more pixels than B&W. So your B&W image would have much more resolution.

While I have no scientific data, nor control-specific comparisons, I know that I can count (in B&W) the nose hairs on the top edge of a nostril from six feet away. (Under the heading , "Why would you want to?")

[Ilaria Rosselli Del Turco]

Chris, I was trying to be short and was not clear enough!

I take photographs of the painting in B&W to judge the darks and the lights in my paintings, without being bothered by the "rightness" of the colours.
I paint a lot from B&W photos: I found that for me, if combined with a couple of short sittings, they are a much better guide to making my own decisions about the colours I am using.
I find it easier to put in a colour that might be there rather than dliberately changing one that is there in the photo.
After a while I almost start to see my B&W photo in colours.
It is also true that the definition looks greater !
Sorry if my English is not always up to standard: in this forum there are many excellent and very clrear writers, which is what makes it so useful and inspiring
Ila.