Camera Selection
As a fine art photographer with many friends who work in oils, watercolor and other one dimensional mediums, I get asked a lot about camera selection. My artists friends want to be able to create good photographic images (usually prints) from which they can paint in the comfort of their studio. They often ask me about my camera. How much did it cost? What kind of lens do you have? Will it shoot automatic? Your camera makes such great prints! I’m sorry, but saying my camera makes such great prints is like saying your brush makes such great paintings.
Years ago I would help my friends with the task of choosing an affordable camera that they could, hopefully, learn to master. After they spent $400 for a Canon Rebel camera the end result would often be dull 4”x6” prints from CVS, not an ideal situation from which to create your next masterpiece.
Today, almost all of you already own the perfect camera, unless you are still using that flip-phone you have had for twenty years. Yep, the camera in your cell phone is a great tool for capturing images you want to paint. There is no additional cost, you don’t have to make prints and you have it with you wherever you go. Images are clear and sharp, colors are accurate and you can shoot in almost any light levels. Nothing to process, you can shoot as many images as you like.
When shooting an image for painting, take shots from different angles, close-up and from farther away. Make sure you capture the full depth of the image so you can still see the image later in your mind in 3-D, helps you avoid creating a painting that looks like a photograph.
Download all those images onto your pad, laptop or PC, whatever you can use in your studio to best see your images while painting in your studio. You can edit, enlarge and enhance those images to fit your needs, zoom in to see more detail and brighten those dark corners. If you don’t already have a laptop or digital pad, invest that $400 you wanted to spend for a camera in a pad large enough to paint from. There are many, many advantages to working from digital photos. Not only its availability, the fact that it is already 2D and so easier to turn into a 2D art work, the ease to see and measure proportions, the ease to crop and play with composition, the endless options you have when putting a photo into a computer program and change its appearance, starting the creative process way before you put pencil to paper, the ease to see.
I know this is so basic to many of you but I still get those questions about the camera to buy.
I am thankful to be a small part of such a wonderfully creative community, so full of many talented artists. Thanks for your inspiration.
