Cropping photographs for painting

Cropped photograph, © Karen Lynn Ingalls 2010

When painting from a photograph, you will need to crop your photograph before you begin to paint. This is something like doing thumbnail sketches before you paint. You are working out compositional possibilities. Every photograph contains within it any number of possible compositions – it is up to you to find the ones that appeal to you most.

I hear your question already – why can't you just paint from the photo as it is? Why go through a whole process of cropping what you've got?

First, the proportions of a photograph are different from those of most standard canvas and paper sizes. Consider: what size and shape do you want your painting surface to be? The proportions of an 18"x24" canvas are different from those of a 20"x24" canvas, in significant ways. What are the proportions of your painting surface? Do you want to work on a square shape? Maybe you want to work with a vertical format, and your photo is in a horizontal format. Cropping will allow you to discover new compositional possibilities hidden within the photograph in front of you.

Second, an uncropped photograph will give you too much information. It's too much to ask of your brain to continually refer to the photo and ignore portions of its visual information; it's much simpler to just make sure those portions aren't there to distract you.

Finally, using a photograph as is ties you to what the camera predetermines. An artist needs to allow room for creativity and imagination, for experimentation and play. You don't want to be a slave to the photograph – do you?

Now you can play with the possibilities.

If you are cropping your photograph digitally, your experimentation will all be on the computer. You can try various croppings, save them, and come back to and compare them all later. Then you can print the ones you like best to use as photographic references. I print mine on full-size photographic paper, and put them in page protectors, so I don't get paint on them.

If you have photographs already printed, first protect them. 4"x6" photographs fit nicely inside little plastic sandwich bags, which are clear and don't obstruct your vision.

Cropped photograph, © Karen Lynn Ingalls 2010

Then take pieces of paper – I cut wide, straight strips out of copy paper or whatever else I have to hand – and use them to frame different compositional possibilities. How many different, interesting compositions can you find? This is the part that is like creating thumbnail sketches. It may be possible to get several interesting paintings out of one photograph.

In these two examples, the composition I chose was a very small part of the larger photograph. Sometimes you may want to leave much more of the original photo.

Once I figure out which composition appeals to me most, I tape the strips of paper down around it, so that I will not be distracted by the rest of the photograph.

Then I get my painting surface ready. I can either choose my composition first, and then use a surface that matches its proportions, or I can determine what painting surface I want to use first, and find compositions that match its proportions. Photo ready? Painting surface ready? Paints? Brushes? Water and medium? Hallelujah – now you can paint!

Painting from photographs – the basics

Photograph digitally manipulated for painting, © 2010 Karen Lynn Ingalls

Photographs are a wonderful resource for painters. They allow you to capture a moment in time, which you can work from without concern for changing light and weather conditions. You can paint from photos of people without needing them to sit without moving for extended periods of time. And you can work from photos you have taken years earlier, from your own archives – a precious resource for painters.

Digital photography gives a painter enormous advantages, too. You don't have to worry about running out of film after twelve or twenty-four or thirty-six exposures; depending on the size of your camera card, you can take hundreds of photos. You can also crop and manipulate your photos on the computer. I use a relatively ancient version of Photoshop that has served me well, but newer versions of Photoshop are far more complicated than most painters need. You can download Picasa 3, from Google, for free, and it will allow you to do pretty much everything you'll need. (Thanks to Sequoia Buck for that information!)

It should go without saying – but I'm going to say it anyway – that you should ONLY work from your own photos, the photographs of someone who has given you permission to use their photographs, old family photographs, or vintage photographs old enough that copyrights have expired.

That said, a painter needs to know the limitations of the photograph. Those limitations also create opportunities....

• The camera's lens can alter depth perception; you may want to use those alterations in your painting. You may not; notice them, so you can choose.

• The photograph gives you a composition, in a format that is wider than the proportions of most standard canvas sizes. What size is your painting surface? What are its proportions? You will want to crop the composition of your photograph to similar proportions.

• Your eye sees more variations in color than you will see on a printed photograph. The colors of the printed photo will vary, depending on what kind of process was used to print it, and what kind of paper it was printed on. If you are printing them yourself, know that standard copy paper absorbs and dulls inkjet printer inks; you will get better results printing on photo paper or brochure paper.

The best uses for photographs in painting are when the photograph is simply a resource – a springboard for you to take off from. It can give you useful information about composition and light, but don't let what it shows you constrain you. It is a helpful place to begin; then the question is, where will you go from there?