Editing: Using Photographs as Starting Point for your Paintings

I love to take the ferry over to Bolivar in search of scenes to paint. Sometimes I paint on location-plein air, but sometimes I just go with my camera. On a recent trip to Bolivar to take photographs for my series of the Bolivar Light House, I found many birds fishing on the bridge and in the estuary behind the light house. These two, the egret & heron caught my eye. I took at least 3o photos of them and their surroundings. The painting “Fishing Buddies” is a compilation of the photographs.

I made several thumbnail sketches to determine the composition that I settled on for the painting. I find that although photographs are good starting points for paintings they often become flat and boring if copied.  I am happier with the finished painting if I have combined elements from several photographs, but this painting is also illustrative of taking editing a step further.

I edited the landscape to make a more pleasing composition.  Here are 3 major edits that I used: The light colored trapezoid behind the egret is the concrete skirt for the bridge and is much bigger in real life. I edited its size and shape to allow for that nice green triangle of a darker value at the top right of the picture. This edit made the shapes and values more interesting to the eye. Another edit that I made for this painting was the narrowing of the platform that the heron is standing on. In real life the height of the platform was taller. When I shortened it, and moved the heron over to the edge, I was able to create interest and unity in the painting that helped tell the story.

The last edit that I want to mention with regard to this painting- in reality the concrete just above the heron’s head had some very interesting cracks in it. You could see the steel rebar and rust stains on the concrete. Originally I painted the cracks into the composition, but as I was in the last stages of the painting, I realized that the depiction of the  cracks were distracting and served no purpose, so they were edited out.

It is really important to learn and develop your skills as an editor. Practice, Practice, Practice.