Painting from your own photos of your own life is a very satisfying experience.

It can really elevate your painting practice to a whole new level so I have 10 easy tips that you can use to improve your own reference photography - with your phone camera - for better paintings.

Before we get to that, I should mention that there are those who swear that painting from real life is the only way to paint. Painting from your own photography is the next best thing, then.

I don’t think that we should limit ourselves though!

Actually getting on with painting is what is important, whether that is from real life, imagination or references. I wrote more about that here.

And there are always ways to make the image your own - it’s an important part of the process that I share in every one of my watercolour tutorials.

Being able to photograph your own subject matter can really enrich your painting experience. If you are ready to add this extra string to your creative bow, read on!

We are so lucky these days in that we all carry really powerful cameras around in our phones, everywhere we go. Its a bit of a habit to be whipping out our phones and snapping quick pics when we are out and about.

But have you ever got home and been a bit disappointed with your photo, or with the painting you tried to make from it?

There are times when as clever as these phones are, they just can't capture the real life essence. 

However there are some very simple things we can do to greatly improve our chances of having a good photo to paint from.

And, let’s also remember that photography is an art in itself so we can embrace it as another facet of our creativity.

Did painting just get even more fun??

(Yes. Yes, it did.)

Here are my Top 10 Tips for Taking Better Reference Photos:

I happen to have an iPhone so the examples I am giving below are from my phone. However, most phones these days have the same sort of functionality. The tips I am giving below use the simplest features so you should be able to use these tips regardless of the brand of phone you happen to have.

1 - Clean Up

Ok this may sound ridiculous, but I have to say that it is one of the best tips I have ever learned when it comes to getting the most out of my phone camera.

Before you take a photo/video, use a soft cloth (eg bottom of your shirt) to clean the lenses by gently rubbing all those circular lenses on the back of your phone.

Remember that our phones have been clutched in our hands, chucked in our bags, dumped on questionable surfaces… I’m hoping its not just me.😬

The chance of your lenses being clean are very slim. A little oil from your hands on the lens or a fingerprint will make a blurry photo.

Easy fix. Top tip. Try it and see.

2 - Battle the Blur

Something else that makes for a blurry photo is instability.

If you can, prop your arm holding the camera against something solid to reduce any shakiness as much as possible. You might even be able to prop the phone up somewhere to take the shot from a stable surface.

Or adopt the 2 hand hold just like every savvy lady detective on TV uses with her weapon.😉

3 - Level Up

It’s really easy to hold your phone at a bit of a tilted angle, either forward or backward. Check to see if your subject looks like it is leaning or has a bit of a distorted proportion. Simply straightening the phone so that it is flat to the subject - perfectly perpendicular to the ground should sort that out.

4 - Style and Simplify

If you have been around my little corner of the web for long you will have heard me talk about simplification. Here’s a post about simplifying a photo for painting, for instance.

If you are the photographer, you can make your painting job much easier if you start the simplification process before you take the photo. Once you have your subject in view, remove anything distracting, like your unopened mail and car keys next to the vase of flowers or wait for the random stranger to move out of your landscape shot.

Perhaps move over a little so that the ugly sign on the side of your landscape image is cropped out before you even take the shot.

A simple image makes for a more striking painting.

5 - Work the Grid

Since we are talking about composing your image, it is worth mentioning that your phone comes with the rule of thirds grid. If you turn that setting on, of course.

Here’s how to do it:

• Go to SETTINGS and then Choose CAMERA.

• Scroll down to GRID and then toggle the little button on.

Now when you hold your phone in front of the subject you will see the third lines (but they wont appear in your actual photo). You can move the phone around to position the elements in your shot better.

For example:

Make sure the horizon is parallel to the horizontal grid lines.

Try to put the most interesting part of your subject (the focal point) on one of those 4 hotspots where the grid lines intersect.

6 - Focus

Another feature that is rather helpful is the autofocus.

The phone camera automatically chooses a focal point for you and comes up with the best setting it can based on its guess. But you can tap on the area that you want to be the focal point. You might notice that the sharpness of the image changes in some parts, if you have chosen a different focal point from the one the phone had chosen.

Try tapping on different parts of the image and see what you like best.

7 - Lighten Up

Did you notice a little sun graphic popped up when you tapped on the image to change the focus? Once you have picked your focus, you can then slide your finger up or down to adjust the exposure.

This will make the image darker or lighter.

Play around and see what you like best.

See, I told you this was fun.

8 - Your Point of View

You can often get a more interesting image by changing your point of view.

I don’t mean tip the phone (see earlier tip about levelling up !)

I’m talking about raising or lowering the phone. If you are taking a landscape, you might get a lovely layered image with lots of depth if you can crouch - or even lie down on the ground. This will put the grasses/flowers in the foreground and then place the fields in the middle and mountains in background giving a lovely spacious feel.

You can actually even try turning your phone upside down to take the photo. 🙃

Since the lens is at the top of your phone if you turn it upside down you will get the lowest point of view possible. Sometimes the phone is smart enough to turn the actual photo round the right way automatically, but of course you can always do that yourself later if it doesn’t.

9 - The Golden Hour

Choose your time of day. The best lighting conditions are early morning and early evening.

Ok, now this is definitely one that requires a bit more dedication, so feel free to ignore it. But if you happen to be out and about at those times, they are your best photo opportunities.

And don’t be shy of a dramatic silhouette image! If you have a glorious sunrise or sunset in front of you may be able to silhouette a figure or object against it by facing directly into the light when you take the photo. These silhouettes are fun to paint using the layering properties of watercolour - I show you exactly how in Better Beginnings with one of my all time favourite painting subjects.

10 - Edit

When you are perusing your photo collection on your phone in preparation for painting, don’t forget that you have quite a lot of editing capabilities right there below the photo.

It can be a lot of fun to play around with your photos as the next step in inspiring you to capture the scene in paint. There are quite a few simple but useful functions that can transform a dull and slightly disappointing photo into something you are looking forward to painting.

You will find the EDIT option right in the PHOTOS app.

Just click on EDIT and then you will be able to choose from a selection of different adjustments.

Select the one you want to play with, (eg, exposure, brightness, saturation) and then slide your finger left and right on the sliding scale until you get something you are excited to paint. Don’t be scared, because you can always just slide it back if you make it worse!

Often we see other things in a scene well after we take the photo, or get different ideas of how we could crop it. You can make copies of your photo and then try out all sorts of ideas.

And you will also find the STRAIGHTEN function within the Crop settings - just in case you didn’t quite manage to line up your horizon with your rule of thirds grid 😉

Press done when you are happy and get out those paints!

Are you on your own painting journey?

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