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OK To Use Photographs?
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">I enjoy reading the variety of articles in our art magazines but there is one thing that bothers me and that is the obligatory excuses for having used photographs as the source material. “I took a photo for reference purposes”, “I take photos when I don’t have art materials with me”, “refer to a photo for details only” and so on.<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">OK, it’s fun sketching plein air but photographs can assist in producing the finished painting. For me, it may be the only source material used to achieve a finished painting. I have seen the advice that painting from a photo instead of making and working from a sketch will cause the perspective to be wrong. Even an artist with little experience will be aware of this and will probably put it right in the drawing. We are no longer painting from small size snaps. Large colour prints are easily obtained and digital cameras along with a computer, large screen and printer are here to stay. <p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">Surely it is time that the use of photographs by artists was widely accepted as normal and requires no explanation or excuse?