Portrait Reference Photos Guide
Consider the following when taking or selecting photos to upload as your portrait or painting references
- Think carefully about whether the photos you're intending to use really do reflect the character & personality of the subject. The photo with the most happy expression might not be the right one.
- Take a number of photos to try out different poses & arrangements of subjects – this gives you a choice of images. We really want to be using just one photo but be able to choose the best one from a number of images for the purposes of painting a portrait.
- Make sure your photos are in-focus and clear – they’re difficult (if not impossible) to work with otherwise as a lack of detail can alter likeness.
- Make sure your photos are as high resolution as your camera will take – mobile phone photos can be poor in quality so inspect them carefully before submitting.
- Take photos against a fairly neutral backdrop (ether a plain wall or non-patterned curtain) – this keeps the focus of attention on the subjects. This isn’t essential (particularly if you want your subject depicted in a full scene) but it makes it easier to isolate the figures for the final painting composition.
- Look for faces to be in semi-profile (slightly turned to one side, eyes facing front), or a combination of semi-profile & straight-on poses.
- Look for diagonals in your arrangements of subjects, and tilting of heads, shoulders & arms – this creates much more interest in a composition. Keep it natural though. If subjects are of different heights, try to create a natural triangle with the tallest or the shortest between the other two.
- For three or more subjects try to have the two outer subjects turned in toward the central one, or two subjects on one side slightly turned in to the one on the other side – this creates intimacy.
- Allow bodies but not heads to be in front of one another – This will help create depth and intimacy.
- If interesting, natural interactions occur between subjects go with it and see what the outcome is – sometimes nature creates a good pose.
- For indoor shots, try a position subjects near to a day-lit window (to one side) as well as having indoor lighting to soften shadows. Look for bright, diffused lighting conditions to avoid overly harsh shadows.
- Avoid using flash or relying only on indoor lighting – flash causes harsh shadows and indoor lighting can tend to be dim.
- Don't choose straight on photos with expressionless faces and stiff bodies – try to look to create diagonals (subtle tilting of shoulders and heads, positioning of tall-short subjects etc) and allow parts of the bodies but not faces to interpose each other.
- If you're wanting to combine subjects or elements from different photos, pay particular attention to the lighting in each photo. If the lighting doesn't match it'll be very difficult (if not impossible) to combine them convincingly. There's very little I can do to alter the lighting without affecting likeness. I generally reject requests to attempt this.
- Similar to lighting, it's very difficult to change a frown into a smile. I can super-impose a smiling head onto another body so long as the lighting and camera angles match, but generally it's better to work with a single photo.
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- Think carefully about whether the photos you're intending to use really do reflect the character & personality of the subject. The photo with the most happy expression might not be the right one.
- Take a number of photos to try out different poses & arrangements of subjects – this gives you a choice of images. We really want to be using just one photo but be able to choose the best one from a number of images for the purposes of painting a portrait.
- Make sure your photos are in-focus and clear – they’re difficult (if not impossible) to work with otherwise as a lack of detail can alter likeness.
- Make sure your photos are as high resolution as your camera will take – mobile phone photos can be poor in quality so inspect them carefully before submitting.
- Take photos against a fairly neutral backdrop (ether a plain wall or non-patterned curtain) – this keeps the focus of attention on the subjects. This isn’t essential (particularly if you want your subject depicted in a full scene) but it makes it easier to isolate the figures for the final painting composition.
- Look for faces to be in semi-profile (slightly turned to one side, eyes facing front), or a combination of semi-profile & straight-on poses.
- Look for diagonals in your arrangements of subjects, and tilting of heads, shoulders & arms – this creates much more interest in a composition. Keep it natural though. If subjects are of different heights, try to create a natural triangle with the tallest or the shortest between the other two.
- For three or more subjects try to have the two outer subjects turned in toward the central one, or two subjects on one side slightly turned in to the one on the other side – this creates intimacy.
- Allow bodies but not heads to be in front of one another – This will help create depth and intimacy.
- If interesting, natural interactions occur between subjects go with it and see what the outcome is – sometimes nature creates a good pose.
- For indoor shots, try a position subjects near to a day-lit window (to one side) as well as having indoor lighting to soften shadows. Look for bright, diffused lighting conditions to avoid overly harsh shadows.
- Avoid using flash or relying only on indoor lighting – flash causes harsh shadows and indoor lighting can tend to be dim.
- Don't choose straight on photos with expressionless faces and stiff bodies – try to look to create diagonals (subtle tilting of shoulders and heads, positioning of tall-short subjects etc) and allow parts of the bodies but not faces to interpose each other.
- If you're wanting to combine subjects or elements from different photos, pay particular attention to the lighting in each photo. If the lighting doesn't match it'll be very difficult (if not impossible) to combine them convincingly. There's very little I can do to alter the lighting without affecting likeness. I generally reject requests to attempt this.
- Similar to lighting, it's very difficult to change a frown into a smile. I can super-impose a smiling head onto another body so long as the lighting and camera angles match, but generally it's better to work with a single photo.
Back to previous page