Aesthetics of Painting and Photography

These are just some thoughts that are my own opinion and perspective as a painter about painting and photography, why they are different, and why no one seems to know they are different.

They are both art forms, but they are different media and not necessarily interchangeable.

If you don't believe me, ask yourself "Why is it so hard to photograph a painting?"
Because we all know it is.
Because a camera can't get everything.

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A good photograph does not necessarily translate into a good painting.
This is something that people learning to paint from photographs often discover the hard way.

The other day on Facebook someone posted a photo as reference for a portrait commission, asking for advice.  It was a very nice professional photograph, and it would make a terrible painting.

This situation is so common.

WHY?
* Lighting.  Lighting in a painting is so important, most especially in a portrait.  You want good lights and good shadows.  A well-done professional portrait photograph is fully lit from all angles.  This is great for photography and awful for painting.

*Composition: As a painter we really have to think about what makes up a good composition. It needs a focal point, it needs shadow and light, it needs to convey something unique. A snapshot where you can see someone's face is just that- a snapshot.  A painting wants to be more than that.

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Paint can do things photography cannot do.
When working from photographs, information is lost. A camera has one eye and so we have to know about and correct lens distortion.  Additionally, a painter must choose what to focus on and a lot of that is done in edges.  Paint can capture subtle details that one generally does not see in photography.

Look at these paintings, none are mine.

Katherine Stone

She is so good it is sick.

This is representational painting at its finest.

This is painting aesthetic, this is what paint does.

Anna Rose Bain

She is also so good it is sick.

I don't think a camera could ever replicate her work.

Jeremy Lipking

IMHO Jeremy Lipking is one of the top 5 greatest living painters.

I have had the pleasure of seeing Jeremy Lipking's work in person, and I assure you, it is drop-dead amazing in a way that no photograph of his paintings can ever convey.

And his work is photographed by the best of the best.  It comes close but the real thing just blows you away.

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Your painting looks like a photograph!

Painters don't really say this to each other. People who don't really understand painting say it, and it is a nice compliment, well-intended and appreciated, but if another painter said this to me I would think something was wrong with my painting.

WHY?

Because the intention of most representational painting is not to look like a photograph.

The intention is to look like real life.

That's why we work from life. That's why we observe so closely.

That's why we study.

A photograph is the interpretation of real life through a camera lens.

A painting is the interpretation and representation of the real world through the human eye.

It is more direct.

The skill set needed to create the painting is much different.than a photographer's skill set.

Have you ever said to a musician playing live music, "Wow, you sound just like a recording!" ?

Probably not, and this is the best way I know of to sum up why "It looks like a photograph!" is....., well, I love when people like my work, and I truly appreciate when people make the effort to compliment, but if you really want to appreciate a painter's work, maybe leave photography out of it.

A photograph is NOT the highest attainable standard to represent the real world.

The real world itself is.

A good representational painting does strive to be lifelike- as compared to the real world, not a photograph.  Even if we do use a photo reference....believe me, all that working from life practice and training gets used.  I can tell, for the most part, when someone has faithfully rendered a photograph and they have never worked from life. It .... looks like a photograph....and in this context that's not really a good thing because they have copied all the errors the photograph may have had, and the lighting is flat.

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So this is a bit long and congrats if you made it to the end.

Truly, nothing makes me happier than making someone else happy with my work.  And it is always good to be gracious and accept a well-intended compliment for what it is.  But now you have some insight into the mind of a painter who would never say that to another painter, and why.