Debra Keirce

Let me add a disclaimer right up front - I paint mostly still life, know just enough about my abused Rebel Canon to be dangerous, and have this habit of modifying portraits I paint with. I even embrace the fact that most of my photos are blurry because I find tripods cumbersome. So I do not pretend to be an expert in any of this. BUT, I have gotten better at obtaining photos I can paint from, and I wanted to share some of what I learned along the way.

Saturday, I went to the Maryland Renaissance Festival in Annapolis. This is hands down THE best Renn Fest I have ever attended. Highly recommend! I went there with a mission - to get enough photos to be able to paint the portraits I will need to paint in the coming year. 

Right at the entrance gate, I found one of my subjects. I photographed this man every time I encountered him Saturday. Some people are just begging to be painted!

Here are the things I've learned getting reference photos for portrait paintings:

Number 1...

Sometimes photos turn out great when the person is posing for you.

and sometimes they don't.

He's trying to look his best for the cameras, but that king has an expression like the ones Fox news posts of all the democratic candidates. and the guard in the blue skirt - He'd never make it into the Beefeater guild.

Number 2...

It was my friend Maria Bennett Hock, a portrait artist herself, who taught me it's best to photograph subjects when they are not looking.

Number 3...

I watched Maria to see how she does this. It's a stealth move. hold your camera close to your chest, pointed just slightly upward. Click, click away. Stop each time you shoot, and maybe look away so it doesn't look like you are photographing anybody. Remember, you don't want the person to engage with you, the camera wielding stranger, lest they start to pose for you. Here are some photos I took in stealth mode:

Number 4...

Of course, when people are walking, you will often need to zoom in and crop to remove the blurry parts of their anatomy for your reference. But I always try to capture as much of the figure as I can. That way, I have cropping options.

Number 5...

The holy grail. I saved it for last - It's when you can get photos of a crowd that are engaged in another activity. They aren't looking at you because they are busy doing something. There are multiple people all with engaging expressions because they are interested in whatever they are doing. Look at all the little crops you can pull from a multi-figure photo reference!

Well, those are the top 5 tips I have to share about taking photos of portrait subjects in the "wild." I hope you have as much fun hunting and shooting photo refs as you do painting them!