Painters Have it Easy!

I’ll admit it, sometimes I envy painters.  They are so fortunate when it comes to composition.  With a few strokes of the brush, the artist decides the location of a tree, excludes a distracting elements from the edge of the frame and places everything in exactly the perfect spot.  I mean, all they have to do is study and practice for years, learn how to mix colors, implement proper brush strokes and then spend days, weeks, months or longer on a project.  Okay, on second, my envy has subsided.

As photographers we can learn by studying painters and their craft.  During a recent visit to the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens I took a detour from my usual route, which is typically strait to one of the garden areas.  I’ll admit it, I was a member off and on for years before I actually set foot into one of the buildings.  Yes, I’m easily distracted by colorful, shiny things in nature.  Over the past few years I’ve been retracing my steps to enjoy, and learn from, the classic art inside the walls. 

I had to force myself into the doorway of one of the buildings at the Huntington after arriving for a week-long stay.  California “winter” weather – clear, sunny, 78 degrees.  Oregon weather when I left – lots of liquid sunshine and 48 degrees.  Still, there was much to see in the grand galleries.

Numerous techniques cross over from painting to photography.  Few, if any, of these skills are new.  Most are centuries old, perfected by great painters over generations.  This is one of the first attributes we can learn, patience.  Whether it’s a sable brush or a digital camera in our hands, our skill develops over time.  I strongly believe digital cameras have increased the speed of our learning curve immensely, but learning, improving and perfecting a method (and our eye) takes time.  Sometimes lots of it.

Over the next few posts I’m going to explore some of the ways painters use light, composition, framing, posing and other skills in their bag of tricks…and how we as photographers can borrow these for our images.  My goal is for each post to be a mini-lesson.  The topics may act as reminders of techniques we have used in the past but lost track of over the years.

Each is intended to be a bite-sized portion; something to try next time you venture out with your camera, but not too overwhelming in scope.  I hope you enjoy our walk with the painters!