Reference Examples
Great Photos Help Make Great Art
While it might seem obvious, we often do not realize that many photos taken on our phones are not the quality we think they are because we are viewing them on tiny "viewports." When you zoom in and can't make heads or tails of things, you likely have a poor quality photo. Try to provide the best quality you can.
Great, Good, Fair, and Difficult
I have provided some examples of each type of quality. Of course, I will do my best to create a piece of art that captures what brings you joy from each subject. Precious memories deserve my utmost care no matter how challenging the reference material.
Great Quality
Work created from a photo using High Pixel setting
High Resolution
High resolution photos are the best to work with. The details are easy to see and when provided digitally, zooming in to a hi-res image makes my job much easier. When precise realism is desired, top quality reference images are the way to go.
Examples of a high quality photo. Notice how zooming in very deeply maintains an excellent level of clarity.
Good Quality
Work created from a photo using images taken from a memorial website.
Examples of photos taken off the internet that can be enlarged for sufficient detail to create a lovely keepsake.
Good Resolution
Most photos taken on smartphones are usually sufficient for a quality piece of fine art when there is adequate lighting or contrast.
Still, most of us just click, click, click and are happy no one's eyes are closed. These types of photos are usually "good enough" and super detail is not really necessary. Most artwork from my gallery are range between Good and Fair.
Fair Quality
Fair Resolution
The Fair images are often photos of photo prints such as from a wedding album or formal portait sitting. Pets also, don't always sit still when we photograph them or we capture them in motion.
Work created from photos that were a little blurry or had stark contrast where details got lost.
Examples of fair photo quality. While these images lack detail in the eyes and hair, other photos can be used to help inform the main photo source. A more artistic rendition can also be successful as with the dog.
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Low Quality
Work created from a photo that lacked sufficient light on the subjects. Some fine detail was still able to be realized.
Low Resolution
Low lighting is a common issue. In these cases, I usually recommend a more impressionistic style that does not lean heavily on details but rather is more artistic and captures features, emotion and mood. This lends itself to a more artistic or painterly style. This type of work is also very beautiful.
Example of low lighting. The camera focused on the background's gorgeous scenery. What I try to do is run the photo through filters to gain more access to details.