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Painting from Photos - working with photographers (1 Viewer)

JessiBell

New member
Hi everyone, I'm new. I've taken a long break from doing any bird painting but I want to get back into it again. My friends are encouraging me to put stuff in our local art gallery. Birds are my favorite subject matter but I'm not a super keen photographer. I'm looking to work with some photographers in getting permission to use their photos. I have some questions for those of you who have done this.

Do most photographers require payment? I only ask because this is just a hobby, I have another job and this is just basically something different for me to do and if I sell a few pieces a year it's a bonus. Also I may paint a piece and not sell it for years or even never (I have a few of those hanging up!) And should permission be granted in writing or is online permission appropriate?

Thanks.
I havn't figured out how to post a photo yet but I have a facebook page with some of my work on it : https://www.facebook.com/petportraitsprincerupert/
 
Hi Jessi, there are heaps of good copyright free photos out there. There are a number of groups on facebook that have photos especially for artists, two of the best ones are called "Photos for Artists" and "Artists Reference Photos".

There is also a website called Paint My Photo, that have a lot of photos.

And of course there is Flickr, just search for bird photos with a creative commons licence. Or do what I have done many times and just send an email to the photographer on Flickr and explain you would like to use their photo as a reference, and they almost always say yes.

Another option is websites like Shutterstock :)
 
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