One reason for using a camera is the concept of an “aide mémoire”, but I always carry a sketchpad as well as a camera. I actually prefer “en plein air” painting and sketching to copying photos, but having said that it is always nice to have photographic reference material when completing any at work. So how do the camerphones images compare with my sketchbook. Is that even a fair comparison?
Using the viewfinder helps frame the image and set some boundaries of what I might put on the page. It helps convert the complex 2D world I see into the perspective of a 2D plane. Compared with my tonal pencil sketch above it does provide colour reference, yet there is a range of colour intensity between the photos. So as a painter, I feel that a camera phone will be a perfectly acceptable way to collect photo reference. One advantage of the DSLR is I can zoom in and get a bit more detail on a specific part of my subject. However I still believe a sketchbook is a much better way for an artist to really get a sense of the place.
apps for my android phone. I like the idea of being able to try out a free version, before having to buy the “Pro” version. One such app is called Camera Fun and it simply provides a set of in camera filters. I like this one called simply Sketch. There are lots of such filters in Photoshop and other photo packages and I have tended to avoid using them. Ok they are very gimmicky, but Camera Fun is immediate and fun
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