The Artist's Eye and the Photographer's Eye
@owlwings (43915)
Cambridge, England
July 14, 2016 10:34am CST
My father was both an artist and a photographer (neither of them as a profession). The other day, my brother and I decided to visit the scene of one of his paintings, Shepreth Mill, near Cambridge, and to take a photograph from as close as we could find to the viewpoint he had chosen.
As you can see, we came quite close to standing where he must have set up his easel - the number and the angle of the fence posts are the same and the relative positions of the end of the bridge and the door of the mill, for example, match fairly well - but we were quite astonished, when we compared the photograph with the painting. Although the painting gives the impression of being a verisimilitude, the artist has very cleverly adjusted the relative sizes of the objects yet, at the same time, everything looks 'right' and nothing in the picture is out of proportion.
This is, I suppose, what could be called 'artist's licence'. Both an artist and a photographer are (or should be) concerned with making a good composition but where the photographer is limited to what his lens can see and has to place it in the best position, an artist may change the relative position and sizes of objects to achieve a good result, while still producing a recognisably accurate view.
As photographers, we might have taken a few steps back, which would have increased the size of the buildings relative to the bridge but that would have taken us into the middle of the road, which, even 60 years ago, would have seen some traffic! The more I compare the two views, the more I appreciate the skill of the artist in making these adjustments.
23 people like this
23 responses
@much2say (53944)
• Los Angeles, California
14 Jul 16
I totally appreciate an artist's "interpretation" rather than a straight copy of what exists. I love being able to see the comparison here . . . your father was a lovely artist! 
Hubby and I are both artists (as well as our kids!). My daughter has learned a lot from "copying" visuals, but we are trying to show her how to "let go" and use her artistic license to "fix" things as she sees fit for her creations. With a pencil (or whatever medium), the artist has the tools and means to create their vision . . . to copy from real life exactly, one might as well just simply take a photo of it. There are great renderers/technicians that can copy from life to a T and then there are those who are inspired by real life and can go beyond to create their own interpretation of what they see.3 people like this
@Mike197602 (15487)
• United Kingdom
14 Jul 16
Your dad was obviously a good artist.
That's something I'd buy as I don't like the modern stuff or the weirdness.
I like landscapes and building I can recognise.
2 people like this
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
14 Jul 16
He was a perfectionist and he would sometimes take a watercolour out of its frame years afterwards and add little touches to it because something didn't satisfy him about it. It's barely visible in the photo above but there is a tennis ball lying forgotten near the shadows at the bottom left. I'm pretty certain that that was added much later because I seem to recall him doing it.
1 person likes this
@jayaramas (1353)
• Bangalore, India
14 Jul 16
As a photographer myself, I am telling you that it is called 'wide angle distortion effect'. you have to stand far away and take it using zoom lens to avoid it.But now,there are many apps to correct this. Obviously, it will not be there in painting.
2 people like this
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
14 Jul 16
It was certainly taken with a wide-angle lens (actually an iPhone at its default setting). I shall have to go back with a better camera and play around with the positioning (and the focal length) to see whether I can come up with a closer representation. I'm pretty sure I'd have to go some 10 or 20 yards back to get the relative proportions more the same. The eye level in the painting is almost exactly at the level of the top of the posts, too, so I'm pretty sure he was sitting down when he made the drawing.
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
14 Jul 16
I agree that the painting is a much better composition than the photo but we weren't trying for an artistic photo, merely for something approximating the view and to see what might have changed in something like 65 years. As it turns out, remarkably little has changed! The mill is now white instead of the tarred black it used to be and the low barn beyond it is now a house but the bridge and, surprisingly, the railings are very much as they were.
1 person likes this
@crazyhorseladycx (39515)
• United States
14 Jul 16
i love that y'all took the time to go'n see such fer yerselves. indeed, the eye 'f the artist does wonders fer most works'f art. i'm much fonder'f the portrait yer dad painted than the actual picture :) jest looks more serene'n beckons to be visited.
2 people like this
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
15 Jul 16
It has always intrigued me to try to find the exact spot from which an old photograph or picture was taken. It's not at all as easy as one might think and sometimes it comes as a surprise to find that the photographer must have been standing on a building or hanging off a statue in order to capture the particular angle he's taken.
1 person likes this
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
15 Jul 16
@JudyEv The special prerogative of the artist is that he/she can move things around and put in things that aren't there and still keep it looking as if it is an accurate representation, even though you could never take a photograph which shows the same view.
1 person likes this
@sueznewz2 (10409)
• Alicante, Spain
14 Jul 16
I like the comparison.... I prefer the painting. ..but the positioning of yourselves for the photo is so close....
the railings look like the originals...do you think they are..?
1 person likes this
@Poppylicious (11133)
•
15 Jul 16
A beautiful painting. Your father was talented. I'm pretty sure that Husband has ancestral links to the family who owned the mill originally, but maybe it was Shelford. Does Shelford have a mill?!
1 person likes this
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
15 Jul 16
There is, indeed, a mill in Shelford called King's Mill. The imposing King's Mill House was the childhood home of Phillipa Pearce and was the inspiration for Tom's Midnight Garden.
Kings Mill House in Great Shelford, Cambridgeshire, which was the childhood home of author Philippa Pearce, has gone on sale for a staggering £3.45million.
@HebrewGreekStudies (1646)
• Canada
20 Jul 16
See, that is something I don't think I would have noticed unless it had been pointed out-I'd noticed this years back, that visually, I am not very aware or observant. A few years ago I discovered, randomly, that I actually have difficulty distinguishing between certain colours. I sometimes wonder about that, not even in regards to art, but in regards to many things in life...we can only sense what we can sense, so to speak... the reality is, that this is very limited.
1 person likes this
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
20 Jul 16
We all have our strengths and nobody is less a person because of their inherent weaknesses. My son also has difficulty distingushing between reds and greens. Apparently, they are all somewhat brownish to him though there seem to be warmer browns (which I see as shades of red) and cooler browns (which appear to me green). I was taught the rudiments of balance and tension in a composition at a very early age by my father (of course, since he was an artist!) and, while I can appreciate it in other people's pictures, I don't think that I'm a 'natural' when it comes to my own attempts at drawing.
1 person likes this
@acelawrites (19273)
• Philippines
23 Jul 16
I agree with you, I also like the one taken from the artist's view; it is soft, rustic, really artistic!
1 person likes this
@TopRear (52)
•
14 Jul 16
I love that painting, it really is a professional piece of art, even though your father wasn't a professional artist. Artists do have more control over the field they see. Of course, nowadays there are loads of tools that help photographers achieve the ultimate control over the image, but it's not, you know... there anymore, it gets lifeless whereas paintings will always have the 'feel' of the person who made them.
1 person likes this
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
14 Jul 16
I have always felt that paintings have a continuity of time which photos rarely do. This may be because the artist has lived with the painting for several hours or days, whereas a photographer only ever freezes a moment in time - less than the blink of an eye, actually. A painter will be viewing his subject for a longish time. He will see the leaves move and birds come and go and he will see the shadows move round and the light change as the day goes on. All of this, somehow, becomes a part of the painting and so it is not the representation of a moment in time but of an appreciable part of the day.
@GardenGerty (157675)
• United States
14 Jul 16
The artist's soul composes a picture lovingly and with care.
1 person likes this
@Jessicalynnt (50525)
• Centralia, Missouri
15 Jul 16
it is neat seeing the Then and the Now.
1 person likes this
@responsiveme (22926)
• India
14 Jul 16
I'll take the artist's view.
That is a very fine painting.
1 person likes this
@ModernDayWriter (3318)
• New Delhi, India
14 Jul 16
Your father was very good artist. Professional
1 person likes this
