From Photo to Artwork

<p><strong>How to Take Reference Photos With a Painting in Mind</strong></p><p>In this episode, Kerri Dixon explains how wildlife artists can move beyond “good photos” and start collecting reference images that actually support a stronger painting. She shares a practical way to see, capture, and design compositions, using her own zoo photography and studio editing process as examples.The focus is on reference photos, composition, and lighting, with a clear message: the camera records the scene, but the artist makes the painting.</p><p><br></p><p><em>Key topics</em></p><ul><li>In this episode, Kerri Dixon introduces the idea of taking reference photos with the final artwork in mind, not just snapping a nice wildlife picture.</li><li>She explains why it helps to look beyond the animal and scan the full frame for distractions, background shapes, light, poles, fences, and other elements that affect composition.</li><li>Kerri shares a meerkat example from Australia Zoo, where moving slightly to the side removed a boab tree that looked like it was growing out of the animal’s head.</li><li>She emphasizes collecting options rather than hunting for one perfect image, including wide shots, close-ups, verticals, horizontals, and different angles.</li><li>Kerri talks about photographing details like fur, ears, feet, tail, shadows, grasses, and environmental textures so later studio work has more information to draw from.</li><li>She explores how lighting can make or break a reference photo, especially directional light, edge highlights, eye highlights, and strong shadows that reveal form.</li><li>She also notes that soft overcast light can be valuable too, depending on whether the goal is mood, form, color, or clarity.</li><li>In the studio, Kerri describes using a rule of thirds template in Canva, Photoshop, or Procreate to test different crops and placements before drawing.</li><li>She reframes the rule of thirds as a guide rather than a rule, encouraging artists to experiment with centered compositions, negative space, and subject placement.</li><li>Kerri closes with a simple three-step mindset: see it, capture it, design it, then use multiple photos to build a stronger artwork and a stronger artistic voice.</li></ul><p><br></p>