Using Photo Reference

What are the pros and cons of using photographs for reference?

Can we benefit from using photos as reference for our artwork? What are the pitfalls? It’s an old topic that’s still being debated by artists, critics, and fans.

One of Norman Rockwell’s earliest photographers, Wyrley Birch, said that “almost all his art work from the beginning has been done from photographs.”

Some realist painters scrupulously avoid phot…