I have painted from camera photos for quite some time now and I have used several ways to do it. I used to use my trusty old digital camera to take the photos, then upload the photos to my laptop, print them out and tape the photos to my easel to use as the reference. It worked and I painted a few that way but it was a lot of work and ink got expensive. I spent more on printer ink than on canvases!
My next attempt was to use my tablet to take the photo and then just paint right from the tablet. It takes good photos and can hold quite a few in it’s memory. I could set it on top of my easel to view. That worked pretty well, but the downside was that it is large enough that I wouldn’t normally carry my tablet around and photo opportunities can present themselves any time.
Next I used my laptop to paint from. I did several that way but I could not get the laptop right next to my easel very well. I tried to position my easel next to my laptop table and also tried to put my laptop on the bed by my easel. I don’t have much room in my little corner studio
(aka bedroom) so it was not the ideal setup. Occasional for large paintings, I will still use that setup.
I finally have a setup that works great for me. I use my smartphone. It’s not an iPhone or Galaxy but it is a newer Android smartphone that I always have it with me, it takes really good photos and it is large enough that I can paint right from it. I used to just set the smartphone right on the easel, but now I have a smartphone holder that attaches to my tripod just like a camera would so I can position it anywhere next to my easel.
There is no extra cost for ink or paper, I always have it with me and ready for any photo that happens that I think would be a good painting. I can take dozens of shots and go through them later, deleting ones that don’t cut it and save the rest for future paintings.
I have done at least 50 to 60 paintings with this setup now and I have found it to be the best setup for me. I can edit photos right in camera like cropping and I do have to adjust the saturation level on the photos that the camera takes as it tends to make the colors a little more vibrant than real life colors, but it’s not hard to do. Other than that it is a great setup for painting from photos.