Other Photograph to Painting

A friend of mine, Michael Trapp (@funafpainting) painted this 30" x 40" acrylic on canvas of one of my photos. Posted with permission.

It looks really good. Thanks for posting.

I've seen presentations and spoken to a lot of wildlife photographers about monetizing their/our work and one thing I've heard time and again was that almost no one buys a photo of a bird/animal to hang over their sofa, but they'll buy the same image if it's presented as "art" and not as a photo. This is likely one of those examples, and well done by your friend.

I was recently sent into "early retirement" by my former employer, so I've been assessing how I can better market some of my images, and as I've perused many a furniture gallery I've seen so many wall hangings here in Florida that closely resemble photos I've taken. So I've just started a dive into my catalog to look for shots like yours that I can turn into "living room art". One of the first was a shot taken a couple weeks ago, also of a Great Blue, and I showed the before and after to my wife to ask which she'd rather see on the wall.





OK, so I forgot she loves photographs. LOL But when I asked the same of social media friends it was fairly unanimous that I could sell more of the "painting" than the photo.

For the curious, this is a 5 minute edit using an old piece of Topaz software called Impression.

Jake Shoots Birds said:

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...it was fairly unanimous that I could sell more of the "painting" than the photo.

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I can definitely see you photo "as a painting" on display as Art rather than a Photograph. Perhaps I'm in the wrong field.
My wife keeps asking me to print my photos on Canvas. I just cringe at the thought.

Dean Wilson said:

My wife keeps asking me to print my photos on Canvas. I just cringe at the thought.

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Just curious: why not? I had one image done on canvas, just for excrement and hilarity, and I kind of like it. I printed a stacked macro of mushrooms on canvas and the softer tones complimented the “dreamy” look of the image. (It also masked some weird artifacts I got during the stack, but we’ll just keep that between us, ok?)

I prefer photos using archival inkjet, on premium art paper with Art/Museum glass (or MP Acrylic) mounted on 3/16" gator board. Yeah, they cost about $50 for printing and mounting and another $165 for matting and framing. (12" x 18").

I really need to sell some to support my hobby!

Dean Wilson said:

I can definitely see you photo "as a painting" on display as Art rather than a Photograph. Perhaps I'm in the wrong field.
My wife keeps asking me to print my photos on Canvas. I just cringe at the thought.

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As I mentioned, more than a few people making a living at this have told me that the only place you can make money on pure wildlife photography is magazines and contests. I'm trying hard to think of any who are making a living just selling images as most have monetized their online personas and make their real money selling classes and leading field trips. There's nothing wrong with that, but I'm willing to admit that I am very unlikely to succeed where countless others have failed. The question for me is, "How much do I want/need to monetize my work?" I spent 37 years in corporate doing work that paid the bills but killed my soul. For me the joy of photography is in capturing the image far more than making the picture. The image will forever be mine, and I've always been humbled that anyone else finds pleasure in them. To make a picture that satisfies more people would be the least compromising thing I've ever done for profit.

BTW, I don't have an issue with canvas in the least, and for a wall in my home it's actually my preference, at least in common rooms. Why? It serves to bolster the character of the room, not try and turn the room into a gallery wall. If I want prints in my living room or family room they'll be in book form on the coffee table. Framed prints can be found in bedrooms, and particularly in bathrooms where apparently much of my work thrives, not just in my home but in that of friends. Last year the husband of a longtime friend told me he absolutely loves staring into an image I made while he is taking care of business (it's a partially freezing pond in black and white that his wife bought at a charity auction). I laughed and told him that I wasn't offended as some of my favorite work occupies the powder room in my home. I then asked if he knew that the image was an infrared photograph? He gasped and said he had no idea and now needed to completely reevaluate it over the coming months (he's Scottish and sounds just like Billy Connolly, so the accent made it that much more fun to hear). It's moments like this that make me forsake any cringe I might have about presenting my work. What makes good "art" is for the eye of the beholder to decide. Like I said, good "photographs" are generally meant for contest judges and editors.

Dean Wilson said:

I prefer photos using archival inkjet, on premium art paper with Art/Museum glass (or MP Acrylic) mounted on 3/16" gator board. Yeah, they cost about $50 for printing and mounting and another $165 for matting and framing. (12" x 18").

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You probably think I’m a filthy Communist, but I tend to like less conventional mounting techniques.

Of the three of my own pictures I have currently mounted and hanging in my living room, only one is mounted, framed and matted in a “proper” frame. (But there’s a story there….) Of the other two, one is stretched canvas and the other is one my wife had printed on acrylic for me.

I have (but haven’t gotten around to hanging) some small frames that capture just the lower two corners of 8x10 matted photos - they’re a homebrewed and 3D printed brain fart of my own design.

Another thing I’ve been thinking about is a way to cut a nice, clean bevel on foam core, so I can print a pano, put it on black foam core and cut a 45 all the way around, giving me a thin, black border.

Even on the occasions I’ve framed stuff, I’ve used reclaimed barn wood and made my own frames.

Jake Shoots Birds said:

As I mentioned, more than a few people making a living at this have told me that the only place you can make money on pure wildlife photography is magazines and contests.

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My wife told me I ought to donate some of my prints to the local nature preserve to sell. I told her it would be far more cost effective just to straight up donate the money.

Jake Shoots Birds said:

Framed prints can be found in bedrooms, and particularly in bathrooms where apparently much of my work thrives, not just in my home but in that of friends.

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Maybe there’s something to that. I inflict calendars on a few friends and family each year and my sister has retained a few of my pictures. One of my all-time favorites is hanging…in her bathroom.

I have also been contemplating taking a bunch of my drone shots and hanging them in the bathroom at work and changing the door sign to read “Drone Room”.