My teacher told me to!
 

Wow! Far be it from me to not listen to my teacher, Mr. Whitaker. :) It is not often I get kudos - especially in this category - I hope Karin takes a peek.

I did feel great about this one, plus with Carl's input it came out really well! I have been using Marvin's suggestion of black and whites and I do think the results are much better.

This lady (writer, PR person) is just as wonderful as her picture!

Beth,

What an absolutely wonderful photo! It will be so fun to see your painting. I assume that you'll downplay her book and hand a little, to make sure to draw attention to her very wise face.

Just for clarification, when Bill Whitaker used the word "scrap" he means what most of us on this forum refer to as "reference", as in a reference photo.

What a terrific shot, Beth! Reminds me of a Yousef Karsh photograph.

I like the hand and book just the way they are. The only thing I would change would be to shorten the arm of the eyeglasses so they don't quite touch the shadow on her chin.

I look forward to seeing the resulting painting! Did you make color notes from life?

Nice photo Beth. I think I might drop the safety belt for the glasses.

Good job, Beth! I just love these props. How about telling us some specifics, such as, what kind of lighting setup was this?

Ditto all of the above, very nice work!

When you say black and white, are you shooting film now or is this a setting on your digital?

:thumbsup: Great work Beth. I too would love to hear more about your set up with the model, the lighting etc. I also completely agree with Michele about the eyeglass arm touching the chin, a term I have heard as "kissing" in still life set up.

I am also interested in camera types. That's another conversation.

Keep up the good work
Patt

Beth,

This should make for an interesting piece. I agree with the glasses issue and especially elimination of the cord. I am looking forward to seeing the work develop.

Thank you all for your input. I have lessened the length of the glasses arm so as not to invade the shadow area, but I have not taken off the cord, mainly because it is such a part of her personality. One pair on the chain, one in her pocket. I'll play with that in photoshop before I decide.

This was shot digitally with the camera set to black and white mode. I bracket when I shoot, so I can't tell you any specifics on the speed, white balance or exposure. It was shot with only natural north light. I covered all but one foot of the top part of the window and the studio was dark, but not like night time. The back drape is, of course, "Leffel" green.

I also shot color for reference and used a book that had the same color on the back as her jacket, which has helped with comparison. She also comes over for live updates.

The reason I ended up sending this to Bill was because it actually is breaking a rule and I wasn't sure how to handle it. If you notice the highlights by her mouth and eyelid on our right in the shadow side are actually two of the strongest brights. I did this to de-emphasize her neck area by turning her face with the slight tilt. Bill's response was to not make it hard on yourself, but I think he understood why I did this. He also said this is why you paint from life, the rule is you paint what you see.

Origin?
 

Beth it is very good. I'm clear on the origin. Did you shoot it? It would be neat to hear about f-stops and the like.

Yes Tim I did shoot this. But as I said, I was bracketing everything my camera offers, so I have no idea what this one ended up being.

My Sony is a 3.2 Mega Pixels. (After I finish yours and Marvin's workshops and become a much in demand, highly paid portrait artist- the first things I would like to buy is the camera Morgan talks about and one of the easels Michael had made.) :) My options on this camera are an "EV" which manually adjust light by + and -, white balance which I would have set to sunlight, shade or auto, ISO would have been set to 200, 100 and 400. Sharpness +1, and the highest resolution available which in this instance is 2048 x 1536.

Sorry I can't give you more.

Bracketing
 

Beth, we all bracket or should (including the pros that shoot for National Geo.), so don't apologize. It is first rate...very good hands and the values are spot on....lights in the darks and darks in the lights.