Grandchild Maria
 

I have had a request to paint my grandchild Maria, but since she lives in Tennessee, I was not able to take reference photos myself, so after some coaching by phone and e-mail , my son took a batch of photos and sent them to me. As I sifted through them, this one jumped out at me! I know it has some challenging areas, like the colors and values in the shadow side of the face and the large solid mass of hair, but I really like the composition and think it's worth giving it a try. Before starting, I would appreciate any comments about the composition, problem areas or anything I should be aware of. Thanks so much.

Anyone?

Bob,

I think that's a pretty good image. Everyone should be so lucky to have received such a shot under these circumstances.

My only comment would be regarding the temperature of the skin. It seems a little hot. This, however, is no step for a skin painter, it's the design we struggle for.

Best of luck,

Anybody Mike

Thanks for responding , Mike, yes, out of about 30 pictures, which were not the best regarding lighting, mainly. this one literally jumped out at me, so I guess I was lucky! Nonetheless, that warm shadow area is going to be a challenge! I think the lighting in your guitar girl photos is much better! The grass is always greener.....

Bob,
be careful with the overexposed areas : in real life eyes wouldn't see the shirt completely white and without detail in the sun. On her face, you have to check if there are overexposed areas too,( the side of the nose, the cheek) your photo is too small that I can tell...

Thank you, Marina for the advice. I'll make sure that I tone down the light areas and give them some color. The lighting on all the photos I received was rather harsh, this was one of the better ones! I do like the composition, though.

Bob,

One question - is the photograph a print or digital?

You may be able to gleam some value/hue information from a digital shot albeit slim (you can probably capture a lot of information in the hair - the blown out areas may be more difficult if not impossible). I would recommend that you ask for the shirt to be sent to you and to arrange for a girl of about the same complexion to pose for you in order to pick out more information in the lit part of the face.

I agree with the design and pose, very nice.

John, It's a digital photo which I have already tweaked in Photoshop to the best of my ability. I like your idea of getting the shirt and placing it on another girl of the same size. I could then fix that rather unnatural fold in the chest area as well as get better light and shade detail, but, alas, I certainly don't know of anyone who fits that description! Since I'm eager to start this project, I guess I'll just wing it. I do have several other pictures that I could possibly get information from also. It doesn't seem as though there are any glaring composition problems, so I'm ready to proceed with it as is, using a landscape format. Thanks for the help, all!

Just a thought
 

Bob, I have fiddled just a touch with the one you have posted but could not do much bring that it is small and it seems you have worked on the background. If you like, send me the original image, I could try to adjust it to where it would look natural and maybe give some crop suggestions.

All the best

Mischa, thank you so much for taking the time to improve my photo! I have also been reworking it and this is what I have done. Do you have any suggestions, or, is it best that I send you the original reference photo? I don't wish to take up too much of your time!