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Captivating Smiles
Beth,
She is a delightful young woman. It is funny though how people's perceptions of portraits are shaped by glamor photography (and in this case Senior graduation photographs). Initially she wanted a pose where she was smiling far more broadly than in this picture. I don't know about you, but I find smiles are the death knell of oil portraits. You never see them in classic portraits, and teeth have this uncanny ability to become the focus of a portrait. I have always felt that the eyes should be the soul of the picture. Anyway, I managed to persuade her (and her mother) that a more subtle smile provided a far more sophisticated image. Often, the broad smile becomes a facade that hides the sitter.
I did change the color intensity as I went along. I started with the blue sweater and had to intensify the yellow wall to balance the blue. That left the armchair, which had to be bold. One thing I did have to change, and which really is not picked up in the posted photo, is the reflected light in the face. I had to use some intense cadmium orange. If I had not done this I think that the facial features would have been completely washed out by the surroundings.
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