Megan by the window

[Joan Breckwoldt]

John, Thank you for your reply:

Originally Posted by John Crowther

All of this can be done in a matter of minutes, seconds even. -- John C.

Seconds, maybe for you! I am not that handy will all the technical stuff, I usually have to get one of my kids to help me.

I didn't even think about Photoshop. I don't have Photoshop but I do have another program that will manipulate photos. (Actually I'm not that bad with the technical stuff.) I will try and see what I can do with that. I have thought about buying Photoshop since I've seen a lot of the applications applied to various photos on this forum. It may be time for me to look seriously at Photoshop.

Thank you for your great idea

Joan

[Linda Brandon]

Joan, this looks awfully good but I'll bet you could make it better. Turn her face to the window so that she's in profile, facing to our right. Have her face turn slowly toward you and stop when the inside corners of both eyes (the inner canthus) are hit by the light. See if you can get the classic 3/4 light to 1/4 shadow in the classic 3/4 face pose. Having both eyes lit up will help you a great deal in painting.

However, you may not be able to do this and keep a good shadow pattern with your full side lighting from the window. Maybe you can experiment with making the light come from a higher source: block off the bottom half of the window with a dark blanket, perhaps?

Small problems in this photo that will haunt you later include the mysterious lack of a nostril on our left side.

She is a beautiful girl and this will be a wonderful painting.