5 year old girl
 

Again, having trouble scanning this at a low enough res--I had to crop it some.....


This client's mother wants a classic looking painting. The little girl was very stiff and difficult to engage. I could not get her to relax her fingers (or shoulders, or chin...)

This is the one that I thought worked best. It was taken on my front porch on an overcast day.

Thanks for your input.
Lisa

oh dear, that didn't work out at all. Let me try to figure this out.
Lisa

Lisa,

What software are you using to scan?

It's part of the package that came with my Lexmark scanner/printer. I also have the Kodak Easyshare, but no luck there either---I am not very computer savvy.
Lisa

I can tell the original photo is a nice one for a resource, with a good composition.

The problem is your software is overly compressing the JPEG. You need some control over the quality of the compression. On a quality scale of 100, it looks to be about a 20%. 70% and up, quality wise, yields an acceptable image.

With Photoshop this qualty is easy to adjust on a slider that runs from 1 to 12. 7 and higher is acceptable. 10 - 12 may make the file too big to post here though.

Sorry about your dilemma Lisa.

Garth

Garth,

She may have compressed more to get within the 100kb image size limit. It's very easy to do with Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro, but I'm not familiar with the software she's using.

I think this is a great photo with a lot of personality. And I think you can work from it even if you have a problem with the file size. Just look at the other photos from the shoot for comparative bone structure/facial confirmation when in need (or ask the client for other existing photos - i do). Also, print out a copy to use to paint from in black and white. Theres less noise, and can save you from seeing the wrong color (with resolution degradation as exists color reference degradation).


Best of Luck

P.S. I would also recommend considering lengthening the composition to include more dress - I think it will bring an air of femininity and be more reminiscent of a "classic" portrait. This cropping feels too contemporary for the objective.

In looking at the image more closely, I particularly love the warm skin tone refections on the column - your gonna have a blast playing with that. Those reflections could really "make" the painting - it gives some life to the architecture that one can do in oil painting. It'll make the photo reference "eat dust".

How about scanning it at a high res., say 300. Get the best image you can get then send it to me and I'll send it back ready for posting. I presume you have a decent print?

Better image thanks to Mike
 

Thank you Mike McCarty for resizing and warming the colors up for me.