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Velazquez and Anders Zorn. Zorn worked from some truly awful black and white photos and made great paintings. It's no big secret how he did it.
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Sure, I will agree that these are great artists, but how about someone still alive today that might be around to answer questions and give instruction?
Velazquez was dead long before film was invented so he would never have to deal with photographic reference of any kind. He would, however, ask the subject to pose as he wanted and in the lighting he wanted. You will not find a single Velazquez portrait with the poor lighting of a camera mounted flash unit.
As for Zorn's use of B/W photos - he took them himself with the subject in a pose and composition of his choosing, and these photos he used were supplemented by life. His photos were not flash photos, which flatten form. B/W film (even the glass plate negatives used by Zorn) has a greater value depth than does color film of today...and values are more important than the color. I am familiar with Anders Zorn's work and I do not recall seeing a poorly, flash lit portrait among them. And his best work was painted from life and not from photos at all. He did not even start to use the camera until late in his career. And, although he is dead so we can not ask him, I have doubts that he would create a portrait using a photo he did not take himself and without having the subject pose as he wanted.
I am sorry, but you have not convinced me that you are sharing practical knowledge that will help anyone here. If you think that a even a good portrait painting could be produced from this photo then kindly prove it to me - find a professional portrait artist that will take this commission based on this reference alone. I would love to see the painting. But since Anders Zorn is now dead I guess we can't have him do it; so who do you recommend one should hire for this portrait commission? Since you say "The great photo reference doesn't matter, and the ability of the artist does" who do you feel has this ability who is alive today to paint this?
My intention is not to have you prove anything about your ability to paint, since you may have a lot of training and knowledge beyond your ability to paint. But, please, I would like to know where you get the idea that good planning of composition and proper reference are not important.
Proper reference, unless you are going to have your subject pose and paint from life (which I highly recommend), along with good preliminary sketches, is of utmost importance to producing even a good portrait. Oh, and in case you feel that is a gutless way to work, I can back that statement up with quotes from some of today's most highly acclaimed portrait painters. But maybe that would not mean anything to you, since you name only 2 artists that are not alive today to ask their opinion on the subject. And the fact that a few of these artists actually have a page or a link on the SOG site which you so quickly discounted as not having the ability to produce a great portrait.
As for your advice:
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Crop the photo a bit on the right, up to near that vertical fold of the shirt. You'll want to make the background a solid or near-solid dark value (like however you did it in the girl with the hat and the girl's back). Keep the picture to three or four values, the simpler the better. Bend the kid's right leg into the picture, resting it on the horse. Move the woman's right hand to the horse's mane, and point her left hand/arm towards the baby in a casual way.
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This still will not solve the problems of the lighting which is most important in any painting, or the fact that the baby's leg is cut off. Also the fact that pulling off the changes you suggest without any new reference and without doing some sketches of the subject from life would be incredibly difficult. In the end, it would still, even with the most skilled artist, produce a less then desirable painting.
A great artist might be able to produce a well- executed painting from this but it would not be a great painting. And they would have to make up most of it from their head since the reference does not offer the information needed to make the changes you suggest. The artist who is posting this photo is not even close to the skill of Zorn yet you would have him go ahead with this painting that even a artist as skilled as Zorn would have a hard time pulling off. And you think that is good advice?