[Chris Saper]

Denise,

It's a lovely photo, and I agree that you ought not deal with the strong light on her shoulder (unless you can get another photo with her moved forward just a few inches, so that the strong light catches the edge of the cheek and hair).

If I were you I'd try this:

Assume you will paint the shoulder in shadow, same as the value of the skin in her face.

Then take the photo and place it right up next to a light bulb, so the light is coming through the back of the photo image, and see if there is enough information in her face to paint a subtle, modeled portrait. I can see there is a little value differention even on my monitor, and you may have much more information in the photo itself.

You can use temperature shifts to explore the form in the face, even though there wont be strong value changes.