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Terri Ficenec · 02-06-2005, 01:23 AM

Hi Julie,

Your reference photo is extremely contrasty, and has a large area of white out (There is no detail in the white areas even if you darken the image.) This makes it problematic to work from. In the image of your painting that you've posted, I think you've got a patch on the forehead and into the eye area that is too dark because you are following this poor reference too closely (or having a hard time adapting it). In the attached, I used the histogram function in Paint Shop Pro to swing the middle values MUCH lighter. This may help some, but still doesn't help the white out problem on the bright side of his head. (In reality I'm sure you'd see distinctions there that help define the form.)

When you work from a faulty reference like this, it makes a lot of extra work, guessing at what it really should look like... it is so worth getting a good reference in the first place!

Good luck with this--

02-06-2005, 01:23 AM	#3
Terri Ficenec SOG Member Joined: Aug 2003 Location: Southboro, MA Posts: 1,028	Hi Julie, Your reference photo is extremely contrasty, and has a large area of white out (There is no detail in the white areas even if you darken the image.) This makes it problematic to work from. In the image of your painting that you've posted, I think you've got a patch on the forehead and into the eye area that is too dark because you are following this poor reference too closely (or having a hard time adapting it). In the attached, I used the histogram function in Paint Shop Pro to swing the middle values MUCH lighter. This may help some, but still doesn't help the white out problem on the bright side of his head. (In reality I'm sure you'd see distinctions there that help define the form.) When you work from a faulty reference like this, it makes a lot of extra work, guessing at what it really should look like... it is so worth getting a good reference in the first place! Good luck with this-- Attached Images __________________ Terri Ficenec http://www.terrificenec.com Last edited by Terri Ficenec; 02-06-2005 at 01:27 AM.