The lack of light-shadow contrast is definitely the most obvious problem. I'm assuming that, by now, this commission is completed. But I wanted to talk in general about a situation in which the artist takes reference photos, the client chooses the best one, and then later the artist has second thoughts about using the reference.
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Originally Posted by Virginia Branch
if I were to go back at this point and tell them find another, I wouldn't look very professional.
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I'm not so sure. Of course it is embarrassing to go back and say you've changed your mind, or you had second thoughts. But if the portrait isn't as good as it might have been because of the poor lighting, then that also could be seen as "unprofessional." I'm speaking in general here, not about you in particular, Virginia, or about your clients. I've been in a couple of situations where the client started out wanting a certain thing, and I even painted the entire portrait, then I felt dissatisfied with it. I told the clients, who then decided they had been too intrusive in the process (they hadn't been, really, and I assured them they hadn't) and gave me absolute freedom to compose a new portrait, which I did. I didn't charge any more, just took a whole new set of reference photos. The second portrait made us all happy.
Many clients are fine if you explain that you strive for excellence and, you would like to re-take the reference photos. I think most people would respect a solid work ethic and in most cases would not see this as "unprofessional" if you explained it this way.