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I am not a professional photographer, but I have found that if you are using photography as one of your reference materials in creating a portrait, you need to take your own photographs. Another person, even a professional photographer, does not have the vision to see the direction you want to take your painting.
I originally used photographers, and did the whole setup with light meters, model stands, key lights, fill lights, bounce light and spots. Not for me. What has worked very successfully for me for the past 15 years is natural light and a good 35 mm camera (mine is a Nikon). I use 200 or 400 speed film, a portrait lens, and a reflector.
I put the subject on the same side on the house as the sun on an overcast day, on the opposite side of the house as the sun on a sunny day. (ie, on a sunny day in the morning, I will take the pictures lighted with a west facing window.) I put the subject in about ten feet from the window, and I am set up (no tripod) against the window. Then what you see is what you get.
You move the subject around until you like the lighting. You use the reflector (I use those shiny aluminum window covers, $8- at KMart) to bounce light from the window onto the back of the subjects head to add dimension. Shoot no slower than a 60th of a second.
For artists who really like to use all the photographic apparatus, go for it, but this method might be helpful for those artists who are trying to get pretty good photographs without all the bruhaha.
To take photographs of your finished paintings, you can use the method from the previous writer. I use strobe lights, fast film, double polarizers (one over the strobe, one in the opposite direction over the camera lens), and take the photographs at night.
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