Natural light found!

[Kimberly Dow]

I hope I am not posting too much and annoying folks, but I feel like I am getting a lot out of the feedback, so here are some more.

I finally found a place where the light comes in the back room of my studio. It opens to a parking lot, but there was natural light. The shadows are real deep.

I ordered a couple costumes recently and this was my first go with one. This is my friend and not the model for the painting I want to do, but this was a first try in that light.

Tell me what you think.

[Kimberly Dow]

Here's another. As you can see, I messed with the background in Adobe so that I wouldn't be seeing the storage area back there.

[Mike McCarty]

Kim,

I like where you are heading with this. This will be a pretty good sized canvas huh? You are wise to bring in a buddy and test the light. It's now a matter of moderating the intensity of the light you have that day by moving the subject to, or away from the source. It would be nice to employ a man servant with a big piece of white foam board (or something suitable) to bring some light back into the shadows. Maybe you could use the drop light! Whether reflector or artificial, you move it in and out to moderate the amount of light that you want to see on the subject.

Also, don't forget to get those close ups of as many things as possible: head, hands, water jug etc. Tell your subject what you intend to do before you make your wide shot so she won't break the pose after she hears the click.

Check out Wm. Whitaker's web site under "figures" http://www.williamwhitaker.com/B_HTM...ures/INDEX.HTM for a few great paintings which have some of the same characteristics that you are trying to portray.

Best of luck, love the jug!

[Kimberly Dow]

Thanks Mike.

I did have foamcore back there, it did not do much - I'll have to try the light.

I am not sure of the size yet, haven't decided on the final composition yet. I would actually like to use this model because she is free/a friend/ and available all the time. I want though to have a younger one, less lines and all. I wonder if I can make her look younger in a believable way. Does the size of her hand bother anyone? It looks huge to me in the first one. She is a tall woman.

[Michele Rushworth]

Great light, great costume.

If you want soft light that is particularly flattering with an older female model, position things so that the light is coming from slightly behind you and off to the side a bit. Using a large window, or photographing the model when she's close to the window will provide a wrap-around light source that is flattering also.

Forgive the crude quality of this lighting diagram (good thing my portrait painting medium is not pixels!) but this should give you a general idea of what I mean.

The size of her hand never occurred to me.

[Kimberly Dow]

Thanks Michele, I will try photographing her that way asap.