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Here's my process and it seems to work for me. I take a hundred or so photos, digitally. (It's great to know on the spot how the poses and lighting look. I don't let the client look at the digital camera screen to give me their opinion, though. They get into micro management, too often. )
I spend the next day or so reviewing the photos, deciding which ones I like and which face will go with which body because of the lighting/pose, etc. I may combine them in Photoshop to be sure.
I choose three or so compositions and make very simple sketches of those overall images, on paper, in pencil. I show these sketches to the client along with prints of the original source photos (the possible faces, the possible body poses they might go with, these flowers for the background, etc.) I don't show the Photoshop composites. I show the clients the face photos because I want to know what expression the client is expecting.
I don't delete or throw out any of the photos. There have been many times while I'm painting that I discover a problem I need to solve and find that some other photo in the group has just the right reference I need to paint the shirt collar the way I want it, or whatever.
I let the client choose which one overall composition to go with. I ask him or her to initial the sketch and the source photos they have chosen so there's no mistake later.
And here is the key: the client never sees those photos again! I don't want them comparing the photos to the finished painting -- it invites nitpicking -- and I also feel that giving out free snapshots diminishes the value of the painting.
This is just my methodology and other approaches may work better for other artists.
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