Example of my setup
 

I thought I would post a example image of my setup for painting from life.

I took this photo just before I stopped for a break. You can see some of the screen I use to help control light and for different back drops. I put a green drape over the screen for this one. I might change it to other colors or sometimes I use the white as a reflector. The photo was taken with no flash just natural light.

Michael,

She is already lovely without any paint!

When you are bouncing light with white board, are you clipping them to a stand? Is there just one light source?

Portrait setup
 

Beth,

If you look the image of my model stand in this post http://forum.portraitartist.com/show...&threadid=1540 you can see the set up shot with a wide-angle lens. (Without the screen)

In the upper right you can see a light fixture and the edge of a curtain. That window and the lights directly above it are the only light I use. The color of this light is cool light. It is fairly unchanging through out the day, and when there is enough natural light on bright days, I do not use the artificial lights at all except near evening as the light fades. The curtain is a sheer; it helps diffuse the light. At the bottom of the window is a shade that pulls up so I can control the amount of side lighting.

As for reflectors: The screen itself is white under the drape. It has 3 sections. One section that is not seen on the left wraps around the left side (your left as you look at the image). If I take the drape off that section or use a lighter drape, it reflects more or less light depending how I move it. Even with this dark drape it reflects, but it reflects the green color of the drape in the shadows on the left side. I use no other reflectors or fill lights, since my intent is to keep the darks dark. And since I do not work only from the photos, it is not that important that the camera can capture a lot of detail in the shadows.

This is a setup for a very simple painting; it is not suitable for every possible situation but for most of my work, it works out OK since I do not get many full-length commissions. But if I did, I would need more room than I have in this studio. So right now, until my new studio is completed, I either go to the client's location (which I do sometimes anyway if they want d

Thanks Michael, I really can

Yep, it's all right there. That is the beautiful thing about natural light - even the pictures are really nice. Bill Whitaker is always sending me photos of his models and portrait subjects shot in natural light in his studio and they just look wonderful!

Michael, I suspect that in person you don't need to use a reflector while painting as the details in the shadows is pretty good with the naked eye, yes? A reflector is good to bounce light into the shadows when you are taking pictures.

Michael, my husband is in love with Bill Whitaker's models! I am not sure it is the lighting either! :sunnysmil