[William Whitaker]

Teaching my students to take proper portrait reference photos is vital, since portrait painters today will probably have to do most of their commissions from reference material. We are fortunate that digital photography is coming into its own, for the quality and control is a real boon to us. Last evening two of my students brought a friend to the studio, dressed her up in stuff out of my prop closet, and practiced using my studio flash setup coupled with a Canon EOS 10D digital camera.

They fussed over the subject and used handfuls of bobby pins in the poor victim