Hi Allan,
Thank you for your suggestions, but we're done with the photo shoots!
I have been taking photos of my daughter for 7 days and I have learned a lot about light bulbs, lighting, etc. but, now I need to paint. I could spend another week taking more photos, but I really need the practice with painting. If I don't paint my kids this week, then it won't happen until after the holidays. I can always paint them again, and again and again after the first of the year!
I am happy with their expressions, actually I have a better close-up of my son, but somehow I must have deleted the original uncropped version. That's why I put that similar photo in my post for cropping suggestions. I'll post the close-up of his face, I like this expression a little better.
My goal was to get photos with good lighting and nice shadows. I am happy with the results I got, these are so much better than what I have been using for reference material! I'm come a long way with the help from this forum.
I will try your suggestion next time I take their photos.
thank you,
Joan