Composition and background help, please
Hello,
I would like to do a portrait of my nephew for my portfolio. I took this photo of him in natural light, the light was coming in a sliding glass door to our right. It seems it's pretty low light, but hopefully there are enough shadows there for me to work with.
I have two main concerns. One is that since this little guy is fair skinned and has light hair, and he's wearing a light blue outfit, the whole thing may have a washed out look. I can probably make the colors a little stronger when I paint though. I was thinking about adding something with some color, maybe just a simple ball (fairly small) next to him with some red or yellow in it. Or I could make that little crest on his outfit a red, just to have some kind of 'pop' in this portrait.
My second question is the background. All that junk in the background has to go. I was thinking of having him sitting on a hardwood floor with some kind of doorway frame in the background (Peggy, I think this is in my mind from a portrait you did of a young boy sometime). But we don't have any hardwood floors in our house and I've never painted one so that might not be the best thing to attempt at this time.
Thank you all in advance for any advice you can offer on this reference photo,
Joan
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