20 year old photograh...

[Monique McFarland]

Here is a photograph that I have been commissioned to do a portrait from. It is a snapshot taken twenty years ago! The boy on the left is now married and the one on the right is getting married this Saturday!

Their mom has commissioned me to do this portrait as a 36" x 48" oil to go in the most prominant place in her large home. Her home has a lot of original artwork and many many formal photography done of her family and children, throughout their lives. I talked her into do a more casual portrait for this large piece as she thought she needed to go with something more formal of them. She dearly loves this photo and has displayed it (small 3 1/2" by 5" snapshot) for 20 years! Since the kids are so much older now, an exact duplicate of this photo is not necessary. Since I will be going from a reference photo where their heads are about 1" in diameter to almost a lifesize painting, or larger, i'll do the best I can with it. I think she will be thrilled with whatever I am able to do with it. She isn't picky!

I plan on changing the clothing to denim overalls, and white shirts and barefeet. What do you think about the composition, lighting, background? I think there is a lot I can do with this and I am excited. I already changed (photoshopped) the child on the right's face (to remove the scowl - she was thrilled!!) and will post a before/after of what I did. I plan on really blurring this (to a degree) any way and going for a soft appearance...since there aren't many details to see, I think this will work best anyway.

Thoughts anyone?