Emma

Mike McCarty · 06-14-2004, 12:17 AM

Even with perfect subject circumstances, getting good reference photos outdoors is one of the most difficult things you can do. It is both mentally and physically exhausting (375 shots!) on both ends of the camera. I would prefer to beat my head against an indoor wall.

Mary Sparrow · 06-14-2004, 07:12 AM

Now that I have screamed- just kidding. This is stressing me out having so many points of view. Maybe from now on in situations where I know I am limited I won't ask for opinions.

It does look a little distorted to me to, who knows where I was when I took it

However, there ARE 373 other shots I can paste up all over the place if need be.

Mike, 375 sounds like a lot, I know. But you have to remember this camera has a feature that takes 5-10 shots at one click of a button, so it is easy to get to that number. Most of the time Emma had her hands over her face or was pulling her dress up over her head, so thank goodness for that snazzy little feature or I wouldn't have even gotten a picture of her face at all!

I think, what I will do is compromise here. I will TRY to do it from this one, combined with some others, and if it stinks, trash it and re-shoot.
But at least they could see for themselves and it certainly isn't going to hurt me to paint for the heck of it, I'm just so bored over here with nothing to do.

It would be a couple of months anyway before they could come back to town to take the pictures again anyway.

I just went through them all again, what are your thoughts on these two? I'm not sure why the mother skipped over these.

Jean Kelly · 06-14-2004, 10:05 AM

Hi Mary, in my opinion, photo references are a necessary evil. In this case you may have to reach farther and find the personality inside the girl. I would ask the parents to tell you many good stories about her, what makes her smile etc. You've already met her, what did you feel from her? I see a very fragile, sensitive and deeply introspective little person. Design your painting more from the heart than religiously following the perfect photo reference (you may never get one). Your third photo looks like a possible, it has better modeling of the shadows in her face and the light is quite nice. It also has less of the green reflections which I don't believe are flattering to her.

We talk a lot about value, drawing, composition and all the technical aspects of portraiture, but very little about the "heart" of the powerful painting. What did you find to love about this little girl, and what did you feel from the parents? If you use this knowledge and the 375 photos of her you will succeed, I'm sure of it.

Jean

Cindy Procious · 06-16-2004, 10:00 AM

Hi Mary,

I am one who understands poor photo references, having taken many myself.

I think that while this reference isn't ideal, it is very usable. As Allan suggested, removing the white bannister is important. I've done a photoshop rendering with it removed (along with the top of the bannister that peeks out over the top of her head.)

This can be a very strong portrait. The contrast between the soft blur of the little girl (with a few judiciously placed hard edges) and the variations of rough textures behind her can make for a very compelling composition.

I know you'll do a wonderful job with this one.

Good luck.

Steven Sweeney · 06-16-2004, 01:48 PM

Mary,

Hoping not to complicate things, I'm assuming that you will go forward with the photograph you and the family have selected, as the best of practical options available for now.

Because of the fairly flat light and very subtle value range within the figure, you might need to push those values a little bit toward the extremes in order to get the depiction of form. To that end, I'm attaching, first, a grayscale version of Cindy's attachment, and then the same image "overexposed," that is, with the contrast pushed way up, to more clearly show the value shapes and locations. (I'm not suggesting that you paint your value differentiation this markedly -- this is deliberately over the top for demonstration purposes only. You will of course be more subtle.)

The disappearing arms may or may not present a problem, but I think it essential that you pay very close attention to the values first, drawing second, color third. (If you can do all three at once, great.)

The grayscale also shows, for better or worse, the compositional weight of that white brick structure to our right and the white floral riser behind her. You're going to want to greatly subdue those values, as they will otherwise overpower the girl as well as the composition.

Mary Sparrow · 06-16-2004, 02:12 PM

Thanks everyone for your help. I know there are several of you that don't think I should try this at all, however, I really am going to go at this with the thought that I may be doing the whole thing over. I know that the family really doesn't want to deal with re shooting the photos, so I think this is the best approach at this point.

To add to this challenge, I have been asked to just put greenery in the background. So now I need to come up with a background that will work.

Michele Rushworth · 06-17-2004, 12:07 AM

As far as the greenery, I'd go find something you like and photograph it in EXACTLY the same lighting conditions as you had for the shot of the girl. Same soft light, same angle of light, etc.

One of my favorite artists for painting children outdoors is Hongmin Zou, on SOG at http://hongminzou.com -- check out his backgrounds, especially how the values enhance the composition and make the figure stand out.