Nice job on these spheres Maureen! You are almost there. With the sphere on the left the right side and bottom should be darker and smoothly transition lighter as it moves toward the main highlight. I would take a kneaded eraser and lift some of the pigment around the highlight. The toning around the highlight should be lighter and transition darker as it moves away from the highlight. The left edge will be a 3-4 on the tone scale. Be sure to have a good range of tones from light to dark. With the sphere in the right, the dark tones are better on the right (could still be darker) and the things I mentioned above pertain here too. The reflected light should not be a controlled white arc. You are trying to create glow effect (light bouncing off the table surface). It also should not be as white as the main highlight. Since the light source is coming over your left shoulder at a 45 degree angle the cast shadow should go back at a 45 degree angle, not down as is shown. It is darkest at the subject edge as you have shown. You want to have a smooth transition from the dark and make sure not to have it be too dark. The cast shadow should be more of a suggestion whose purpose is to ground the subject to the paper. This sounds like a lot, but it really isn’t and the minor changes will make a big difference!
Nice job on these spheres Maureen! You are almost there. With the sphere on the left the right side and bottom should be darker and smoothly transition lighter as it moves toward the main highlight. I would take a kneaded eraser and lift some of the pigment around the highlight. The toning around the highlight should be lighter and transition darker as it moves away from the highlight. The left edge will be a 3-4 on the tone scale. Be sure to have a good range of tones from light to dark. With the sphere in the right, the dark tones are better on the right (could still be darker) and the things I mentioned above pertain here too. The reflected light should not be a controlled white arc. You are trying to create glow effect (light bouncing off the table surface). It also should not be as white as the main highlight. Since the light source is coming over your left shoulder at a 45 degree angle the cast shadow should go back at a 45 degree angle, not down as is shown. It is darkest at the subject edge as you have shown. You want to have a smooth transition from the dark and make sure not to have it be too dark. The cast shadow should be more of a suggestion whose purpose is to ground the subject to the paper. This sounds like a lot, but it really isn’t and the minor changes will make a big difference!
@doug-milne. Incredibly helpful feedback.. Your descriptions are very actionable. Thank you!