photographing people for sculpture?

Hi,
I'm an amateur interested in practicing figurative sculpture in clay.
Pieces take far many more hours than anyone could possibly pose for,
thus, I must turn to photographs. Last wednesday I had a friend pose
for me. Admittedly, I think I took the photography too cavalierly, as
the sculpture was the main project and challenge for me I thought to
just snap a few photos and be done with it, to get on to the actual
sculpting. I realize now that there is more to it.

My setup: I did this in my dorm room, measuring perhaps 12 X 20, as
a rough guesstimate. Unique to the circumstances, I need photos all
the way around. I couldn't rely upon light from the windows, for the
subject would be backlit for 50% of the photos. So I shaded the
windows, turned on the overhead light for general light (it's not very
bright), and then positioned an incandescent floor lamp (it had 5
incandescent bulbs that could be individually angled) at a 45 degree
angle from the angle of the shot itself. I walked around the subject
to take 8 photos in total at regular angles, moving the floor lamp
along with me each time.

The results: because the scene was indoors and only lit by one floor
lamp, it was dimly lit. The (digital)camera, on automatic settings,
set itself to a low shutter speed. I was taking the photos by hand,
and as a result greater detail of the face it would be lacking; even
when not particularly blurred no photos had superior clarity. A few
looked half way decent, but none could come close to compare to
professionally done portraiture photography. Furthermore, because the
photograph is not the final work -the sculpture is- I understand that
distortion must be kept to an utmost minimum. This means standing far
back and zooming in. In a small room, sometimes only 4' from the
subject, I needed the wider-angle end of my camera's zoom capabilities,
which creates more distortion.

Some ideas: keep the same lighting, but get a tripod to minimize
blurring. Take a photo from the head to the chest, neck to the thigh,
lower abdomen to the feet, changing only the height of the tripod.
Then use photoshop or similar program to "photomerge" the three
together; trippling resolution possible (it's a 5 megapixel camera; by
taking it in pieces I would have 15), and by zooming in more instead of
trying to capture 5.5' of height in one take, I would lessen the degree
of distortion by the lens. Is this a wise idea, or will the photomerge
action distort the photo more than zooming in more will alleviate the
concern? If the initial photos are taken properly, will photomerge
make the pieces truly seemless?

Further questions: are backdrops important, rather than randomly
light walls and dark carpeting and books and desks against the walls of
a myriad of colors and tints? Will hanging a white sheet vertically
from two poles, and another over the dark carpeting, make a significant
difference in the quality of the photo? For b&w, for the purposes of
maximizing depth, is it useful to have the model wear only homogeneous,
light-colored clothing, instead of a motley skirt and dark navy tank
top, the color and tint differences of which may confuse the value
differences that I'm actually looking for? Instead of just a single
floor lamp at an angle, what greater technique is there to lighting and
where can I learn it? I think improper lighting may be a major source
of my issues. Should I consider building a large turntable, so that I
can use constant sunlight from the windows, and a constant camera
angle, and then simply turn the model, instead of for me to walk around
the model and move the lighting each time? Is it critical that I find
a bigger room within which to work, or can a 12X20' space be
accomodated for? I would work outside, but it's getting below freezing
now.

My goal is not necessarily to take an art photograph or to dramatize
with use of shadow, but to show a full range of depth, such that the
darkest shadow is black and no lighter, and the lightest highlight
white and no darker, and that every subtlety of value in between is
apparent. But even just showing depth to its fullest, I realize now,
is harder and involves a great deal more than mere point-&-shoot.
Could you please advise me on what I'm doing wrong, what I could do to
do it right, whether any of my own thoughts are worthwhile, and at the
least perhaps some books that will explain b&w portraiture photography
as applicable to my situation?


thank you for your time and help,
-Bernard Arnest