Liz

Been told that the background is too white, there is lens flare and that there is no contrast. Is

it really that bad as I thought it was OK.

I believe that that one for what you ask is all good. Nevertheless, in my opinion the eyes are too subdued and the setting should have avoided the space in white that stays behind the model.

Nice shot.

Well i cant really tell what kind of lightning you had, but as i observe such photos in magazines i usually see at least two softboxes or macro flash on the lens. I think that your girl has really nice contrasts, very deep black tones on her clothes and yet still not overexposed necklace... but i miss some frontlight on her face. Her face is brighter on the sides than in the front, which makes a bit disturbing (depressing???) with this white background. I hope you'll find a way to correct this.