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Andrew,

Lisa is a very pretty girl. You have focused well on her eyes. The background is nicely neutral and Lisa is well separated from it. You have good shadows that add interest and help create a nice illusion of depth within the photograph. You have her posed at a very nice angle to the camera. It helps make her appear slim, feminine and graceful. She has very good specular highlights on her lips.

I would try to smooth out any imperfects in Lisa's face.

She appears to looking slightly to the left of the camera (viewer). If not making eye contact with the camera (viewer), the eyes should follow the line of the nose. It is natural to look where your head is pointing. If looking off to the side you should show what she is looking at or provide a reason that she is not looking where her head is pointing. It is difficult to tell exactly where she is looking because of the catch lights right in the vertical center of her eyes. Somehow they just don't look natural there. It may look unnatural because of the very strong main light you have coming from the side?

It is best to have at least some of the whites of her eyes showing on each side of her irises. This helps to make her eyes look balanced. If you have her looking out of the corners of her eyes it looks awkward and unnatural. It is usual for a person to turn their head, at least somewhat, in the direction they are looking. You don't want it to appear that strain is put on the eye muscles.

Her pupils are quite dilated. If you use brighter modeling lights or have a brighter area to shoot her in, her eyes will not become so dilated.

The lighting on her face and on her hair is a little bright. You want to have detail in the highlights. Clipping can often occur in image highlights as a result of an incorrect exposure. A similar effect of blown-out highlights also exists in analog photography.

Be careful of split profiles. You do not want the tip of her nose to come close to touching the far cheek line. You want to make sure the far eye is either completely showing or not showing at all. You do not want to have the bridge of her nose cut her far eye.

Her make-up looks quite good, but a little more eyeliner under her eyes would help to make her eyes stand out more. I would soften the dark circles under her eyes.

Lisa's shoulders look pushed forward a bit. Have your subject sit up straight with her shoulders back and her chest out. Do not have her slump her shoulders.

The right side of Lisa's right eye is in shadow. With short lighting you have to be careful how far over you allow the shadow. You usually do not want shadows in your subject's eyes.

You have cropped into the top of her hair. This doesn't look bad, but cropping into her hair usually implies a tight crop on the bottom. I would give her a little head room so she doesn't seem so scrunched.

Your subject should have more room in front of her than behind. This allows her to be facing into the picture, not out of it. You want to compositionally balance the left and right sides of the photograph. The compositional "rule" for this suggests that you position the tip of the subject's nose in the vertical center of the photograph.

Her expression looks a little sad. I would like to have enjoy herself a little more.

Nice shot,

Mark

Thank you for your comment

Thank you for your comment.I'm pleased you like it

Thank you for giving me such detailed & comprehensive comments. I take onboard all you have said and have to say that its good to receive such feedback. It is appreciated. In this portrait I was trying to acheive a nice highlight on the hair from behind the model.As you rightly mentioned I think i ovedid it a bit and hence overexposed it a little in places.

Again my regards

Andrew