melanie Melanie in contemplation

Thanks for criticism. Stairwell in our house with a lovely north

facing marbled window. No edits, slight crop.

You owe it to your model to make her look as good as you can when posting her image on an international web site. The deep shadows and facial blemishes should be edited out to make her as beautiful as she really is. The lighting compounded your problem with dark shadow areas. Your model can help in some instances, too. Here, the square opening in her suit allowed uneven skin tones to be visible. These may be edited, but the jewelry makes that problematic, also. Makeup will help, or simply wearing a different outfit that shows only more even skin tones, or have her wear a a blouse that adequately covers those areas not reddened by the sun. I have an example of the facial area after some editing. I hope this has been of some value to you. Happy shooting!

Thank you for your comments, Lamar.

First: the fact that this is an international site means nothing to me - no matter the number of viewers, from whatever nations, it just doesn't matter. Second: the shadows and facial blemishes are a part of her beauty, not a hindrance to it. Third: the lighting is totally natural, coming through our marbled window to the north, offering up a nice break up pattern, which includes shadow. I like shadow. Forth: uneven skin tone is due to her wearing various shirts out in the sun, and it's the way that nature has coloured her. Dude, thanks for your comments, but please recognize that I'm not trying to take a picture of some "perfect" goddess, I'm trying to capture the beauty that exists in every day life, a beauty that has no need for PS. An imperfect beauty. Real beauty. Man! I'm looking for criticism of the photo as it is, not on my concept of photography!!

I apologize for my apparent insult of both your photo and your sensibilities. Melanie is a beautiful lady and if your choice of lighting and straight-out-of-the-camera snapshots are what you find pleasing, then you don't really need (and perhaps should not ask for) a critique. All you have to do is hit "delete" on my critique and "poof," it is gone...with my blessings and good wishes. Good day.