Silvia #3

Alessandro, I love the pose, the lighting, and your model! Even the striped blouse works as one of the low key elements because the brightest part of the blouse is still considerably darker than her skin. The pose with her looking up and her thumb hooked on her necklace is great. Her elbow is a bit angular (an therefore tends to be masculine). Her head tilted a bit gives us a nice "C" curve which is a strong feminine element.

The main problem with the image, however, is the key. It is almost low key except for the busy background. I selected the elements of the background and deepened the tone as well as setting the element more out of focus using the Gaussian blur filter.

The horizon was not level, so I rotated and cropped.

Next, I used the Elliptical Marquee Selection tool feathered at 60 pixels and selected an oval from the top of her head to the bottom of her arm. I included her hand with an additional selection. I then selected the inverse, and using the Brightness/Contrast control, I darkened outside the oval.

I also deepened the tones on her elbow so it doesn't show quite as angular.

I finished it off with an edge treatment.

If you don't find my suggestions helpful, please just email me and I will be happy to delete them.