Monica

Thanks for looking

Ooolala...very nice.

Ken,

 

Monica is a very pretty girl. You have focused very well on her eyes. Great use of the dark and light background to nicely separate her dark and light sides against the opposite background shades. She has applied her make-up very well. She has especially well separated eyelashes. Monica has very good eye contact with the camera (viewer) and her expression is very sensual. Her skin tone is very good. I like the specular highlights on her lips.

 

I really like her hair up near her mouth. I think it comes across as very sexy, but I wish her shoulder wasn't quite so high (or pushed forward?). It looks a little awkward to me. This could be a foreshortening problem. Be careful of foreshortening. Watch for anything closer to the camera than the body. Feet, knees, hands, elbows and shoulders will look out of proportion (larger than normal -- foreshortened) to the rest of the body, if they are in front of the body. This could be why my eyes keep going to her shoulder. It is possible that her shoulder is just too light and draws my attention.

 

You want to compositionally balance the left and right sides of the photograph. This allows her to have more room in front of her than behind. The compositional "rule" for this suggests that you position the tip of the subject's nose in the vertical center of the photograph.

 

I would like to see her skin softened a little to smooth out her complexion.

 

Very nice shot,

 

Mark

...I feel the expression is awkward. To my eyes it's not forthcoming, quite the contrary; a bit repelling. Like she was angry. A sexy pout, or just plain hint of a smile, would have made the portrait a success. Also, I feel the skin highlights are a wee-bit blown.