Sitting Pretty

Joanie,

She is a beautiful and elegant looking girl. I love her posture. She has very good eye contact with the camera (viewer). Her jewelry, expression and make-up exude class. She has very good catch lights and wonderful specular highlights on her lips. Her make-up is very well applied. Her skin tone is very good. The background is nicely neutral. Even though her dress is somewhat busy, the colors are subdued enough so as to not be distracting. I do like the rose tattoo.

It doesn't look like her eyes are as sharp as they could be. Please make sure her eyes are in critical focus.

Your composition is quite good, but I might have moved her a bit to her right. Of course, you would have had to position her a bit differently. 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. If you consider her whole body to be the emphasis of the portrait, rather than her face, your composition is very good. Each has its good points.

I am not sure the material and pattern of her dress works well with her elegant look. The cut of the dress is very nice, but over all it looks quite pedestrian. Perhaps a sundress for the beach or afternoon luncheon?

What she is sitting on looks like a yellowed, wrinkled old sheet. Again, it does not match her look.

The background is very appropriate, but you do not want a shadow falling on it. Move her further from the background.

Your lighting is very good, but I would move your main light up just a little. That would cause the shadow from her nose to touch the corner of her mouth and eliminate that little patch of light just above, and at the corner of the right (her right) side of her mouth. This would give her a little better Rembrandt lighting.

Avoid having the back of the hands toward the camera. The edge (side) of the hand towards the camera is thinning, feminine and graceful.

It is generally not a good idea to pose your subject with her knees or feet next to each other. With one of her legs down she will have more feminine and graceful lines.

Notice how her toes and fingers (specifically her knuckles) appear a bit rough and red. You may want to tone those areas down a bit. I think it appropriate, especially in a formal portrait, that the color of her fingernails and toenails match.

You could use a backlight to better separate her from the background, but I think for this portrait that is more of a personal taste decision. She is quite well separated as is.

This is quite minor, but the hem of her dress on her right knee has the light blue color on it and draws my attention to it. I would take that down so it isn't distracting. I could be the only person that noticed, or that it bothered.

Nice shot,

Mark

Joanie .. I think this is a beautiful picture and I find the model not only elegant and pretty but seductive and yet leisurely at the same time. I agree with some of what the previous critique suggests but the only two "main" things I would personally do is add a fill light or reflector on the weaker lit side to add a second catch light in her eye and also and more importantly take some of the harsh shadows such as you see extending from her nose. You can tweak other items but I like the shot a lot. Best regards.