Untitled

Aleksandar,

She is a pretty girl. You have focused well on her eyes. Her skin tone is very good. I really like the texture of her skin. It looks very natural. She has good catch lights and eye contact with the camera (viewer). The background is nicely out of focus. The top and bottom compositional balance is very good. You have excellent contrast. Her make-up looks very good.

I can understand why you didn't raise your main light any higher. She has a rather protruding forehead that shades her eyes. I think about the only thing you could have done would be to have her tile her head slightly back. I am thinking this might not look very good. The shadow on her right eye isn't too objectionable the way it is. You really couldn't lower the main light any more. The shadow from her nose would have been to the side of her face.

I might have extended the left side of the picture out a little. 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. There may not be many people, besides me, that are really bothered by this.

I know you should avoid bright colors and bold patterns in clothing. In a portrait the subject’s face is what is most important and nothing should draw the viewer’s attention away from the face. This pattern is small enough that it isn't as distracting as something more bold would be, but my eyes do keep going to it.

I would tone down the bright area above her head in the background.

I do wish she looked a little happier.

Nice shot,

Mark