JDY_A023

Michael,

She is a beautiful girl. You have focused well on her eyes. She doesn't look particularly happy, but she has a pleasant expression. There is an intensity in her gaze. She looks somewhat mysterious. Her catch lights are very good. They really give life to her eyes. She has wonderful skin tone. The lighting is very good. The shadows make her very interesting and help to create an illusion of depth within your photograph. Her highlights are excellent. The backlight helps to separated her from the background. The background is nicely neutral and has a good gradation of tone. 

Her hair style and intensity of her expression reminds me of a spinster librarian who just noticed someone speaking too loudly.

Your composition is very good, but you could crop a tad off the right side. 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.

Her make-up looks very good. A bit of eyeliner under her eyes would frame them and help to make them stand out even better. She could use a little more (darker?) mascara, too.

Notice the neckline of her top. The viewer's eyes will go to the “V” formed by the sides of the neckline and follow it down and out of the photograph because there is nothing there to stop them. You should try to crop below where the “V” of the neckline comes together so that the viewer's eyes have a place to stop. That may not be possible with this top. From the looks of it, it may go down to her knees before coming together!

She looks awfully broad across her chest and shoulders. She is quite close to being straight on to the camera. This is not a very feminine pose. Showing your subject’s widest areas (shoulder to shoulder or hip to hip) makes those areas appear wide. Your subject will appear thinner and more feminine, graceful and elegant if turned at an angle to the camera. The lines you see from an angle have more apparent motion, interest and grace. You usually do not want to have your subject turned 90 degrees to the camera. This can make the head look unsupported. It usually looks best to angle your subject somewhere around 45 degrees.

Thank you for placing your name on the mat where it belongs.

Nice shot,

Mark

Excellent portrait. The skin tone is perfect. The lighting is very well done and the pose is calm and elegant. Sincere congrats.

beautiful portrait and nice treatment, maybe to much details on her skin