T.

I've actually begun to shoot in more controlled enviroments as

oppossed to being a strictly outdoor or night/stage worker.

Comments/critiques - even anonymous ones - welcomed!

very good lighting...

I like the background you chose for this photo. The lighting is good as well.  The pose is unusual, and that is good.  what lens did you choose to shoot with? 

Very nice!

Like the contrast ... i think giving more space on the right by sticking to the rule of 3rds would be better ... particularly liked the texture of the background

Mike,

Teresa is a beautiful girl. You have focused well on her eyes. She has very good eye contact with the camera (viewer) and a pleasant expression. The catch lights are excellent. They really give life to her eyes. Her make-up and your lighting look good. Her skin tone is very nice. You could have positioned her farther from the background to allow it to go out of focus, but the background is nicely neutral and she is quite well separated from it.

Teresa's right hand looks very nice, but her left hand looks awkward. Avoid having the back of the hand towards the camera. The edge (side) of the hand towards the camera is thinning, feminine and graceful. 

You should crop a little off the top. She could use less headroom. Teresa 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. This little rule almost always works well. I would crop a tad off the left side or add a little to the right side for better balance.

I think I would crop a little off the bottom. There is a white strip of clothing showing (probably a shirt under her sweater) and some colored embroidery that doesn't need to show.

Your name is not part of the photograph. Your name could be properly placed on a mat surrounding the photograph.

Nice shot,

Mark

I think it is a good work, Mike. Best regards.

I think you've done very well, except that the hands, particularly the left (lower) hand, look outsized, somehow.

Very good portrait!

Indeed this is a beautiful model and so well posed.

You have managed the lighting in proper manner and so the skin tone which is so great for me.

I agree that the model should have been placed more to the left than being in the centre and a little cop above the head should give much stronger composition.

The color of the back ground is another plus here and it exposed the model so nicely.

Thank you for sharing it and wishing you all of the best.

Thank you ALL for you inputs and suggestions/critiques. I hope you all don't mind if I pick out Mark in particular!  Isn't it amazing that when one is in the throes of processing that a lot of basic rules and tenets just get forgotten. It seems so obvious that I should have extended the background to the right a touch more, and a bit of a crop above too.

 I suppose I was just so happily occupied trying to replace the original plain background with something different that I lost all sorts of other things in the process. I'm glad that no one mentioned that little whitish grey something on the top left side of the framel I should have taken that out too.

My apologies for not responding to all your comments earlier. I kept on thinking I would 'do' another image incorporating all that you have mentioned as I thanked you all, but I have had problems there. But soon!

Thank you all again!

Excellent relationship between you and the model's eyes. Image pleasant and well balanced.

The direct stare and the uniqueness of the pose is just great!

Beautiful portrait. Both you and her should be happy with the result. I like the background color and texture a lot, the lighting is great and her face is beautiful.

I must say her hands placement would not be my first choice, specially the left one, jet againg the image is powerful enough  and the attention is draw where it belong pretty quick.

Great shot

Alex

Nice portrait, original pose and good light.

I only find the vignetting just a bit too strong, I agree is really a good way to drive the eyes where you want but the dark background already highlight the model face.

Very good portrait. BR,vf