Jenny Veil

Lovely connectivity with the Subject.

Nice use of available light.

It appears to me there is something which was done in PP which detracts from what should be gentle and soft skin in shadow – her cheek camera right.

It is as if the levels have been squished and then the contrast or gamma widened?

WW

Very lovely indeed... I like it!

Gavin,

A couple of quick comments on possible things you could do that might improve this image.

She is a pretty girl -- nice smile -- good focus on her eyes -- skin tone is nice -- background is nicely neutral and she is well separated from it.

You have cropped quite far into her head. That would call for a much tighter crop on the bottom. It would have been better to give her some headroom. If you are going to do a fairly close shot of the face, it is a good idea to place the eyes about 1/3 to 3/8 of the way down from the top. If nothing else, this gives you a good starting point from which to adjust your top and bottom compositional balance.

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. By positioning the tip of her nose in the vertical center of the photograph you not only have her facing into the picture, but you have good left and right compositional balance. This little rule almost always works well. At least it gives you a good starting point from which to subtly adjust your composition to make it visually balanced.

Her make-up looks nice. She did a very nice job of applying her mascara. A little eyeliner under her eyes would frame them and help to make her eyes stand out even better. You really should soften the dark circles under her eyes.

You are getting reflections (sort of like catchlights) on her irises that are below the center of her pupils. You don't want your main light to be coming from below her eyes. 

While her skin tone looks quite good, there are a couple of areas that are a little red. You really should correct these areas.

Notice the moiré pattern on her veil. Certain patterns on certain materials can cause this wavy uneven pattern when using digital imaging. Other than having her move her veil around in different positions to the camera, I don't know how to get rid of it. It is also a common problem with digital video. This is a good reason to stay away from tiny stripes. Herringbone patterns can be especially bothersome.

It is quite appropriate to place your name and the date on the mat. Any advertising (© De Ruite Photography 2010) would be better placed on the back of the photograph.

Nice shot,

Mark