Daria

Janus,

I am assuming you wanted this to be a vertical even though you have placed your name on the photograph making it appear you wanted it viewed horizontally. I think it works much better as a vertical format portrait.

Daria is a very pretty girl. You have focused well on her eyes. She has good eye contact with the camera (viewer). I like her somewhat sensual expression. She has good catchlights. Her make-up looks good and the lighting is very nice.

You might want to soften the wrinkles in her neck.

I like the dark background, but it would be good if she was better separated from it. She kind of blends into the background. Perhaps just lightening the shadows would help make her stand out better and give a little detail to her dress.

Your photograph is a little left heavy. 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.

It is quite appropriate to place you name on a mat surrounding your photograph.

Nice shot,

Mark