_MG_8272

Nice even model light with subtle shadows. A very pretty model with great eyes.

On the left, though, there's just something awkward with her arm

Very beautiful. Beautiful model and portrait.

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I agree that the arm and hand positioning is awkward, the whole left side of the photograph is awkward and it draws my attention from the gaze of the model.  Speaking of the gaze, while her eyes appear heavily processed to bring out detail, no amount of processing (short of cloning) can disguise the fact that they are not in focus.

There are certainly elements that I find appealing.  The tone is superb and well balanced, the model is attractive (irrelevant), and I love the eye contact with the photographer.  She seems very comfortable being photographed which is a testament to the model/photographer relationship but none of these things manage to prevent my attention from drifting to the left side of the frame and all those peculiar angles and truncated parts.

I feel that it is not the positioning of the arm but its lighting and cropping that is out of sync with the rest of the image. If the fingers and elbow were not cropped out and the lighting of the right arm was as on the left, it would add to the relaxed feel of the image. Yes the eyes and eyebrows are a bit out of focus, but the charming face and the tones do not let the attention go there immediately. I find the background a little too bright. A little darker would highlight the face better.