Sue

Not your normal portrait which i don't do.

Thanks in advance.

Nothing to say about this other than it's an outstanding portrait.  I like the slightly vintage look...due in no small part to Sue's wardrobe items.  And her eyes are incredible.

Many thanks Jim.

great portrait

Very well done and I like the background. 6 all the way

Very effective, with good tones and textures. I like the less-than-perfectly-groomed hair. Everything works together to illuminate her personality, just as a fine portrait should.

I'm not sure what a "normal" portrait is, but this is very good.  You convey a sense of a real person.

Jonni, 

Sue is a cutie! She really is a beautiful girl. I'm also not sure how this is not a normal head and shoulders portrait. Perhaps you think her rather penetrating eye contact with the camera (viewer) makes it not normal? I guess you could make a case for some kind of paranormal activity going on here. Perhaps a girl in a spooky movie or just before turning into a zombie. :-) I think it is just a nice portrait of an interesting looking girl.

The lighting and contrast is very good. She has good catchlights and specular highlights on her lips. Your composition is excellent. The background is nicely neutral and she is well separated from the background.

The darkening of the background is very noticeable, but not too terribly distracting. The gradation of tone could be a bit more subtle.

While I love her facial skin tone (I suppose it could be just a smidgen lighter), her chest is lighter than her face. You don't want to draw the viewer's attention away from Sue's face with a lighter area in the picture.

Part of the "spooky" look might be attributed to her rather large pupils. Her pupils are quite dilated. If you use brighter modeling lights or have a brighter area to shoot her in, her eyes will not become so dilated.

I would like to see a little more light on her eyes. The whites of her eyes could be whiter. They look a little gray to me.

I like her scarf very much. For a portrait her scarf and top are quite busy. They draw the viewer's attention away from Sue's face. In a portrait it usually is best to try to keep the viewer's attention on your subject's face.

It doesn't bother me so much because she is a relatively young girl, but it would be better to have her angle her body a bit to the camera. It usually isn't a good idea to pose your female subject straight on to the camera. This shows her widest areas (shoulder to shoulder or hip to hip). This is not a huge problem for Sue because she is nicely thin. Even Sue would look thinner, and more feminine and graceful posed at an angle to the camera.

Nice shot,

Mark

Many thanks for your comments.

Hi Mark,  Thank you so much for your time.  Thats the best CC anyone has ever given me and it is certainly taken on board for the future.