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If I am to assume that the lighting treatment of this image is designed to highlight the sarong then I say this is a successful image. The cloth is nicely illuminated and the drape is attractive and well demonstrated. The forest background is soft and lovely which gives enhanced focus to the subject. I like the sarong. I might buy that sarong.

If I am to assume this is a figure study in nature, then I would see this as less successful of that intent. The hair and deep blackness around the head and shoulders, perhaps in pursuit of a mysterious note, give a heavy feel to the top half of the figure. It almost as if there is a shroud over the top of the model. Even a small amount of fill light would help highlight the sensuous pose better yet still be subdued and subtle.

I think Louis captures the ambiguity of this image quite well; there are more possible readings but any way I watch at this photo I also remain a bit in doubt what the intent is, and hence to which extend the photo manages to fill its own boots.
To me, there is something of a fairytale-like story that starts to play in my head; the background like the woods to enter for some fabulous adventures; the gorgeous light (and my, it is) sets an outerworldly atmosphere which to me suggests this is the setting. It even can go quite well with way the head and hair are 'treated', a note of being lured into the wonder-forest by a darkish force. The pose of the upper body, somewhat challenging and seductive, even could fit this reading. The bright white, luring us in, while we're not noticing the dark look..... But not the hands. Their placement ends my fairytale reading; it doesn't fit in.

Now I do not mind ambuigity, and often it can be a very inspiring way to let the fantasy work. But with this photo, somehow I can't manage to organise my thoughts around it, to get the fantasy to fully dive in. It just leaves a little niggle in the back of my head which prevents me from enjoying it without reservations. What looks to be its twin sister photo, convinces me more of my fairytale-imaginary-story than this one, actually. And I think Andrew's portfolio here show more and possibly finer examples of the use of light than this pair anyway.

I see seduction gone awry. It's a more or less pin-up pose in a fantastical style. But, for me, it's a mess. The stark contrast between the skirt and her body doesn't work for me, given the tone of the image. And the shadows on her face and upper body aren't mysterious to me but are, instead, just unsightly. Nice lighting in the background and on the skirt and effective use of depth of field.

This nymph/dryad motif is common to fantasy and adult graphic novel type art. Most of that art is based on photographs of human models, but highly stylized because most human beings can't contort themselves into those positions, and those who can may not have the idealized proportions and curves desired by the artist. Compare the adult fantasy art based on the statuesque model Julie Strain and the photos from which those paintings were derived. As gorgeous and impressive a figure as Julie carves the artists who use her as a model still embellish her proportions and contortions.

This photo appears to be an attempt to recreate fantasy art with a human model - presumably, rather than a photographic study intended for translation to fantasy art by a painter. The prevalence of highly skillful fantasy art raises the expectations of viewers when comparing photographs that delve into that realm. This photo skirts that line between photography and fantasy art, being neither mere pinup/glamour photography nor excessively retouched fantasy fauxteaugraphy.

Yet while obviously skillfully done, it remains somehow unsatisfying and unpersuasive for reasons I cannot fully identify or explain. Perhaps it's the cloying, almost cliched pose of the curvaceous naked girl. The setting, lighting and almost cinematic color treatment lead the viewer to expect something extraordinary, something as odd and simultaneously alluring and unnatural and ominous as you might expect an encounter with a nymph or dryad to be. Yet instead she strikes a cliched glam pose. If I encountered her in the forest I'd probably ask "Do you have a less pretentious sister? A playful one with a bit of dirt on the hem of her skirt and scratches on her arms from scampering around?"

I agree completely with Louis, and really have little more to add. Setting - good. Lighting of the figure: a little bizarre and confusing (there is virtually no light her face). Her erotic pose also seems out of place in this context. It seems possible that the original file may show more detail in the face, but as it is I don't think it works as an "erotic, mysterious woman", if that was the intention.

The comp is good, DOF is good and the post work is nice and dreamy. The subject I find beautiful, a little more fill in the face and hair may have looked better.
Lex said, "Perhaps it's the cloying, almost cliched pose of the curvaceous naked girl." I see no naked girl, I see a beautiful woman that has a sarong on and her long hair is covering her breast. The cliched glam pose... is what it is... a pose. I see photographers throw cliche around for everything, hell I think it's pretty cliche that you used it.