The one ...

How could this photo be better? I can think of a few things:

1. The light on the nose seems too strong

2. Too much empty space on top

3. The rule of thirds?

4. Too much cropping on the arms and fingers.

 

Anything else?

Pretty woman. Try having her look right at you--into the lens. Shoot a whole roll like that---instructing her not to look away. Ask her to move her head (chin up, down, right, left, etc) but to always maintain eye contact with you. Tell her to turn her head as far to her right as she can without losing you from her field of vision and then tell her to slowly/quickly/whateverly rotate her head to the left. Interact with her and shoot when you see/anticipate (rangefinder/slr) something you like. Make her laugh, have her serious, pensive, etc. Then have her do the same starting from the left side, but without losing eye contact with you. Frame enough of her head to include that great mane of hair and leave out all the trees and extraneous clutter. Concentrate on each other.

The background is way to busy. Get her away from such a cluttered background. Use a long lens with a large f stop to make the background go real soft. I will tell you one thing else, and that is that you would be hard pressed to find a more beautiful model. Good luck. kevin

I agree with Kevin above. Another advice, remember when doing portrait, the most important part of your picture is the face of your subject. The background should be as called 'background'.

 

Nice job printing.