High Contrast

The gold medal is for you

Andrew,

The contrast doesn't seem too high to me. I like it. She is a beautiful girl and your focus is great. She has catch lights and the shadows on her face provide a nice illusion of depth within your photograph. The black background works nicely and she is separated well from it. It doesn't bother me at all that her dress, on her left side, blends into the background. It adds a bit of mystery to the image. Her make-up is very good. The specular highlights on her lips are very nice. She has good eye contact with the camera (viewer) and I love her sultry expression. Her pose (turned at about 45 degrees to the camera) really makes her look slim, feminine and graceful.

There are a couple of areas on her face (especially her chin) that might be a little hot -- just a little. I would tone down her shoulder a bit.

I would give her just a tad less head room and room at the bottom.

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. I would crop some off the right side.

Her hand looks a bit masculine to me. Avoid having the back of the hand towards the camera. Just like posing her body at an angle to the camera, posing the edge (side) of the hand towards the camera is thinning, feminine and graceful.

Very nice shot,

Mark

Mark,

Thanks a lot for your critique. I appreciate you help a lot. I changed the picture.

Splendid portrait, pose and lighting.

Good eye contact and nice lace dress, very suited for the portrait.

Good light reflections on her lips with a sensual expression.

All the best!