Msh-354

Nice shot Clemson... pretty girl, nice pose, and good, complimentary tones!

This is not a nice shot. This is a near stunning shot with just a couple of minor irritations. Your composition is near perfect, however, the background requires more blurring. Secondly, her bottom is a little too pronounced and sharp thus distracting the user from your otherwise excellently exposed image.

The image does have a sense of sadness. There is a feeling that innocence is about to be lost. If that is your intention, you have succeeded.

I really think this is an almost 6.5 out of 7 for exposure and post processing, but a 5.9 out of 7 for the very minor issues I have raised.

I have also attached my own tweaked version of this where I blurred the background even further.

Great work

Her beauty is of no comparison, but she still reminds of a favorite actress to me, Mary Stirnbergen! The photo is also very well done, simple and innocent pose and facial expression, fine simple background and environment and technically perfectly done!

PDE

A delightfully charming photo, the model is elegantly portrayed and you have captured a somewhat  intimate expression. I like the props too, they add a touch of sophistication to an already splendid image.

@Starvy - Thanks for the great comments. You are right about the blurring of the background. It is always a trade off with me in that sometimes I sometime seem lose some sharpness in the eyes with the shallower DOF, and thus tend to tend to work on the facial details in a situation like this with a fairly plane background. I am very hesitant to blur backgrounds after the fact as it seems like cheating and doesn't always look as appealing as that produced by the camera.

@John and Pierre - As always great comments. Thank you for your insights (along with everyone's). They are very helpful in helping me improve.