lo-arna studio Leather Jacket

This is an exquisite portrait Andrew, but I wish the reflection were not as subdued. Personally, as subdued as it is, it is probably best left out. Also, I think if she were shifted just a little bit to the right, it would improve the composition somewhat.

Scott,

I like your version very much. There is however a light spot at the bottom, if I may criticize your critique. (Just kidding)

Regards,

Andrew

Dang! How could I have missed that!

There............fixed  :-)

Much better, a true masterpiece!

Andrew,

She is a pretty girl and I like her expression. The lighting looks good. The background is nicely neutral and she is quite well separated from it. The highlights on her coat are very good.

Scott's crop is very good. I have made my crop similar to his as far as the bottom goes, but I cropped some off the right side, too. 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 have also taken some of the yellow/red out of her skin tone. I think she looked a little too warm.

She has very good catchlights, but I wish they were a little more pronounced. 

If her left hand was turned so that the back of her hand wasn't pointing at the camera it would look a bit thinner, more feminine and graceful. I don't like the fingers on her right hand creeping out from behind her left forearm.

Having her stoop down, put her elbow on her knee and then place her chin on her fingers, seems like a rather odd pose. It just doesn't appear to be a natural thing to do. It looks a little awkward.

Nice shot,

Mark