Anouk

Wow john fantastic work congratulation best regards

I wonder how is it possible to make such a wonderful richness of B&W tones and such beautiful ones. The lighting is also great and the model's face beautiful (even the hair is so well done)! Perfection!

PDE

John,

She is beautiful. The lighting, catchlights, background, specular highlights on her lips, expression, make-up and the exposure are all excellent.

The ruffle around her neck is not as sharp as her eyes. I don't see a good reason to have any of her out of focus. An out of focus background is very nice and focuses attention on your subject. Parts of your subject (including her clothing) out of focus will draw attention away from what is in focus. It is difficult to go wrong with having the entire subject in focus.

There should be more room on the left -- in front of her. She should be looking into the picture rather than out of it.

Nice shot,

Mark

I do believe the comments above echo all my feelings on this image. However, I do believe it would be rude to say nothing. Quite beautiful.

Eccellente,complimenti !

I teach portrait photography at a college John and would just like to say congratulations, because from a compositional , lighting and exposure perspective this shot  is just about perfect, because.

 Composition

The eyes are not both on the same level which adds some dynamism and interest. The light coloured bow in the models hair, and the light tones of her right shoulder make it an excellent diagonal composition, her expression is calm and appealing and the gloss her slightly pursed lips is very attractive

Lighting.

The soft light from a diffused light source on her right (possibly an umbrella) produces modelling in her face and adds to the impression of the roundness of her head and features.

Exposure

The skin tones and perfect  and natural looking, the highlights are bright and the shadows are a deep rich black and the overall balance of tones are perfect.

I don't know if you're a pro. but this is professional quality work, well done.