SYLVIA

Rakesh,

 Her eyes peering out from behind the veil makes this fun.  I do believe that her hair and hat are unfortunately blending into the background.  One way to handle that is with a hair light or kicker light from behind and maybe to one side.  According to your histogram, the blank area suggests you have thrown away pixels at the highlight end, giving yourself more of a problem at the darker shadow end of the tonal range.

Jerry

The glint of the eye through the veil is quite arresting, and the gentle smile removes any kind of sinister element and adds warmth to the veiled figure. Jerry who has tons and tons more experience than me has pointed out the darker area's that could be rescued, and I'm sure he is right technically. But from a purely aesthetic viewpoint I quite like the kind of black on black effect that seems to concentrate the viewers focus on that delightful face.

Compliments & Best Regards

Alf

I like her playful expression from behind the veil.  The catch light in one eye is just the right amount of sparkle that is needed to make me want to look again more closely.

The good old Rakesh, the famous portraitist!

Best regards

PDE

I always visit your profile, wonder when you will be back and post new creations....Great to see you again with this wonderful portrait.

Kind regards,

Mahen

She clearly does not blend into the background. The glint in her eye and her charming smile make this an enchanting image. A woman dressed like this we would tend to think of as about to attend a funeral. I sincerely hope this is not the case.

A lovely shot!

A really beautiful portrait with very nice lighting, Rakesh!