single photos "Light Blue Pearls"

A lovely subject, in a glamorous costume, but something is not working. I would advise you to study your shadows in order to see what the light is doing. Here the shadow of the nose is placed in an unpleasant position. You are using a narrow light source and it is casting sharp shadows on what should be a soft subject. Notice that the beads cast cutting shadows rather than caressing ones. Your ratio of highlight to fill is too high, perhaps 5:1 when 3:1 would be more in keeping with the nature of the subject.

Many books are available on the principles of portrait lighting. I would suggest avoiding the newer books and searching old book stores for the classical discussions of portrait lighting, lighting the figure, etc.

Regards,

Jerry