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Iavor,

I am sure there is more to her than just her beauty. I do have to agree with you. She is indeed beautiful.

She has very good skin tone and I like her expression and eye contact with the camera (viewer). There is an intensity to her eyes and expression, but I don't feel any communication between her and me? Maybe its just me? Very good composition.

I don't see critical focusing on her eyes. They are sharp, but could be sharper. Her hair on her left side is dark and blends into the dark background. You could bounce some light onto her hair or use a hair light or kicker to help separate her from the background. She could use more mascara and a little more eyeliner to help accentuate her eyes.

Do not pose your subject straight on to the camera. This is not a very feminine pose. Showing your subject’s widest areas (shoulder to shoulder or hip to hip) makes those areas appear very large. Your subject will appear thinner, more feminine and more graceful if turned at an angle to the camera.

Notice the neckline of her top. The viewer's eyes will go to the “V” of the neckline and follow it down and out of the photograph because there is nothing there to stop it. You should try to crop below where the neckline comes together so that the viewer's eyes have a place to stop.

Your main light is coming from below her eyes. Notice the catch lights are below the center of her pupils. The name for this style of lighting is grotesque lighting. It has been (and still is) used in video and still photography to light vampires, werewolves, bad witches and other rather nefarious nocturnal nasties. Unless you are trying to make this girl out to be a very bad person, you probably should not use this lighting. You also don’t want to light the inside of her nostrils. That area is usually best left in the dark. You have light spilling onto her left cheek and above her left eye (under her eyebrow). You have cut into her left eye with the shadow from the bridge of her nose. These are little things that you would not want to have.

You have quite bright specular highlights on her face. These make her look a little sweaty. I would tone these down a bit. There is also a light area in her cleavage. I would even the tones in this area.

Very good shot,

Mark

Dear Mark,

many thanks for spending time and your constructive critique. This is actually what I really need on this image. Probably it's a cliche, but these comments cost more than any ratings.I agree with you about everything what you said. Not to excuse myself, but add some clarity please see some details below:

With this young girl I worked for the first time and it was lunch time, hot shiny sun, no clouds. So, I choose place with more shadows. We had 10 minutes to make pictures - for me very short time to get in connection with the model. She impressed me with her look - beauty and dignity.

I choosed this picture to publish, not because it was the best, but has more dramatic look and add some mistery. I thought this will add to the adea of her apperance. After reading your opinion and look again on the picture - you are right, there is too much contrast and shiny spots. To get more background I set speed to 1/60 and aperture to f 6.3 to have focus on both eyes and ask model not to move. When I check in a large size - no considerable lack of focus, but it's true that in studio with 1/200 this result will be better. The funny part is with the position of the light source - I asked a friend to hold it in a position.

So, I know, that in studio, where I have more experience, or with more time and thinking, such pictures could be times better. But for me was very important to see what impression will make this picture on other photographers.

Best regards,Iavor