the keep

Frederick,

She is a very pretty girl. You have focused very well on her eye. The background works well for this image. Her skin tone is very good.

If you would have moved you main light a little up and to her right you would have had Rembrandt lighting. I'm not sure that having her right eye in shadow from her hair works real well. I you want dramatic lighting use even more shadows (with possibly a little fill). You might have used a small back light to subtly separate her from the background.

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. Because of the sword you might have placed her a wee bit to her left of vertical center.

If not making eye contact with the camera (viewer), the eyes should follow the line of the nose. If they are looking to the side the viewer does not know what she is looking at. This can look rather awkward. She should have a catch light to give her eye life. Eyes generally look better with some of the whites of the eyes showing on each side of the irises. Eyes with the whites of the eyes all on one side look unbalanced and rather strange and strained.

Her expression does not fit with a girl holding a sword. There is no reason for her to be smiling.

At the moment she looks like a girl that was handed a sword and told that she was going to have her picture taken. It shows no emotion and doesn't tell any story. Why does she have the sword? She is in a studio situation. One reason to include a background in a portrait is to establish a relationship between the subject and the background. The idea is to take the likeness of the subject to a more meaningful pictorial expression of the subject. It adds a completeness to the picture -- it tells a story. Everything in the picture should coordinate with everything else. Everything that is in the portrait is there for a reason and should help tell the story of the subject. You should ask yourself if the background goes well with the subject, her outfit and any props she may have.

Nice shot,

Mark