I normally take nature photography. I'm venturing into territory that I normally never travel.

Please be brutal and let me know how you would have made it better.

There is a lot going on here. First I'm using a 600mm f/4 lens across the room from her. I have a flash aimed at the left side of her face from about 12 feet away. Just a few feet to her right I have a big Mylar reflector bouncing some of the light the light back on the the right side of her face. We are talking the subjects left and right not the viewers. I have a second flash behind her right shoulder aimed at the back of her head at an angle. I then placed a second flash on the floor in front of her pointing up at 45 degrees at the ceiling. The idea was that I wanted to fill in some hash shadows the other lights were causing.

The subject is my wife. She is no longer a kid, so I used some NIK filters to soften the image and add a bit of glamor glow. There was zero cropping. This is what happens when you use a 600mm lens indoors!

I'd also like to know if you prefer the closed mouth smile or the open mouthed smile.

Thanks for looking.

I normally take nature photography. I'm venturing into territory that I normally never travel.

Please be brutal and let me know how you would have made it better.

There is a lot going on here. First I'm using a 600mm f/4 lens across the room from her. I have a flash aimed at the left side of her face from about 12 feet away. Just a few feet to her right I have a big Mylar reflector bouncing some of the light the light back on the the right side of her face. We are talking the subjects left and right not the viewers. I have a second flash behind her right shoulder aimed at the back of her head at an angle. I then placed a second flash on the floor in front of her pointing up at 45 degrees at the ceiling. The idea was that I wanted to fill in some hash shadows the other lights were causing.

The subject is my wife. She is no longer a kid, so I used some NIK filters to soften the image and add a bit of glamor glow. There was zero cropping. This is what happens when you use a 600mm lens indoors!

I'd also like to know if you prefer the closed mouth smile or the open mouthed smile.

Thanks for looking.

Good question. This big lens is a fairly new toy for me. I bought it this Spring. Ever since I bought it It's found a permanent home on a big tripod in my living room. It's there and easy to use.

The other reason is that I have become interested the effects of lens length when taking a portrait. Longer lenses tend to be more flattering to the subject. I wanted to find out if there was a limit to this generality. Apparently not!

This started when, as a lark, when I pointed this big lens at a friend when we were out photographing eagles. I was shocked how nice the photo looked.

I normally take nature photography. I'm venturing into territory that I normally never travel.

Please be brutal and let me know how you would have made it better.

There is a lot going on here. First I'm using a 600mm f/4 lens across the room from her. I have a flash aimed at the left side of her face from about 12 feet away. Just a few feet to her right I have a big Mylar reflector bouncing some of the light the light back on the the right side of her face. We are talking the subjects left and right not the viewers. I have a second flash behind her right shoulder aimed at the back of her head at an angle. I then placed a second flash on the floor in front of her pointing up at 45 degrees at the ceiling. The idea was that I wanted to fill in some hash shadows the other lights were causing.

The subject is my wife. She is no longer a kid, so I used some NIK filters to soften the image and add a bit of glamor glow. There was zero cropping. This is what happens when you use a 600mm lens indoors!

I'd also like to know if you prefer the closed mouth smile or the open mouthed smile.

Thanks for looking.

I normally take nature photography. I'm venturing into territory that I normally never travel.

Please be brutal and let me know how you would have made it better.

There is a lot going on here. First I'm using a 600mm f/4 lens across the room from her. I have a flash aimed at the left side of her face from about 12 feet away. Just a few feet to her right I have a big Mylar reflector bouncing some of the light the light back on the the right side of her face. We are talking the subjects left and right not the viewers. I have a second flash behind her right shoulder aimed at the back of her head at an angle. I then placed a second flash on the floor in front of her pointing up at 45 degrees at the ceiling. The idea was that I wanted to fill in some hash shadows the other lights were causing.

The subject is my wife. She is no longer a kid, so I used some NIK filters to soften the image and add a bit of glamor glow. There was zero cropping. This is what happens when you use a 600mm lens indoors!

I'd also like to know if you prefer the closed mouth smile or the open mouthed smile.

Thanks for looking.

I think that the problems with your images have been well documented so I will skip that part and just make a suggestion that helped me to learn portrait lighting decades ago, and I still apply the process today. You have far too many lights involved, especially flashes without modeling lights so you could see the expected results before the shot.
To learn the effects of lighting, start with only one light and don't be tempted to add another until you have taken at least 100 images with just the one light. Personally, if I had those beautiful large windows you have, I would be shooting with window light and one reflector until I had mastered the Rembrandt effect . . . just a thought!

Lighting, to look natural, should appear to come from only one source, and because the only real natural source is the sun, it would seem that light coming from below could not ever seem natural.

Hope that helps . . .