wayne-03 Loc: Minnesota

Canon 5D-III
Canon 24/105mm lens
Godox AD-200 in an SMDV-50 softbox
ISO-800, 1/100, f/5.6

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PaulG Loc: Western Australia

Nice pictures Wayne; and good subject/background separation. The lighting looks a little harsh and hence the subject a little flat. I'd also be mindful with shoulders in relation to the camera (particularly in portraiture as opposed to full length) as they can dominate the face which is obviously the main point of interest.

ronz Loc: Florida

Good reply PaulG. Must be careful whatever is the closest to the lens as it makes it the most prominent. Try moving around the subject until you find the sweet spot. Good effort

CaptainC Loc: Colorado, south of Denver

OK - some good and some areas needing attention. The overall exposure is good and the separation from the blurred background is good. I think the light is a bit hard and the flash is too low. That catchlight in her eye is around the 9 or 9:30 position when we generally want it closer to 10:30-11. You can see that in the second image where the nose shadow is pretty sharp (hard light).

The lighting is also a bit too flat (even). Shadows give definition to the face, so we usually want to light in a way that gives us brighter and darker areas of the face.

Those things do not make it a bad image, just some things to consider in the future.

IMO, the biggest error is shooting into a bare shoulder. That shoulder has MORE area than her face and is lit just as bright. I do lots of high senior portraits and many are girls. I am very clear that I do not want to see more than one bare shoulder top. It is too bright, too large, and closer to the camera.
When I do shoot that top, I make it a 3/4 or full-length composition to minimize the percentage of the photo that is the upper arm.

I realize you many have had no input to clothing selection, but if you start doing professional work, you have to take control of EVERYTHING. If they do show up with sleeveless tops, adjust the poses to minimize those upper arms.

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

These are not "bad" images- nice subject, good technical quality as far as exposure. In advanced and professional portraiture, however, there is a lot of attention paid to aesthetics- flattering the subject so the photographer controlling posing, lighting and camera position to accommodate the subjects facial and body structure comes into play. Portrait sessions are usually planned so advising your client is important. The color and tone of the clotting effects the KEY of the portrait, color harmony and style. In theses images, darker solid colors or earth tones would have provided nice harmony withe foliage in the background and negate the issue of the arm and shoulder overpowering the face. A slightly higher camera angle might have reduced the prevalence of the shoulders. and arms.

The 2/3 face is a more flattering angle but you cut into her far eye. The eyes are not centered- it is extremely important to direct the subject's eyes. Sometimes, especially when the camera is on a tripod, I step off camera and converse with the subject and make certain have a natural, comfortable and centered look in the eyes. If I can't leave the camera I will have an assistant "get the eyes". In a full face portrait, I make sure to establish "eye contact" so that shows up in the final image. If the subject is glancing sideways- both eyes need to be in the same orientation. There are many ways to control lazy eyes or crossed or misaligned eyes.

When working out of doors, if the lighing is flat, you can employ subtractive lighting, that is use a black GOBO to shade one side of the subject to provide modeling. You can use one of those collapsible black disks or a sheet of black Foam-Cor.

When including and hands arms in the composition or the pose, you need to be especially careful. You need to make certain that the arms form lines that lead to the face and don't disappear behind the subject and appear as stumps. Certain positions caus the arms to appear very heavy.

With the OP's permission, I will post a few edits to illustrate my points.