RWCRNC Loc: Pennsylvania

Lovely pic and model. For me though too much white.

raymondh Loc: Walker, MI

A worthy one to count as a win!

hwilsonphoto Loc: Montana

Geez, you guys... understood - it looks like a composite, the guardrail is distracting, too much white, I shouldn't have shot her on a mountain pass that is closed for the winter, I need to crop it, etc

PhotogHobbyist Loc: Bradford, PA

One thing to remember, those comments are each person's opinion and meant as constructive criticism for you in future portrait photography. You may have been able to block out much of the guard rail by moving your beautiful model to her left and still had the dark hill on her right and the snow covered mountain over her left shoulder. Another option might have been a slightly different angle, higher or lower. Overall, I admire your feeling good about the photo. Do not feel discouraged there are many positive suggestions in this thread and you are admitting your beginner status for portraits. Keep practicing and posting more portrait photos.

Oh, one more thing, good bokeh to separate your model from the background. That often is a suggestion for portraiture.

rick_n_wv Loc: Charleston WV

Love it, well done.

J_Denney

Thank you for sharing.

Lucian Loc: From Wales, living in Ohio

You stated that you had no idea what you were doing, and it was assumed by most that you were also looking for some response here, You received some very good and useful critiques here. You then acted a little bit like you felt those responses were personal jabs at you. If you don't want to hear such constructive responses then simply don't post a photo.

Your photo is a nice rendition of a pretty girl but there are a number of things that would make this photo even better. For one the image is very flat, you should have attempted to add some structure to the face with added reflective light or possibly a black reflector to draw some light out of the face, thereby giving it more interest and shape.

If you ask yourself what was the main subject in the image, I and most here, would assume you would say the girl. Take a look, percentage wise, at how much of the image is the girl and how much in percentage, is the rest of the image. You will see the majority of the image is of the background. Since you gave that much space to the background, some may think that you felt that was the most important thing, so why include the girl and spoil that photo of the background?

You stated it was a portrait, therefore we shall assume the real subject was, in fact, the girl. Therefore, you should have given her priority of percentage of space in the image, unless of course, you had a good reason not to shoot it that way. The other thing to consider is that when there is too much of everything else in a photo, compared to the main subject, you should attempt to reduce the visibility of all that other stuff. You do that with selective focus and depth of field via aperture choice or lens choice. You would be better off, zooming in more if you had a longer lens to choose from, or to reduce the amount of focus given to the background, or cropped down to reduce what can be seen, and adding more bokeh with the longer lens. That way, the viewer's eye is more drawn to your subject, the girl.

It's fine to include the scene in a portrait, but when doing that you do not want to place the subject dead in the centre of the image. If you wanted to include a lot of a slightly out of focus background, then stick the girl off to one side, preferably the left side looking a little to the right, with her face (as the viewer sees the image) but you can still have her eyes looking at the lens. That way you may also achieve some shadowing to give her face more shape and interest. Again all this is not directed negatively to you or bashing you, it is just a way to teach you more about portraiture. That way, next time, you will not be saying you had no clue what you were doing, but actually did have a clue and that you were practicing and learning.

We all learn, all the time, regardless of the level each of us are in photography. Don't forget that and be pleased that others have taken time out of their day to share their opinions with you. You know, anyone who takes the time to comment on your image, should be taken as a compliment to you, because they thought that much of you and the image, that they wanted to share their thoughts. And that should mean a lot to you, to all of us in fact, whenever anyone takes the time to share their time with us. I hope you understand that.

Florida

Excellent start! Keep at it. Shooting portraits is a continuous challenge. Your first attempt was much better than mine.

CharlesM Loc: Johnson City, upper East Tennessee

Nice photo! I like b&w for portraits. That seems to work better, for me! Keep shooting!

boncrayon

Good start. But your emphasis is on the mountains and less with the portrait. I'd suggest you use a vertical portrait and the lovely lady's face in the upper one-third of the frame. Add a little contrast depth to the frame.

DickC Loc: NE Washington state

That is very nice!!

Thomas902 Loc: Washington DC

LOVE her tousled tresses... epic shaped brows frame those alluring eyes... such a mesmerizing gaze...

How to improve? Best never shoot straight on.... have the talent turn 60 degrees (or more) and turn her face toward the camera.. This will slim her torso and compliment her gorgeous facial features... Straight on is for Driver License images...

Also have your talent slightly open her mouth... in a relaxed manner... Dimples suggest a forced smile...

As others noticed... not your standard beauty crop... nor headshot...
Easily corrected... not a problem...

You bonded extremely well with this enchanting talent...

That said, maybe either do epic landscapes or breathtaking portraiture...
Never ends well trying to combo both...
Experience is a brutal teacher...

My thoughts? With her cleavage shown here in this imagery it is tending toward glamour...
If you crop her cleavage out it become a far more poignant Beauty rendering...

Think carefully about wardrobe styling... as well as hair and makeup...

You're a very lucky photographer to have such an alluring subject...
Maybe start taking portraiture very seriously...

Thanks so much for sharing...
I'm impressed!