Thomas Van Dyke wrote:
My compliments Julia

Enchanting elegance... superb rendering of a chic talent... iconic porcelain skin... masterful illumination and lens work... beautiful pastel wash effect totally takes this vision of Lenna over the top... wonderful synergy with Lenna and Kris... 

btw, by retaining Lenna's skin texture you have created an image to be cherished by your makeup artist Kris...
This is a hallmark of those with tenure shooting agency talent... you are indeed a master of your craft...

Kudos to the entire team here...

Thank you!

Lee_Photography wrote:

Composition, I would like to see you fill the bottom of the frame more. Simply move models left arm out to side a bit and shift camera to photo left a tad. The reason, if you leave a gap between photo border and model you give the viewer’s eyes a place to wander off the page.
Cheek makeup seems a bit distracting, small wisp of hair above models left eye you could Photoshop out
[What length lens did you use 35MM camera equivalent? There almost seems to be a bit of perspective distortion while looking at her nose, longer lens would help tame that]
However this is a very compelling image, great background blur, eyes in sharp focus
I wish you well

There shouldn't be an distortion as it was shot with a 70mm and I like the make up I feel like it adds to the shot.

juliarabkin wrote:
There shouldn't be an distortion as it was shot with a 70mm and I like the make up I feel like it adds to the shot.

A good portrait lens starts at around 85 mm full frame up to 200 mm, some photographers even like longer, so at 70mm you are on the shorter end.
If you have never tried it, get a model and shoot at the various lens lengths, shoot at 50mm, 70mm 85mm, 100mm 200mm, then compare the printed photos after the shoot. Make sure the length of the head is the same in all prints. I actually tried 16mm to 500mm it was eye opening, my preference for a portrait like you photographed is to use 100mm.  If you try the experiment you may change the way you shoot today
As far as the makeup, I think the thing that most jumps out at me is what looks like a diagonal line from the inside corner of models right eye to the color area on cheek.
Hey, just like coffee shops everybody has their own idea on a great cup of coffee, does make life more interesting.

Howard Tarragon wrote:
Julia, I have no problem with the model's face except for the irises of her eyes (in the large version).  It looks like they're all reflector, with little color. Other than that, beautiful shot.

By the way, are you using a full-frame camera or crop sensor? An 85 prime or zoom? What aperture?

Keep sending us pics!

No reflector was used. Mark III with 8.5 1.2 mm