Portraits with flash

Wow! Such a striking image. This one stopped me in my tracks as I looked through the submissions.

There's an extremely high level of skill being shown here in shaping and controlling light. The falloff across the face is perfect and I actually like that the skin hasn't been retouched excessively.

The model is doing a fantastic job with her pose, that piercing gaze right down the lens really captures the viewer and holds our attention.

The post production is very nice too, lovely tones and a great understanding of where to keep detail in the shadows and where to really push those inky blacks.

Very well done.

I absolutely love this image. I can tell you had an absolute blast photographing your mum and dad!

These are the type of photos that you'll cherish forever, so make sure you keep taking them - even if they do protest about laying on the floor!!!

While there are submissions to the competition that showcase a higher technical lighting ability than this one, there are no others that made me smile like this one did. Keep up the great work and enjoy it!

Beautifully simple. I love the contrast between the bright red backdrop and the black turtleneck sweater.

The lighting is also very elegant and I love the falloff on her cheek bones, contouring her face beautifully.

My only feedback would be that I would have liked to see her fringe styled a little more neatly, the stray strand of hair over the eyebrow bugs me a little. Also there seems to be a black object behind her (camera) left shoulder that is a little distracting and ruins the clean line between her sweater and the backdrop.

Other than that, I love the pose, post production and composition. Well done.

Excuse the pun, but this one really caught my eye!

Although the lighting is simple, the composition and post production really makes this image stand out. I love the piercing blue iris and the abstract nature of this shot thanks to the torn paper and shadows.

A really nicely executed shot here. I love the concept and the pose.

If I was to offer any constructive feedback it would be that I would like to have seen the stray hairs cleaned up in photoshop. They are somewhat distracting above her head and on the flower to the right of frame. Also perhaps trying to get the water a little bit more white so that her hair wasn't visible just beneath the surface.

Other than that, a lovely image. Well done.