New 50 1.4

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candle makes the lighting very soft on her skin.... if you crop out the candle, it will make the light source more mysterious as you won't know what is lighting up her face.

Excellent shot, very pleasing smile .

Try curves tool and adjust the green curve just a tad, I think the skin has a bit of green tint, and therefore it is not as pleasing as it could be. Another suggestion would be to add another candle to other side of her face (but farther away) or use some sort of reflector. I'd like to see just a bit more of her hair so that it wouldn't melt to the background. But you'd have to be careful with that, not to add too much light, as the current setup is very moody. Disclaimer: I don't know anything about portrait photography, so that's just a personal opinion.

Excelent idea, with the candle cropped out!

Nice photo ...and seems a great lens.

Gone for the pop-o-matic settings. Plus losing the candle takes away the distraction - I agree with that one.

"S" curve on the curves to introduce a little more contrast and a bit of sharpening.

I think the eyes are very engaging. This crop focusses more on them.

Graham

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Here's my version:

Very very nice without the candle. So simple/elegant. You have managed to keep the skin tones very real which can be difficult with candlelight. Well done.