Top or Bottom?

I like #2 better.

Bottom
No bright areas in the background to distract,
Less/no fly away hairs over her face,
Smile looks better.
Rims of glasses aren't over her eyes.

The 2nd one is subtly better

Yep #2 FTM.

Second one is better; subtly so, but definitely. In particular, the lack of over-bright areas of sky in the b/g and the round, specular highlights in the second one make it just that small bit more pleasing.

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The bottom image.

Why?
Two reasons:

1: .Her eyeglasses and her eyes overlap more in the top image than they do in the bottom image. .In other words, her glasses frames slightly obscure each of her eyes. .The glasses and her eyes have a little more separation in the bottom image, and this gives me a sense of visual relief.

2: .Look at the underside of her chin and her neck in each image. .I think that the bottom image presents these parts of her in a more aesthetically pleasing manner.

The hang of her blouse's left sleeve is more graceful in the first image, but I think that the two aforementioned points far outweigh the sleeve hang.

The background area between his neck and the edge of the frame is distracting in the bottom image, while it is pleasing in the top image. .But again, I think that the two issues regarding her face and neck again outweigh this issue. .Maybe you could clone the background area from the top image into the bottom image? .Not the whole background, just that area next to his neck.


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Definetly the second one, as the shadows on the girl's face/under chin is more complimenting.

Are her teeth soooo white, though? They burn.

duce

I agree the second is better.

I'd be surprised if your client didn't argue with you they were the exact same photo.

agrandexpression wrote in post #17868638
I agree the second is better.

I'd be surprised if your client didn't argue with you they were the exact same photo.

The male, yes. The female, no. Women always notice when they look better!

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The bottom....you can make out the buildings behind in the first one and its just a little bit distracting...

#2

However I think the top photo is a little sharper... Anybody else think that?
Seth

Bonecollector wrote in post #17876716
#2

However I think the top photo is a little sharper... Anybody else think that?
Seth

That's really not something that can necessarily be accurately assessed in the tiny, tiny versions that the OP posted.
Even if one was a little sharper, that would have a very negligible role in determining which image is better than the other. A degree of softness is actually often preferred in portraiture. The idea that a sharper photo is better than a not-so-sharp photo is often an erroneous idea, especially when universally applied to a genre such as the portrait genre. Sometimes softer is just better.

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The bottom looks better. Those small things that people already mentioned above made a big difference from the first and second pictures