First try at portrait in DIY studio

Homemade bg and lighting, but the lights were not bright enough and I was having all sorts of issues relating to not taking my time.

This is the shot the client picked. It is for the authors bio pic in her new book. I had some more traditional "author-ly" (:lol shots but she thought this one showed a little more of her personality.

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Nice and clear, love the conversion....her head pose is odd.but it is a very lovely photo.

The pose is odd, but it does indeed convey a sense of personality that you don't get with the normal sears portrait look you see on so many book jackets. It's really a nice shot.

I don't react to the pose at all.

For me the exposure and lighting are very good and it's nice that you have control over the background.

My only suggestion would be to work more towards consistent lighting. Notice the shadows around her nose - it's clear than there are at least two light sources and they are not working towards a common objective, which should be to improve the 3-dimensionality.

I would suggest that the main light be used to create diagonal shadows across the face and the fill light be use to soften the shadows as necessary to keep the contrast within bounds.

The pose is a 1-2-3 pose for women. She is reaching her body to do the large angles, which is why it seems weird to the eye.