Senior

[Digital]

C&C Welcomed.

[ionian]

First off, well done for ensuring you have no specular highlights in the glasses, and good focus.

Im not sure what your aim for the image is - I have a number of suggestions for shooting and for processing, take what you want out of it. You've clearly been taking images for a long while, so apologies in advance if any of this seems patronising, but hopefully it could benefit others.

Shooting
Your flash is straight at the subject, and is bare. This is giving you a small hard light source with hard shadows, which is not flattering. Off camera with a diffuser, or bounced flash, would give much better results.
Your background - her head is half in the window and half out. Moving a yard to your right would have given a neutral background, much cleaner.
Framing (might be best to deal with this under processing, depending on the crop) - her body lacks shape, and is just a large purple area at the bottom of the image. Step back, step forward - decide if this is a headshot or a head and shoulders shot and consider how to make it appealing.
Pose - this is clearly candid but don't be afraid to spray several shots. It costs nothing to shoot in bursts with a digital camera, and gives you the best chance of a perfect face. You also get some great comedy shots as well.

Processing
Think about the skin. Could you lessen the specular highlights? Do you want to bring out her age with clarity/structure, or tone down the clarity for a more flattering look?
There's a stain on her jumper, could you remove this?
Tones - is her skin correctly coloured? It looks a little red. Could you adjust the tones slightly?
Is colour the best way to portray this image? Would a mono conversion be more successful or timeless?

I hope some of this is useful.

[Digital]

Simon. thank you for your comments.



Bruce