January 20, 2009 5:43am Thank you, Deneen! That's high praise coming from you, my friend.
This young lady wanted a nice portrait of herself badly but was so self-conscious of her nose. This is actually a mirror reflection and I'm standing above her at a very difficult angle which helped diffuse the whole "overwhelming size" issue.
In a lot of medium or close up portraits that make the viewer say, "Oooh, nice," it's most often because of the eyes. Either they're striking to begin with or they're properly made up and lit. Goes a long way towards a good portrait.