I typed this up earlier this AM, then my WiFi started acting up...so I saved it as a text document and am going to paste it in.
I have to agree with Lew...the originally-shown version of this is framed really tightly, and her line of gaze up and out of the frame doesn't work well in this shot; the edge of the frame being so close to the top of her head causes visual tension; having her looking out of the frame with the top so close compounds the issue. I DO LIKE the two rails--having the rail in front of her, with her hands clasped and placed on the rail, then the rail behind her gives a great 3-D effect, and makes it seem like she's on an elevated footpath or elevated trail at some type of nature park or zoo or something, and I think Lew's eliminating the second rail hurts that 3-D effect.
On another level: I see technical weakness. Depth of field is way too shallow, and not in a good way. Her hands are out of focus, and the whole image looks sub-par in the modern era. The picture is fuzzy,soft, and has plenty of visible chromatic aberration. On a carefully posed, studied shot like this, that is a total shame--that the lens is not stopped down and the picture is working hard against lack of depth of field. This kind of shot NEEDS to have the majority of the person in sharp, clear, good focus. I'm not talking about how the image looks on a cellphone or on a web browser at playing card size...I'm thinking about this as a 13-inch tall print...it will not look good with the hands, arms, and basically most of her outside the actual depth of field zone.
Compositionally, except for the too-tight framing, I LOVE the hands and arms and the diagonals of the railings, and the light upper right corner, and the foliage, and the lovely, simple color palette, and I think the "look" is pretty good. A white dress with lots of bare skin makes a tough garment to compete against for the FACE! It's a very spartan, elegant composition, but the super-shallow DOF works against the things it's strongest at: formality, tranquility, and careful balance of the body on the rails. The way the rail in front, and the small sapling tree, and her arms and hands all come together right there at the hands...when you look at that, it's all out of focus at that point.
I have not "pulled the EXIF info", but I am thinking "f/1.8" with a 50mm or something...and it should be more like "f/6.3 at 1/20 second" at low ISO...
