What could I have done differently?

[Bismuthrainbow]

What could I have done differently to improve the photo? Eyes? Lighting? Pose? I'm not really sure what I was trying to express with this photo. She chose the pose which I agreed because it shows off her wonderful nails. What do the eyes say to you I posted a photo before and it had no lighting at all and created to what people said were cold and lifeless and tired looking eyes so I tried it with the sun to her face in this picture to create more lively eyes. Anyway feel free to point out other things as I want to get better.

 

[Light Guru]

Lighting? Pose?

Yes, and yes plus more.

I'm not really sure what I was trying to express with this photo.

But this I think is your biggest problem.

 

[The_Traveler]

If you're after her nails, why all the space?
Flash on camera makes bright spots on any flat-on skin surface.
A pose flat on to the camera emphasizes shoulder width.
I'm too lazy to go through the conversion but my guess is that this focal length is not equivalent to the 'ideal' portrait length.
Why flat against brick wall?
why hide her mouth and leave only expressionless eyes?
and her skin color is too red.

read about focal length, using on-camera flash, posing,

 

[Derrel]

I would have shiot this as a "tall" photo, and shown more of her. Had her posed in a more-dynamic manner, such as turned to one side. Ideally, I would have had her body turned away from the light source, and then had her head turned the other way, so her face was looking cross-body-axis, and back and into the light; this is a proven way to pose a female, and it creates a flattering, attractive, appealing type of lighting pattern.

Ideally,light ought to have a clear and obvious direction, from which it originates: this shot has rather blah lighting that comes "from everywhere". Plus, this lighting is not flattering; as The_Traveller shows above with his multiple red arrows, the lighting has created multiple hot spots on her skin...just not a flattering type of lighting for her. As he points out, there are six spots where the light draws attention to itself, and does not flatter the woman!

The lighting is overly-contrasty; her nails are dark, her hair has some dark spots in it with no detail, etc. Just not very good lighting

Had she been arranged and directed and posed by an experienced shooter, there could have been a nice picture made here! The fact that yoiu said you were unsure what the photo was supposed to be about is part of the issue; look at any fashion magazine, and there is a "concept" that jumps out at the viewer, with every single photo. The photographer has to have a concept, andidea, in mind in order to elevate most shots from just a snap into "a photograph".

Hiding her mouth with her hand seems like a less-than-ideal way to hide the mouth; how about using an idex card or a letter to hide the lips? How about holding up a candy bar to hide the lips? How about her using her smart phone to hide her lips? Something more bold, more dramatic, rather than just lifting her hand up...

 

[The_Traveler]

@Bismuthrainbow

You have discovered the first law of photography and that is: "What seems to be easy and natural is not at all that."
Routinely good photography requires skills, knowledge, experience and some degree of talent and inspiration. Photography is supported by technology and so it seems it should be simple. The hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions,of cameras that sit on shelves gathering dust is evidence of the many people who thought they could buy the ability to make good pictures - and were proven wrong.