Reply To: 18 year-old photographer looking for any and all feedback!

[cameraclicker]

I just looked at Flickr.  I like what I see.

I think some post production might help.  Lets look at this one:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/54048679@N07/10968241015/

I copied it to my Flickr page but it is your original photo, at the original size on Flickr.  If you open it, and look at the trees around her head, do you see all the little circles?  I think the quality of bokeh is distracting.  I made a duplicate layer in Photoshop, ran the blur tool over the top half of the photo until I liked the look of the leaves then brought her back to sharpness using a mask to let the original layer come through.  I also used Unsharp Mask to bring the sharpness of the bottom layer up a bit, and ran another sharpening tool over just her eyes and lips.  I ran the burn tool over a couple of bright spots where the sun came through the trees.  This is how it turned out:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/54048679@N07/10968242985/

Being side by side in the gallery, you can arrow back and forth to compare.

I see why it is a favorite, and I hope you agree my editing improved it.  If so, see if you can duplicate my editing.  You can use the editor of your choice, and your own methods.