Taken at the local bmx track, first day out with S3 IS trying out the different settings. Manual mode, cropped. Adjustment layers curves, hue/sat, channel mixer, brightness/contrast. Resized, USM
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A few things I think if done differently would have really helped your score. First, the negative space isn't helping, IMO. Since it's so busy with the bokeh it becomes a distraction so I would think about cropping this a bit tighter on the right. I do like how the face rests against the frame so that I would do again if you reshot. Also, think about cropping a bit from the top. Maybe even try an aggressive crop cutting down into her forehead. That way the face will fill more of the frame and force the viewer to take notice.
Second, I would go black/white here. With that background I don't think a color version would have been better and I don't really like the color here.
Lastly, make the facial features a bit sharper. Not too sharp but just sharper than this version. That would also bring the viewers' eyes to the face and not that high contrast background. Or simply make the background less contrasty although that may be difficult in basic editing.
Anyway, just some suggestions. I hope it didn't sound too harsh. I do like the idea especially how you made the bokeh very obvious to viewers.
Good pic, and composition. To me the background is not enhancing the subject. This might have worked better as a color image for a bokeh challenge. Then we could have seen the play between all of the different colors in the image.
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