When looking at a portrait, the eye tends to go 1st to the eyes, then searches around from there (it's a "human" thing..). Try aligning the cam so that the eyes are central. For setting up the lighting, try using a totally black environment 1st. That should get the colours right. If, after that you change the background the colours will probably need tweaking. As mentioned above, for close-ups, most professional photographers use a focal length (on 35 mil cameras) of between 90-120 (and of course, backing off the camera so that you can see more than just the tip of the nose)..:-)) Also agree with the "slight change in pose" bits mentioned above.. Excellent try - far better than my attempts at such things..:-)) Cheers, Diolma