Avoid:

• flat lighting
• lit up nose
• too much sun flare
• direct sunlight casting strong shadows on faces

Looking for:

• contour and dimension created by lighting
• Evidence of a variety of techniques.  ie: backlit (high key),, low key with lit contours, rembrandt lighting, etc
• high tonal range for high quality images.

Rule of Thirds: image must clearly feature a subject in the rule of thirds.  (subject in centre but eyes are in thirds is not a clear demonstration… this latter should however be present in “framing”)

Framing: Use of something in the image to frame the subject.  Often foreground.  Other aspects such as eyes or key focal point should still be in the third of the image.

Tonal Range: higher tonal range = higher quality image.  (avoid too dim and “snapshot” looking, over bright editing, etc)