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Anonymous
Lighting's already been covered (remember that fill flash is your friend), so let me say this: props. Have something for her to DO; people just sitting there posing gets boring very quickly. I'd also recommend looking for a nice posture sheet to give you posing ideas. That, and get some magazines (I bet Cosmo and Seventeen is going to serve you better than Newsweek and Scientific American) and look through them, perhaps with her, and see what kind of poses and such she likes.
Oh, background. Pay as much attention to background as you do to her. Or maybe almost as much as you do to her. (She's cute, BTW.) I think what the difference is between normal and "professional" looking photos is is that pro-photos pay a lot more attention to the small details, like background and such. Try to keep as much out of the background as possible. A small DOF will help you do this, but it's not necessary if you can find a location where she'll naturally be the obvious subject. Apparently, and I've not tried this out much myself yet, one of the best ways to keep her as the subject is for her to contrast with the background as much as possible. If she's wearing light clothing, you may want to consider shooting against a dark background, such as brick or the like. If she's wearing yellows and reds, maybe shooting against the green of a park or forrest wolud be best. If she's wearing dark, shooting against the blue sky may work. As for as outdoors goes, remember that sunrise and sunset are the best times, since she won't have shadows coming into her face. I'd really suggest sunrise, pain as it is to be ready that early, but there will be great warm, natural lighting, and probably a lot fewer people around to get in your way.
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