V portrait

[jlabel]

Well if you did the most difficult which is masking, then the best filter I woulkd recommend is Lens Blur. It would result in a pleasant blurry effect resembling to short DOF and the background would be no more a problem.

[Chantelle]

Ok more blur...the problem with making it darker is that it ends up a dirty looking colour, and she ends up with a glow around her.

[jlabel]

Well not really, your mask is not sharp enough, however the glamour look isnt bad

[Bart]

Good composition! The girl, the texture of the stone, nice and sharp.
I like the second image (with less blur) the most.

[Marko]

This last version is the best one imo.

[shutterbug]

I love this portrait. I agree that the background is still a bit distracting. Duplicating the layer and then masking the areas you want untouched is definately the way I would go. I would try a levels adjustment or even just changing the blending options. If the effect is a little too strong, just lower the opacity.

Fantastic shot, lovely girl.

[edbayani11]

the practical way to darken the white building is to use the burn tool, set to softest, 125px size and 10% exposure and set the range to highlight. brush away the white bg. don't be afraid to brush portions of the hair because it won't be affected because of the 'highlight' setting