I really like the simplicity of the shot, but it's a little too blown for me.

it is a little blown..maybe a warmer filter or gel over the lights. I do like the shot though.

Looks like an advertisement shot. Nice job :o)

this is NOT blown out, i'll explain why: go to images.google.com and type in "avedon". several examples of this set-up will appear. they're all black and white, in each of them the background is white, and the subject is wearing a white shirt. look at the whites in their shirts, you'll see that the white in the shirt is exactly as white as the background. why? this is not a traditional highkey set-up at all. avedon uses a wrap around set-up. you have false walls in FRONT of the model that the light bounces off of to create "wrap-around" light. the whites in the shirt are to show you how the light is wrapping around. this increases texture in the shadowed areas. one way to check if it is blown out or not is to look at the skin. you'll see that the skin is perfectly exposed. in a shot with blown out spots, the skin would at least be slightly over-exposed. this is the effect of wraparound light. if i made this black and white it would look exactly like the portraits you see on the avedon images search ;) highkey is set up similarly just minus the wrap-around walls.

Good explanation and detail of the RA wrap around setup. I don't care for the frumpy,wrinkled shirt. The same shot with a black shirt may be the way to go.

Nice work and thanks for the info, I rarely use flash and have no studio lighting but I would like to learn more.