Home studio natural light warm tone self-portrait with mauve background

As planned, I turned mostly toward the window in my home studio. I could not face the window square on, because the camera in this case would be seeing the doorway and not my favorite gray wall. But I think this is the best angle as there just a hint of shadow on the side of face, which gives dimension.

There was no processing to do as far as lighting, because this is as attractive/natural as I have seen it so far, beats single softbox "beauty" lighting hands down. Just to be able to do something, I picked a conrasty warm color profile Modern 07 and turned gray background to what I think of as mauve using an adjustment brush.

The good: got lighting right in camera (1/30s, f/8, ISO 400), good DoF front to back at 85mm. Head tilt and mostly relaxed, if bland, expression. "Turtling" works. That's when you tell the model to move the head out by stretching the neck. Use these words: "It will feel weird, but it will look great, trust me." Working with constant light (of which natural light is the best kind) is so easy and enjoyable.

The bad: getting tired of this mug. Did not like any attempt at a fun/dramatic expressions.

Next steps: must try fun/dramatic expression.