Thank you very much, Mark! I appreciate the many compliments immensely and will keep what you've said in mind.
So Lighting: It was obviously a sunny day, so I took cover in the shade (obvious again). For all of the images except for #4 and #7 I used a Speedlite 580EX II. I would say I used available for fill and flash for key. Here's a little sketch to explain the placement of the light and 32" diffuser:
I did quite a lot of photoshop work on these. I did basic work, I enhanced the background by cleaning it up and adding more fallness.
I did retouching on everyones face actually. Since no one has said anything about retouching them on the forums here I guess that means I did a good job on it.
I'm going to say I spent about 2 hours per image. I probably didn't need to spend that much time but I experiment a lot in photoshop.
Wow, you have a really good eye! Thank you for pointing out all of that. I like it when people can take work I think is so great and show me how much greater it could be. It's not always easy to take but I'm getting better. Super helpful! I'll have to come back and read through this a few times and take notes. Thanks again!
I see what you mean. I spent a lot of time on the background in photoshop so I wanted to make sure everyone saw it. It should compliment the subject, not draw your eye away from them. I get that. Thank you very much for your critique!