I love how you have placed her off center and her eyes according to the rule of thirds to draw attention to the fact that her eyes are closed rather than a viewer only focusing on the sun lines. She could be sleeping or just resting, it looks peaceful. :)

I think I would have placed her in the top left corner allowing the sun lines to be longer. This would also remove the few spots on the dark pillow as I find them a little distracting.

Overall I love the mood you have captured and I love the contrast displayed. Keep up the good work!

Amanda

(My first critique, feel free to critique it. lol)

This photo has character and class. What I love about it (as well as all your other photos that I was looking at on Flickr) is the emotion that is not necessarily strong but able to be felt in your photos.
However, on clarity on this photo, I would have angled a little differently, because the sun shadows are already a little distracting (not that that’s a bad thing), but I think a less distracting angle would be better and bring clarity to the photo. Get what I’m saying?
I love what Amanda said above about the “mood” of the photo! So true! You for sure did it right in post-processing!! Love the B&W! :)

I love the play with lights and shadows. The composition is beautiful. The only thing I might suggest differently would be to crop down the negative space just a bit more, it would clean up the odd spaces of light in the background and highlight just subject and her/his bear a little more. It’s a fantastic image either way and brings to mind a sense of optimism in that even in the darkness there is the comfort of finding a sliver of light. Beautiful job.

What a cool picture! I love how you used the slats of light to highlight and contour over the little boy’s body! I had to look at the picture for a little while to see that he is holding a teddy bear. I’d try to bring that out a little because right now it is a black blotch and I bet the shadows are blown too. Hopefully you can lighten that area up a little to bring out more detail in the teddy bear. I love how his eyes are closed and I love eyelash shots! Nice work!!!

Oooooo I love the lighting in this photo! Very clever and good emotion. The only thing I might have done is compose it somewhat differently. I would have got closer to their eye level, only because I’m confused about how they’re sitting/laying as is. Other than that, I think it’s great. I love that it’s monochrome and you can really focus on the dramatic lighting. Really nice work!

I absolutely love this photo. The lines on the child and the walls are amazing. I think one thing I sould have done differently is maybe taken the picture straight on instead of over the child. I had trouble figuring out what the child was holding and I think being lower would make it easier. I think that making this B&W really makes this photo stand out as well. This photo is great and I just want to give that little kid a hug. Great emotion!

Great photo – love the streaks of sunlight! If it were me, I would have moved down a little more to capture a little more of the surroundings, to get a better feel of what I’m look at. Love the black & white! That makes it really a fantastic photo!!

You really captured emotion! I love it! The only thing I would have tried is lowering my angle. So I would be just slightly above eye level. I love the black and white. and I love how her eyes are the main focus.

i really like that this photo is black and white. i love the drama and contrast that is shown. i think i would have tried to change the composition a bit. i’m not sure what is going on in the photo. i think i would have had more concentrated focus on the subjects face (a more dramatic portrait look, with less going on in the background) or gone a bit wider to show more of what is happening. i love the expression that is captured. it’s rare to capture a child with such a serene look. nice work!

This is a really interesting photo. I think it really draws the eye in. I’m not so great at setting up photos like this, so I always like to see how others do it.

I think the left side of the photo is a bit distracting. I can tell there is something there, but I can’t tell what. I think it pulls the eye away a bit from the subject.

I love how the light hits your subject’s face. It looks like she is dreaming and makes me wonder what she is thinking about. :)

Thanks for sharing with us!

Thanks for all the comments, everyone! :) He’s actually a boy, but in this case the gender neutrality works better, I think? xD