I’m only posting this comment so I can say how much I loved this photo..
– It’s too sweet for words
– I’d have croped the ear (or not, it doesn’t make the photo any less beautiful)
– The baby’s lips, the position of the arm, the framing, the angle..

I love this photo! The B&W composition is very nice. I would have liked to see the rest of baby’s hand, and maybe removed mom’s hair falling down in photoshop to get more definition on her nose. But who is looking at baby’s hand or mom anyway?! Look at that smile! You captured the perfect moment. No matter what critiques are given here, I’m positive this is a photo your clients are very happy with!

What an amazing moment you captured! That smile is priceless. I probably would have backed up a few steps to avoid cutting off baby’s hand, and I’d like to see more open space at the top of baby’s head. . . a little breathing room. Nice crisp focus for such a slow shutter speed! Wow!

Hi Elizabeth,
I am fairly new to being behind the lens but did photo retouching for years. I think that anyone looking at this picture can’t help but go ahhhhhhh as it is a beautiful picture, great composition, super cute. If I were to have a wand and could change something I would move the crop a little to the left to include her hand and went with a lower ISO. The picture grabs the love and relationship of mom and baby as great as you could want.

Ummm….this photo is fantastic. You can’t help but already know that:) only *minor* detail would be the baby’s hand being cut off a tad. But honestly…who cares! Great job!

This is a beautiful photo! The emotion that is coming out of it is stunning! I love the black and white! That is stunning also! The only thing I would have done differently, is fixed the babies arm, or made sure not to cut it off, also the moms ear. I may have stepped back all together and got an angle from above, instead of from the side. But this photo is absolutely beautiful.

I think the photo express a beautiful moment. I don’t know if I would have done anything differently. Beautiful

Love the photo. Black and White works so well with this one. i’d probably also have tried to keep the babies hand in but it’s gorgeous.

-I love the look on babe’s face!
-I would like to see the image horizontal, instead of vertical and maybe take a step back so the ear isn’t cut off and we can see a tad bit more neck
-BW really compliments this image.

What a beautiful picture. Amazing! I would have just cropped it in a little more to have just the mom below the ear and a little less space on the bottom to have them fill the shot. But really it is absolutely beautiful….beautiful!

I really enjoy the way you’ve capture the closeness and warmth between mother and baby. The smile on the baby’s face is precious! The black and white processing is a nice touch.
Finding much to critique about this photo is a stretch because it is overall so effective. The only things I would have tried differently would have been to back up a little so that mom’s ear and baby’s hand are completely in the frame. I also might have tried a square crop for a different feel.
Again, this photo is beautiful!

Lovely, lovely photo. Just a precious and fleeting moment. Personally, I would crop in closer, maybe make the photo a square or horizontal. Crop mom’s ear out of the photo and crop the bottom just under the baby’s arm (try to get the whole hand next time.) First, compositionally we know the eye is drawn to faces, so with a tighter crop my eye just bounces between the mom’s eyes and the baby’s beautiful smile. The black and white processing is lovely too! Very nice capture.

This is such a precious moment captured! This was great to get such a sweet smile from a baby so small. I really love that this photo is in black and white. I don’t think it would evoke the same emotion in color. I would like to see the rest of the baby’s hand in the photo and I would like to see less blanket on the bottom and maybe more on the top. It seems a bit top heavy to me. Other than that this photo is perfect!

This is absolutely breathtaking….you did a fantastic job! I really do not think I could give any word of advice to make it better. My only thought was the hand of the baby, but in the moment you got the shot and that is all that matters. I love the black and white and the softness of the photo, it is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!! Nice work!

Gorgeous photo! I love the emotion captured in this simple moment of motherly comfort. I would suggest maybe not cropping baby’s fist but the tight crop does help capture emotion.

Oh my what a moment!! Great, framing and timing! I would have kept all of the baby’s hand and fixed mommy’s hair hanging by her nose. I love how crisp and clear it is and it is gorgeous in black and white. Great job!!

This photo is exquisite Elizabeth! The moment you have captured is intimate and beautiful. I love the expression on the baby’s face and how the softness of the black and white brings out the sweetness of the moment. I think that I might have given a bit of a wider frame to get the baby’s whole hand and the mom’s whole ear. At first, I thought I might have also added a bit more contrast but the more I look at the photo the more I like the softness. It adds to the overall feel of contentment and serenity. Thank you for sharing and letting us learn from and with you!

wow my heart just melted and I will say it i’m going through a time where i want another newborn!! BUt we are praying and waiting cause i thought we were content =0 ) thank for listening! now back to the picture! i love how you were able to capture the smile! it really does capture your eye and take away from the other distractions. one way i wold have improved it is the crop, brought it down right below mom’s ear. and tried to include that baby whole hand! But other then those i think it is perfect! great job!!!

I love this picture, and you immediately fall in love with it when you see it! And that to me it is what makes a picture perfect! Not second guessing whether you like it or not. I believe changing the picture to horizontal and stepping back just a tad , with showing less blanket and more mommy would capture more of the story. Love that child’s smile, just melts your heart. You captured a moment that can never be remade! :)

Thank you all so much, sounds like there are only only a couple of things most agree on that would be nice to change. Sadly it was one of those moments that was planed so I didn’t get to take more then one. The picture was taken that size, so I can’t go back and re-crop to get the baby’s hand all in. But I will now be more a wear in the future and step back. as far at the hair goes, I will need to learn more and practice to photoshop that out. I really appreciate all the positive words, I don’t get a lot of feed back from clients so this is great. Now I might go back and play around to see what I can do with it, thanks again to Courtney for posting my Picture.

I LOVE the B&W conversion. I would have cropped out the mom’s ear and tried to make sure the baby’s whole hand was in the frame. I love how sharp the photo is for 1/50. I would never gotten it that sharp.

I adore this! As a photog and Mother! I would have loved to have a photo like this of me and my little boy. I don’t think the babies hand or the mother’s ear are all that important. I would have warmed up the tone very very slightly perhaps just to get rid of the blue tint, but that could just be my browser. Overall an absolutely gorgeous photo!