I like that you captured this photo in black and white — it really intensifies the effect of her gaze into your lens. I might have zoomed out a little bit to include her hairline and increased DOF a tad so her hair was a bit more in focus. The blurry background otherwise does a wonderful job of removing distractions and directing the viewer’s eyes right to your subject. Beautiful portrait!

Love the catch lights in her eyes! There needs to be more contrast and brightness, but the framing/layout is great!

Love this, you are really drawn to the child’s eyes. I would have brightened it up and made the lights and darks contrast a bit more but overall great picture and definitely a good pick for b&w!

The eyes pull me in! Great job engaging with your subject. I think I would pull back just a tad so that her chin isn’t quite so close to the bottom of the frame. Also, it would be good to touch up her under eye circles and smooth her skin a bit to make the image look more polished. Good job keeping both eyes sharp while maintaining a nice blurry background.

Love the black and white post processing..my favorite for portraits. Maybe just a tad more background in the image so that the young lady isn’t so much right “in your face”. Might enhance the innocent feel to her look. The lighting is nice and subtle and DOF really makes her stand out. Nice job!

The catchlights are fantastic! I think I would increase DOF, but just a bit. And I may have pulled back just a bit, as well, simply because when printing I’d be afraid that a bit of her chin would be sacrificed. I love the framing and that it’s B&W because it goes with her intense mood.

Love the image as it draws you to the child’s eyes. I agree with bringing the zoom back to bring more of the child’s hairline into the image more. A bit more contrast and brightened it up a bit. Maybe some touch up under the eyes. Love this portrait though, nice DOF.

Hi Hannah, I’m a big fan of B&W photography for the timeless feel that it imparts. It’s such a nice choice for this beautiful little girl and her innocent, endearing face! I like the tight framing that you’ve chosen as it emphasizes her eyes and features, but her chin rests right on the bottom frame edge. As a general rule, it is helpful to either give objects (in this case her chin) enough “breathing room or crop into them. Since the top of the head was framed tight (which I like for its contemporary and out-of-the-box approach), I would have left a bit more room under the chin. At this point, I see two options, either crop into the chin slightly or soften/blur and possibly lighten the lower chin edge a bit ( I would try the later option first). Regarding editing, a couple other things that I would experiment with are, bringing a touch more definition to the eyes and playing with levels, curves, and/or dodging to bring a bit more light and contrast to her face. These would need to be subtle changes, as I wouldn’t want to mess up the beautiful soft, flat lighting that this image has. Editing is always a dance – back and forth – and maybe this idea wouldn’t work. That’s the wonderful thing about non-destructive editing…we get to play. Finally, this is classic image that is very creatively seen! Lovely.

I love that the focus is sharp on her eyes and am a huge fan of bw. I would have probably bumped up the exposure and contrast a little, just personal taste. Otherwise, lovely shot!

Love how your subject is looking into the camera! Her gaze really pulls the viewer in. I would have brightened up the photo,it seems a tad too dark but I love the blurry background and that this image is black and white. :)

I love how drawn I am to her eyes and the catchlights that you captured! There is no doubt that was your intention. Great job! I would also agree that showing her hairline would be a good idea – I was just reading about composition and limb chops and such, and what I read specifically mentioned to show the hairline because otherwise the forehead seems to be much larger to us. I love that it is in black and white. I think it is a bit muddy, without a lot of contrast, but with the expression on her face I think it works for that.

Your photograph is a nice glimpse into this childs life— however, it leaves me asking “what” is she saying with those beautiful eyes. Nice catch light. Love the B&W.. agree a bit more contrast might be nice. Perhaps a little more open crop to the forehead..less drastic of a crop line… or even a slight tilt in edit to allow the eye to move around the photograph in a less linear fashion. You have a great subject to work with… and your work will grow each day!!!

I really like your photo Hannah. The sharpness of the eyes ensures the viewer is drawn to them instantly. I do agree that the catch lights are very good too. Just like Anna VanDemarkmentioned before me, make it even better you could’ve had a look at the levels/ curves in Photoshop or lightroom, to really crisp up the face and make it stand out even more. Also a little more room at the bottom would be nice, to give the image some “breathing space”. other than that, it’s a very good portrait.

You nailed the catch lights! I would have brightened it up to add a bit more contrast. Her hair blends into the background, and I feel like her skin should be a tad brighter. Not much though!

I also love the composition. I see a few of the comments are suggesting to pull back, but I wouldn’t have. Great shot!

The image looks great. I like that her eyes rest on the top one-third line. I don’t mind that the top of her head was cropped off …I do that often. It draws more attention to the eyes. And speaking of her eyes, they are beautiful but lack just a little expression. I would say something funny or interesting before taking the photo to bring out an expression. The only other thing I would do differently is use a contrasty preset but that is a personal preference. I do love that the photograph was taken up close.

Lovely detail in the eyes and lips. I would have backed up just a smidge to include the hairline, and brighten just a bit in post. It’s a beautiful photo overall, I love her expression and how she’s more to the right of the frame.

I love the catch light! needs a little contrast and maybe I would also zoom out a little to not cut the forehead but really nice photo and the expression on her face and the black and white really goes well together :)

A little more contrast.

I disagree with those saying you should have pulled back some to include a hairline. (To me) the subject isn’t the the child but her gaze, her eyes so I like the close crop. I agree there should be more contrast, maybe play around with curves some too, but other than that it’s great! :)

Love how it’s so sharp! Would have f/1.8 maybe? Love the Black & White!

I love so much about this! your bw edit could make this image something even better than it already is. Add more contrast and depth, maybe darken the edges a bit so all the attention falls on the beautiful girl. great catchlights;)

I love the composition of this picture and the black and white to fit with her intense stare. I feel like you need a little more punch in the black and white though. You could add some more contrast, add some clarity, brighten it up a bit. Right now it looks kind of muddy. You should always have whites and blacks in a black and white photo along with the midtones. Luckily this is a simple thing to change and the lighting you used is perfect (not all lighting is good for a B&W conversion IMO). The catchlights are awesome too!

Beautiful engagement with your subject – love that piercing look. I too would have pulled back just a touch on the framing, but more so breathed in a little more life into the image in post processing – the contrast, curves, brightness – I think it’ll send your image and reactions over the moon : ) And excellent choice to convert to B&W – adds so much mood and story!

Beautiful portrait. I would have pulled back a little and added more contrast. Her eyes are intense.

I love the close up look of the picture, and it looks awesome in b&w, but one thing that I would change is darkening up the contrast and bringing the temperature down to make more of a moody picture and have a sharper contrast by her dark lahair and the lightness of her face. I also love the catchlights and focus in her eyes!

You did a very nice job on making sure the eyes were sharp and in focus. I would prefer to see more contrast and a tighter crop, there is a little too much dead space on the left.

I’m a newbie and trying to learn too! Beautiful eyes! Definitely drawn to her eyes! I think I would have tried to brighten the image a bit. Add little more of a contrast… And maybe would have shot such a close up with higher aperture? I love the b/w conversion!! I’m learning by other responses too! Thanks for being brave enough to put it out there!

I really like the focus and catchlights. I think the image could have been a bit brighter, but that is just a personal preference. My only suggestions are concerning post processing. I love this image as a black and white, although it feels a bit flat. I think increasing the contrast just a bit would enhance the classic beauty of this image. I would also remove or reduce the dark circles under her eyes to let those eye stand out even more. I love the grey tones of the image, that’s my favorite way to process black and white images. Great job :)

Hi I love that you got up close to your subject… I would have shot at perhaps f2.8 as then you get a really soft look and just the eyes would be in focus. Also step back a little and include the top of her head as it will portray a better image! On the whole you have done excellent to even get an image of a child up close and get them still for long enough is an awesome achievement!

Love this! Beautiful subject and you’re really drawn into the eyes. I would have probably zoomed out a little more. And increased the clarity. On black and whites I always really amp up the clarity. It would look ridiculous to do that in color but in black and white it just gives you all this beautiful detail and depth.

What great focus – really intense photo! I actually would like to see a little more background as I wonder if being so close is a little too intense. But, the eyes and the catchlights are some of the most remarkable I have seen on the critique me series. Nice work!

I love the lighting and her expression! She is beautiful and the picture shows off every feature. The only things I might do differently are back up just a bit to get a little more of the forehead and possibly in editing lighten the eyes a tiny bit. However, I love this image and think you did an excellent job. I had to really think of how to improve it.

I love the catch lights in her eyes. The framing is beautiful but I would have zoomed out a tad bit so as her chin isn’t right at the edge. I like the use of b&w it enhances the mood conveyed.

A Beautiful photo of this young girl. To capture more of what you are trying to say about her I would have got her from a different angle , more becoming of her than dead on serious. Perhaps have her move her head a little but not her eyes. Back it up and capture a bit more of her hair . Beautiful beautiful B&W.

Love that the eyes are positioned perfectly to be stared into, stirs deep emotions in the viewer. Either more of her face (hairline) or less of her face for a better balanced picture. Black and white adds drama and fits the emotion wonderfully, maybe a slight tweak to the contract would improve the overall effect.

I didn’t read all the above comments, but I must say I disagree with editing under her eyes. I like it. It gives her more personality and makes the picture more real. I guess it depends on what look you are going for – reality or perfect portrait. Like others, however, I do think that some more contrast overall would make the shadows and highlights really stand out more – especially in her eyes, which are awesome! I love the catch lights. I also like the whispiness to her hair with your choice of DOF. Great shot! She looks wise beyond her years.

I love the clarity in the eyes! I am very green and just starting out, but…i think its too chopped off at forehead and chin. I do like the close up feel though. Also, i prefer color, lots of color! I think a bit more light on left side of face could add more depth. Beautiful details and cute subject!

Hi I’m a pretty new photographer myself, so this is good training for the eye for me!!

I love macro photos of the face, I like how clear her eyes are, it’s what my eye is drawn to, which I think is beautiful!
What I think I may have done differently is (and this is just my opinion)
The black and white I love but it looks a little flat.. If that makes sense? It might be nice to have a little more contrast perhaps light too.
I love a bouquet background, so I might pull back from the face a little so that you could see more of the background blur which makes the face stand out more as well.
But it is a very sweet picture! I love photos of kids, some if my favorite to work with :)
Keep up the good work!!

I love the catch lights in her eyes. I agree that the image is a bit flat, and I think I would have liked the color version better.

This is absolutelt stunning! I would have brightened up the image either in camera of photoshop and increased the contrast to make the darker areas (like her hair and those adorable freckles) stand out a bit more. The way you have her off centered is great. And her eyes are perfectly in focus and really draws my attentin in! The catch lights in her are are beautiful! Awesome, awesome job!

I think this is a great photo! I love the intensity and gorgeous catchlights. I absolutely love close ups of children like this. You are drawn to the eyes. I like the crop and composition but I think I would add a bit more contrast to the black and white to make it appear not so flat and maybe a little light. I think I would also have used a bigger appeture like 2.8 and turned down the ISO. Great pic!

I love black and white. <3 Great choice in using it over color. You've added a dramatic demision to your image and its working. I'd reccomend adding more contrast to inhance the damacticness of the image too. That will really make it pop. Great composition too, I like how she is offset to the right.

First let me say I really like the composition, I think what I might do is smooth out her skin a bit. She has such beautiful eyes I feel this would help them pop. You did a fabulous job on the sharpness as well!