I think the lighting is beautiful, creamy and golden! I might have given her a prop like a baseball bat or changed the composition to show where she was better (she was at a baseball diamond, right?). And I love the angle you shot at! Not too high or too low. Beautiful!

Wow, beautiful pictures! The lighting is great. This is my first time doing this, but all I could suggest is that her right sleeve seems to be over-exposed.
Love the angle, and once again, the lighting is great!

I love it all & Bonus points cause it was taken at one of my favorite places (baseball field) where I send MANY a afternoons because of my boys. I just might have done a whole body shot to include the bleachers but awesome imagine.

This is a lovely shot. I agree about the prop, because her hands seems a little lost there. The light is good for sure, I would try to position her to have to catch lights on her eyes. I also struggle with that, but it does make a difference.

I’ve never done this before so hope this is ok.
Love this picture, you have caught the little girl very well with her lovely smile. I agree she needs a prop and she looks as if she doesn’t know what to do with her hands. But it is a lovely shot.

So adorable–what a bright smile! I think I have to disagree with the prop thing. I think her hands are cute (if she were an adult, we would know that that would be awkward, but she seems carefree to me). It would be nice to have a slightly less close crop though, leaving a little more room around her body in the frame. The baseball field provides an interesting background that does not detract too much from her.

Gorgeous picture, great exposure and expression. I feel the crop at the top and bottom is alittle tight and I may have used a larger aperture to blur the background alittle more, but then I appreciate you may have not wanted that. Not sure about the hands I can’t decide – this may be a characteristic of the model, either way she looks an adorable little girl and a photograph to be proud of.

The first thing I noticed about this photo was her gorgeous smile. It, along with the beautiful lighting fills the frame with a radiance that is really lovely. I think I would have moved her a bit more to the left of the shot and left just a tiny bit more on the top and bottom to balance the frame a bit more. Her hands do seem like she did not know what to do with them, but that is very minor and didn’t detract me from the beauty when I initially looked at the photo. The background adds a lot to the overall feel of the moment you captured and the diagonal line at the bottom of the fence anchors the picture. Once again, beautiful lighting! Thank you for sharing!

I agree with the many above1 I love the lighting. I love close ups like this, so I love the close crop. I agree with a prop, or I would have had her put her hands on her hips. In photoshop I also would have brightened those beautiful eyes up. Her eyes and smile are simply gorgeous! What a beautiful little girl! I love the happiness emitting from this photo! Great job!

First, may I just tell you how brave you are for putting your picture out there for everyone to dissect…we all want to improve but opening ourselves up for critique is no easy task! As mentioned by everyone before her smile is gorgeous! It seems natural and sincere. The crop is a little awkward for me. It seems a little smooshed as if the right side needed to be pulled out just a tad more to really make good use of the rule of thirds. Regardless though you focus is crisp and sure which means you still have a stellar photograph :-)

WOW! This was the 1st time I’ve ever submitted a photo to be critiqued. I want to thank you all for your critiques! And I’d like to thank you, Courtney for posting my picture. I will definitely be sending you some more of pictures if that is ok? This was fun and such an eye opener. Thank you again.

I think that the photo is beautiful! The lighting is really nice, falling on her side and allowing such a good viewing of her face. The only thing I can think to suggest, is maybe that she have something to do with her hands. It just seems like she is sort of unsure what to do with them. I have the same problem in photos if I don’t have a prop or something. But the depth of field in the photo is wonderful!

What an adorable daughter you have on your hands!! I love the genuine smile you were able to capture. The shadows look a little dark on her face in the creases so I would lighten those up with the fill light. Also, the white balance is a little warm. This is something I struggle with so I would move the slider a little to the blue side. Her hands don’t bother me but I would like to see a little more space above her head. I’m so guilty of too tight of a crop. I would have also positioned yourself so that there was a little more light in her eyes. However, you did a great job of positioning her so that her face so was not in the direct sun. Great job!! It’s a great shot that shows off how happy she is. I like how you used the rule of thirds to keep her head in the top 3rd. Thanks for submitting a photo. Please keep in mind that your vision is what is most important when you read the critiques :O)

I love this little girl – she has such great humor and personality shining in her eyes and smile and you captured that perfectly! She has very lovely eyes and I think if you would turn her a teeny bit more toward the light and angle her face up slightly, you’d really be able to get those catchlights. The eyes could be sharpened some – it seems the little flowers on her jacket are more in focus than her eyes are. The other thing that really caught my eye was her hands – the way she is holding them looks unnatural to me. Play with your poses a little bit and try different things with hands (those can be hard!) A “hands on hip” pose would have matched that great smile perfectly. :-) Otherwise, your composition is very appealing and overall, it is a great image! :-)