I love how you are drawn to the child’s eyes right away and then the rest of the scene fills in. Her face is very sharp the the focus is brought right to it!

I love nearly everything about this picture. The colors, the messy floor, it doesn’t even bother me that her knee is chopped off. Her eyes look too sharp for my tastes. I love that she only has one shoe on.

Nice colors! I would have just (in hindsight always of course) went down laying on my belly to the child’s level to shoot from their perspective.

I love this image. If I’m being picky, I wish her cute little knee weren’t cut off and it appears that you did a little processing on her eyes, I may tone it down a touch. Other than that, love.

I really love the eyes to lens connection, super sweet gaze and appears as though she may have tasted the chalk a bit too ;). I personally love the angle and composition of the image. I may have done a little less on the crop to include the rest of her other knee and leg and to me this screams black and white, I think it would give such a dramatic look that way :) Thanks for sharing your image!

I LOVE all the details in the picture: the chalk, the one shoe, the curls, the catch-lights in her eyes, the “realness” of it all :) Something I would have done different: Perhaps made sure to include her whole frame(knee). It’s such a darling photo and I do love the lighting on her face, it’s very soft and natural!

Oh, Lovely Angle. I would of included her right knee in the frame though. I know I always have trouble with cropping off parts of people’s arms and legs, but if you pay attention to it, it can really help improve you photos! Love the skin tone. I always have such a hard time nailing them! What’s your secret?! ;)

Very nice focus on the eyes…sharp and colorful.
I’d like to see a little broader view of the “mess/drawing” she did. Love that she has one shoe off and has a look of “uh oh…you caught me”, but I’m afraid the water on the ground may look like she had an “accident”.

Love the catchlights in her eyes! It’s really such an adorable “moment in time” photo, and I love the angle since this is how you will remember it. The only thing I might try to improve is that her right cheek and shoulder seem to be a little too blown out with brightness.

This is an adorable shot, I love that it is taken with her looking up. I would have loved to see all of her other knee in the picture, and I think the eyes are a little overdone. The colors are great.

I really like the focus on the face/eyes that allows the background to fade just slightly. If the rule of thirds was used more, instead of having her head almost center, I think it would add to the whole look. I think the chalk mess is perfect, it’s the story behind the face. I really do like this one!

Marissa

You did a great job of nailing focus on her face. If I would try to improve on anything it would be not as much editing of the eyes. I think they might be bordering on not looking real. That being said, I love the angle, and that she is looking directly at the camera. Great photo!!

After stepping away and coming back to look at it again, I’d be very interested to see how this would look with a little less sharpening around the eyes and a little sharpening of the hair. I think the sharpening of the hair would provide some seperation between the wood boards below her and provide more depth to the picture.

Beautiful! Love the angle! I personally don’t mind cropped limbs as they are not the subject but an extension of it. The subject in this image is her expression. Great DOF as well!

I love how clear the eyes are, nice picture, I too wish the knee was not cropped off. Love the one shoe on and one off with the curled toes. Cute little girl.

I just love this!

I think the colors are great( but would love to see it in B/W, too!). The only thing I would change is to tone down the sharpness of her eyes. Her expression is priceless, and the missing shoe is just the icing on the cake :)

What a sweet moment that you captured! I love that I can make up a whole story just from this one photo. The missing part of the knee was one of the first things that I noticed. My eyes went from her eyes down to her knee and then off the picture, I would have cropped it so she would have been in the lower third of the photo so that more of the drawing would have would kept me on the picture a bit longer. I love “quintessential toddler queues” Missing shoe, messy face and that look of uh oh! absolutely adorable.

Viewing this child’s eyes you can see that the photographer captured her sweet innocence. The picture is sharp around her face with even skin tone. I would have knelt down and photographed the child at her level instead of from above looking down, and included her knee in the shot. I would say the photographer captured a sweet expression that warms your heart.

I love the moment you captured – from this angle I feel like I’ve “caught” her playing with the chalk and having snuck her shoe off.

I think you’ve over-edited her eyes, the whites are too white to look natural.

I also love how everything is lined up so well – the boards make a perfect diagonal to the frame making it dynamic, but they’re also perfectly in line with her, giving some leading lines to her eyes.

As has been pointed out already, the eyes are too sharp and there need to be some separation of the hair from background.
The one real distracting point for me is the wet patch of deck that is dark and competes too strongly for my attention.
Overall the image works well with colour and tone (bar the above comment) + subject

I love this shot – you did such an excellent job of freezing a moment in time and it completely draws in the viewer to the child’s world. One thing to consider (and this is a matter of personal/artistic preference) is using a shallower depth of field here – it could give the photo more depth and a slight blurring of everything below her shoulders would bring even more focus to her face. Fantastic work though and gorgeous eyes and skin tone – you nailed something so many of us struggle with!

I was immediately drawn to her eyes! Great editing and natural lighting. The only thing I would have done differently was the knee being cut off. Other than that its a great picture!

I love the moment that you’ve captured here – fun and messy, with a gorgeous girl in the center. I would consider flipping the photo so that the strong lines of the deck lead you through left to right. Love the details with one shoe off, crushed chalk, etc.

I love how you have captured this moment, with her shoe off and chalk on the face. I would love to have seen the subject in the far left of the frame and more of what she was doing in the right of the frame. To help better tell us the story of what was going on in that moment. I like her knee being cropped off, it looks fine.

This is a nice picture! I noticed though that the eyes are too sharpened/ overly-edited. otherwise, it’s perfect! :)

I love her eyes, very striking, which keeps pulling me back to that part of the photo. The look on her face is cute. The missing shoe just gives it more character to the fact this is a small child. The only thing I can see is the knee crop, it’s not horrible but does look a tad odd. Well done!

I love the catchlights in the eyes and the focus, as well as the diagonal lines of the deck bringing you right to her. (and only one shoe!) The knee crop does bother me a bit, and the piece of chalk (?) on the lower left caught my attention and drew me away. I wondered if it was chalk or if it might have been something else like the leg of a chair that snuck into the corner of the photo. I might try a recrop for those reasons, if there was room, to include more of her knee and her picture, or just to remove that chalk. It’s a very strong image though and I love the angle. Really nice!

I love this image! And the child is adorable! I would have pulled back more to get more of the surrounding mess as background, and cropped it so that her eyes are more in the upper left rather than dead center. I agree that the eyes are a little over done, but that is more of a personal opinion. Great shot!!

I love this picture. I don’t mind that the knee is cut off. It reminds me how quickly these moments can change. The missing knee adds to the emotional impact of the photo. My only critique is the one piece of chalk in the far left corner. It is a bit distracting to me. I wouldn’t clone it out of it were a personal picture, but I might if I were using the photo in a competition. Beautiful work!

What a great photo!! Excellent point of view, I am finding it hard to critique, maybe reposition your lens so you’re using the rule of thirds a little better? Even then, I don’t know that it bothers me! Beautiful picture. :D

I love that you caught her looking up, her facial expression is priceless. I would have tried to include her knee( I also have the issue of limb chopping) and maybe reduce the editing on her eyes a bit. Over all the picture has great exposure and composition. Good job

This picture is adorable- I love how you captured a real moment & her expression is perfect. For me, the eyes are a bit too sharp & I’d pull back a bit so you don’t chop off her knee. I like the angle you got from coming above your subject. Well done!

Love, love the photo. I caught what I do so often so focused on the face I forget to check to make sure all limbs are in pic, something I need to put on my to work on list. Awesome catch, in the moment pic.

I absolutely love this! But since the comment will be deleted if there ins’t a tip the only thing I might suggest is to have her off to the left side a little, either by cropping or composing it that way (just a little too centered?)

Really, it looks good. I love the sharpness and the eyes are so beautiful!

Super cute. Colors look great and the knee doesn’t bother me at all as my eyes are drawn right to her face. Her eyes are a bit overdone though, imo. She’s a cutie!

Attention is immediately drawn to the eyes which are very sharp, as it should be. The rest falls off into an atmosphere where the blur actually adds to instead of detracting from. Although I’d like to see more of the chalk drawing on the boards I think the photo is awesome as it is. Great work!

I love the eye contact with the camera, and I personally love the eye edit :) I think I would have cloned out the tube at the bottom left… It pulls my focus from the little cutie :) Candid shots such as these melt my heart! Great image! Happy snapping :)

darling! i love the real mess of the real moment :). the only idea i have for improvement has been highlighted by others: the editing on the eyes looks over processed. i know it can be tricky to get a feel for that. cute watermark, too!

Love the storytelling of this photo. Great capture! I agree with others that while I love how the eyes draw you in, they seem a little over sharpened for my taste. I also would’ve pulled back a little to include more of the scene and the rest of her leg. I’d love to have a bit of a better glimpse into what she was getting into. Overall though, a beautiful, fun shot with nice color and skin tones!

Cute shot but the eyes are way over done. She’s got the “alien eyes” going on. Good focus on them but over edited. less is more when editing. The crop doesn’t bother me and I love the angle. Cute girl!

I think you nailed the whit balance and skin tone. If I have to find something to improve upon, just get back a bit so her knee isnt cut off. I love everything- the messy chalk on the floor and her chin, her expression, her eyes, the tone, everything! You nailed it!!

I love the eye contact and great connection. I would prefer to see the corner of her knee in the image. I really like the lighting and the soft shadow it creates.

This picture is absolutely stunning I love the reflection in her eyes it’s beautiful. This picture is really hard to critique at all. But if I had to make a critique it would be maybe doing a little wider aperature to blur out the background a little more. And make more focus on just the face! But this picture is well designed, and posed!!

I absolutely love this photo! The colors are great. It was really hard to find anything to improve upon! I may have taken it from a slightly different angle, maybe gotten a tad bit lower, but really I love everything about it. Amazing eyes!

Love the angle! The face (Especially the eyes) look a little too over processed to me, I would soften that up. And I would have gotten rid of that table leg/chair leg in the bottom left corner. Awesome catch light in the eyes though. She’s adorable :)

I love her eyes, I like that they stand out. I don’t agree with others saying that they are too sharp or over processed – the shallow depth of field makes them stand out – because for me that’s the focal point and point of interest of the image!
Things I would change… not much! Just a few tweaks. I would prefer her less central to the image, and the knee crop is a shame.
The angle works great for me. Yes it is nice to be at their level sometimes, but this works in this image. To me it comes across as she is a picture of innocence. That she has been caught out maybe… making a mess and with the one shoe. Although a smile would be cute, the unsure look tells me she has a mischievous personality and tells a story. Lovely image.

I think it’s really good!! Only thing I would have tried to do different is have her over to the left a little more! Rule of thirds!! Someday I may get brave enough to put my photos out there! Go you!

Thanks for all the feedback, everybody! I totally agree with the knee chopping. However, my little cutie doesn’t let me get very far away from her very often. She is quite clingy! :) It wasn’t a matter of cropping her. It was a matter of the fact that I couldn’t get quite high enough to get her all in the frame.

I was having a lot of fun sharpening the eyes, and I agree that I could tone it down a bit.

Thanks for all the comments! :)

I think this is a fabulous photo. If I’m being picky, I’d agree to tone down the sharpness in her eyes JUST a hair ( unless you plan to convert it to b&w ( it’d be gorgeous!) , in which case I’d leave them). Her knee is cut off but I don’t really notice it right off because the focus goes right to her eyes. The thing that I love about this photo is that it tells a story and so much about her all in one photo. Great work!

Love the arial view. Very nice work.

Love the expression and the placement of the hands. Almost like she is saying, “who me?” I feel the eyes (while beautiful) are a tad too sharp for my taste. I really like the exposure of her face and the “scene”. It tells a story and I love that!

I love the tones and quality of the capture of the baby girl’s skin.

I think the eyes are a little over processed…they take away from the natural quality of the rest of the image.

I love the composition of the image. The angle of the boards, The angle the baby girl is sitting and I love how she is looking up with a “what???” expression on her face :)

She’s beautiful. I like a lot about this picture, but I am distracted by how over-edited the eyes are. It’s such a natural moment, but the “baby doll” eyes draw away from the natural beauty. The composition is nice. I especially like the angle of the floor boards.

Rosemary, this is a gorgeous image. I love the color, the mess, the lines from the floorboards and her eyes…wow they are stunning. One change I would suggest is the composition could be stronger if she was on the thirds line or directly in the centre. By placing her in between, the composition is not as strong. Congrats, and thank you for sharing.

Love the composition of the picture and like how she is looking up being caught in the middle of her business of creativity. Her eyes are intense and draw me to her. I would prefer that her eyes were a little less processed, perhaps a tad more natural, but like the brightness of them. The only item that distracts me from keeping my eyes on the little girl is the chalk on the bottom left, but the other chalk is fine as it tells the story of what is going on in the image and is closer to her body. Overall, I think you achieved a wonderful moment that is authentic and genuine of a child having fun with chalk drawing… even on her face. So cute!!!!

I love the photo, the knee crop doesn’t bother me. It does look like the eyes are a little over processed. But again love the photo.

I LOVE the angle you chose to shoot your subject at….I would have reduced the intensity of her eyes a bit or maybe even not enhanced them at all…love the expression you captured and the candid moment of the shot! Job well done!

You have captured the true essence of childhood. A mess, missing shoe, looking up at an adult. Love it! Her eye whites are too white in my opinion and I feel like her face is too centered. I’d crop so that her face is more to the left and her legs could be leading lines. This is such a great capture! One for the wall!

I really love this image– I can totally relate to the toddler mess! My only critique is that the eyes look a bit too processed, but I really love it otherwise!

I love how this one photo captures an entire story, where as some stories need a series of photos to do so! I would only say not to brighten the whites of the eyes too much for it doesn’t look natural, but it’s ok to enhance the color in them instead, and also to watch your cropping so your not cutting off body parts. She is doll and the angle you captured her from in this photo was spot on to help capture the entire story! Love it :)

What a cute little girl! The way you’ve captured her is interesting too, I like the wide angle that emphasizes her face and eyes. I also like the nice, clean edit. One thing I would have changed would be to either angle the camera, step back, or zoom out to include her knee in the shot–I’ve been guilty of limb chopping too, and it’s always easier to see after the fact, isn’t it? Otherwise nice job, and thanks for sharing!

I love the ” I have been caught in the act look” but would love to see more of the “act” with her a little more to the left! Overall great picture! Thanks for sharing!

I love the expression on her face and the back ground is great. I just think the upper part of her head and her eyes look a little to sharp in contrast to the rest of the picture. However the light in her eyes is fantastic.

I love this picture. Her eyes are the first thing that draw you in. Then as you are looking at it, you notice little details of childhood like the chalk on her chin and the one shoe on one shoe off. The only thing I would have done differently if possible (and sometimes it’s just not if you are capturing a moment) would be to change the composition a little…maybe try cropping it a little differently. Adorable pic though :)

This is a very cute photo, looks like she was having some fun! I like how her eyes are the focus of the photo and I really like the angle you shot it from. For some reason I want to see it in black and white. I think it would add to the drama. Also, with cropping I would have added back in her knee. Otherwise, this is an adorable photo that was taken from a nice angle. Great job!

I find the photo to be just priceless with all the different colors and as so many have said the knee cropped a little bit too much, but I can live with it because the composition is incredible and the subject’s eyes just won me over.

I love this photo. There are so many great details that tell the tale of a kid just playing around. I would have tried to put the subject to the upper left a little more to include more of the details around her and her knee. It is a great photo though! I love how the eyes just pull you in!