Natural Innocence

[ChaosCubed]

This is one of the first pictures I took where I was actually trying to accomplish something.

[bobbythebandit]

This is one of the first pictures I took where I was actually trying to accomplish something.

But ! and theres always a but ! she looks uncomfortable in this shot as opposed to the one with the red flower.When shooting children( and i thought about it often lol) spend a few minutes with them playing or just talking.Get them laughing or smiling. Also you have cut of the top of her head and this is breaking one of my golden rules for portraits. Divide body into 3 parts, all of the head and neck, head and torso including all of the arms and hands, then all of the body, do not cut of any parts. Just a general guideline, of course you can do what you feel is better.Sometimes you will get away with it.Thanks for sharing.
Bobby

[ChaosCubed]

This little girl is my middle daughter, Charlotte. We were actually just playing in the garden, picking flowers. I caught this snap as she was looking up from sniffing the lily. As a rule, I don't "pose" my kiddos.

I was going more for a close up of her face, her eyes especially, so I feel like my goals were pretty much attained in this shot. My concerns are more with the lighting, to be honest!

[bobbythebandit]

And nothing wrong with that at all.Lovely child she is too.How about pic of her mother so !! lol. Only thing about the lighting in this one is the shadowy area around her left eyebrow.You could have reflected some light in to this area by simply having a page of a newspaper in front of her.Good work all the same.Shoot more and post.
Bobby

[adina]

Oh my gosh I know that look! On mine, it's more of an "I'm humoring you" look.

As far as the chopping the head, doesn't bother me. In fact, I frequently chop heads. What I would do with this one though, is crop vertically, so there wasn't so much green around her, if your focus was her face. Regarding her eyes, I've come to the conclusion thru much trial and error, that a quick snip across the bangs does wonders. Not that I take the sissors with me when I'm shooting, but for my girls, as soon as the bangs are past the eyebrows, I've noticed most of the pics are of them tilting thier heads back to see me from under them, or their eyes are darker, being shaded by the bangs.

I think your light is nice and soft, but the whites on the shirt are a little blown out. Your dof is nice too. What settings did you use?

Can I play with this image?

adina

[ChaosCubed]

Sure, play away!

[awkwards]

I think this is lovely. And the BW retouch you've used in your signature (along with the others) is quite striking.

I like the crop. It brings more attention to the flower and especially her beautiful eyes.

Thank you for sharing.

[adina]

Here would be my take, since you said you were focusing on the eyes.

adina

[ChaosCubed]

I really like the crop! I guess maybe I am "afraid" to crop to much. I'm pretty bad about just cropping out the obvious. I would have never thought to bring it in that much... but it looks great! Thanks!