First Portraits Critique needed

Hello all. These are my first portrait attempts of a freind and her daughters. I wellcom all critiques. Thanks

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And a third

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These are great for a first attempt w/ these .

#2 I might crop a bit from the top right to lessen white space and move her out of the center of the photograph. Also if I were to reshoot I would bring the arm that she's using to "rest" her chin on closer to vertical - right now I think it "looks posed" . I'm sitting here at my desk and thinking about how I rest my chin on my hand and it's my tendency to face knuckles out, rather than perpindicular. Don't know what is "normal," but I'd throw that out here.

I'm not sure what I'd do differently with #3, but the amount of white space at the top bothers me as opposed to the filled bottom/middle. If reshooting, I'd consider shooting this horizontally possibly. Also possibly moving the middle person up to closer (but not quite) level with the two outside girls.

I hope these are the kind of comments you're looking for . I think your overall setup is good, those are just things I'd do differently... Then again that's just me . Thanks for sharing!

Really not bad at all for first attempts. I'm impressed with the lighting, you avoided major shadows and seem to be on the right track there.

Two things are bugging me though:
I agree with codex0, the position of the hand in #2 does not work. The girl doesn't even seem to be resting on it, it looks to me like she is just holding her fist under her chin. That makes it look a bit awkward.
The other thing is the dog in #3. He/she is too close to the camera. To me it seems like the focus is on the dog and the ladies are the background (even though the camera focus is on them).

Oh, one more thing, but I may be very picky here: I do not really like it when people lean foreward and then have to bend their necks to look straight aread (like the girl on the right in #3). I just don't find that strained throat area very appealing. "Chin down" a bit more would be better anyway. IMHO.

Thanks codexo and dazzlebea for you comments. My main problem is space. I only have enough room to shoot with a 53'' background so it was a challenge to get 3 people and a dog is such a narrow space. I agree with both of your criticisms and will work on those areas for my next shoot.

Thanks again

Craig

Not "criticism", that is way too harsh. Pointers?

Can't wait to see your next pics

I meant criticism in the most positive sense. Thanks for your honest assesmet. I will post more soon. I hope.

Cheers

I've never been a fan of the "hand under the chin" thing. Female hands are very tough to pose in a feminine way. It's not a very natural pose, and the hand distracts from the face. The third photo shows the dog's face way too big, as it's close to the camera. That's the tough part about short studio space..you need to use a wider lens....and when a part of a frame is closer than another part, it looks proportionately bigger. I might suggest putting the middle girl higher than the others..that might make that blank space above less obvious. Posing one person is sometimes tough...three is even tougher..and then throw in an animal and you've got your hands full.
I did a quick adjustment with levels and shrpening.

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