My Niece

There is a reason there hasnt been a comment made to your photograph: Its just not that put together. For a candid portrait like yours, you need good framing. This photo looks like its from a party with a point-and-shoot. Those types of shots are all good and fun, but its not really what this forum is about. The head is cut off and there is too much going on with the hands at the ears. Try another shot.

This is basically a snap shot. It's cute though. If that's all you're looking for, then read no further.

You need to learn about composition and you need to set up your camera in order to maximize the technical perfection of your shot. As for composition, you have a landscape orientation on a portrait. These are generally better as either square of vertical. You've cut off the top of her head. Lastly, your background is too busy. Get rid of the phantom hands.

From a technical point of view, you used the pop-up flash on your camera. This should be your absolutely last choice. It gives you the deer-in-the-headlights look and is seldom flattering. Your niece is quite cute. So that sort of makes up for it a little. But you can do much better. Learn to control the focus points on your camera. Never trust it to pick the proper thing to be in focus. Here, it picked the flower on her right shoulder when it should have picked her eyes. As a general rule, if the eyes are not in sharp focus, the image is a failure.