First real kids portrait shoot

I am looking for some C&C on the first shoot I have done with a specific subject. Granted, this is my daughter, but I treated it as much like a portrait shoot as I could.

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/mattpharmd/9108​477509/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/mattpharmd/9110​700558/

Good job with these – especially since she's a child...was it hard to get her to stay still?

#1) I like this shot. Her eyes tell the whole story of the photograph. However, be careful of your composition and what you inevitably cut off in the picture. Like in this one, her wrist is captured at a weird place. I've used this as a guide to help me with my composition sometimes, Portrait Guide. But again, this is my own personal opinion and how I take portraits.

#2) Good, playful picture. It looks to be underexposed on my screen. Try bumping up the brightness using the tone curve (if you're on LR) or thru other means. Also try and bump up the highlights just a tad and reduce the red tones to make the red in her cheeks a little less rosy. Also, if you notice above her head, there's what I like to call dead space – for this you can try cropping in a little tighter to get a nice headshot.

Good work so far!

I'd recommend getting down to her level (first shot) instead of shooting down toward her. You captured the shooting angle well in the second shot.

I also like how you have her away from the background in the second shot -- this provides a natural separation because your daughter can be in focus and the background can be out of focus. In the first, there's very little separation...and some of the background rocks are in focus.

The white balance changes between the photos. In the second, her cheeks seem a bit redder than the first shot. Did you use automatic white balance (AWB) or use a fixed setting?

Enjoy the photo ops with your daughter now. At some point she will turn 13 and run when she hears the zipper on your camera bag. Luckily, at the age of 16, my daughter decided that it was OK to be a model again.

Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the input on both of these. I am going to try a re-edit. She is actually a little bit of a ham when my camera comes out. I shot from above her on the first one because I loved the spot (steps of the original town courthouse), but the background wasn't great. The dead space on the second one is actually there because I planned this for an 8x10, but this is the 8x12 crop.

I really like the first image as shot from above. (That is just something I like, but can be overdone.) I would have liked to have had it shot in portrait format rather than landscape so that her hands would have been included.

The second image looks tack sharp on her flowered dress, but her face is soft. Either that or everything about her was jumping except for her dress.

A very cute subject and if she likes the camera then keep shooting.

I really like the expression on the second shot. Nice subtle background, makes your subject pop.

Honestly, I don't like the backgrounds in either shot.

In the first, the concrete doesn't feel like it should be in a toddler portrait, and the seams cut right through her.

In the second, again, I feel the bricks don't belong, and the wood on the left side is somewhat distracting.

I'd reshoot these in a park or some other setting, or try and get no discernible background at all. Sorry for the negativity, but (IMO) the background is as important as the subject when composing.