What is the distraction in this photo

first thing for me was the bow and how his beard blends in with the white on the suit

The bow in her hair draws my attention and keeps it.

Other people already replied but the bow is the #1 attention grabber in that photo. Aside from that, the window is also distracting. Those are the main competing elements.

for me it was the window i noticed first.

Window first, teeth second.

The window.

Crop and quality.

The square crop doesn't work for me...I would eliminate the left side and there is something dark on the girls lip bottom right. I don't agree with many of the other comments about changing the people's appearance... they are who they are, you should not airbrush them to perfection, just fix up temporary flaws...like pimples, cut, scrape... hair that's out of place... I think its wrong to start adding teeth or stuff like that, unless...it's for a commercial.

genesimmons wrote in post #16508924
oh and i think the photo is very nice,the santa looks a little out of focus to me but still a nice memory

I agree. This is great for a family photo album, a memory. If that is what you wanted, it's perfect.

For me it's the window. Odd to see Santa without a hat but it's the window that pulls me away from the subjects. Everything else - the bow, missing teeth, etc. - is subjective.

This is fun. The window is the most distracting!

The white vertical window frame that lines up with Santa's beard. For me it drew a line down the middle of the picture and drew me to that white line. Bow? What bow? The crops or post-processing that take the window frame out are what make the shot a keeper.

[Is she from Texas? If so, that bow is about 3 sizes under standard issue for the girls there.]

Thanks for sharing.

cpam.pix wrote in post #16556545
The white vertical window frame that lines up with Santa's beard. For me it drew a line down the middle of the picture and drew me to that white line. Bow? What bow? The crops or post-processing that take the window frame out are what make the shot a keeper.

[Is she from Texas? If so, that bow is about 3 sizes under standard issue for the girls there.]

Thanks for sharing.

"Is she from Texas? If so, that bow is about 3 sizes under standard issue for the girls there."

LOL, No she lives in Georgia.

I'm not sure there is a wrong answer here. If I would have looked at the picture with out the question "what is the distraction," I'm not sure I would have studied it long enough to figure out what I didn't like about it.

While trying to figure out the right answer I did come up with the bow and the window but what I kept coming back to was the green and white striped sweater on the red and white poka-dots.

I would have never said anything negative about your niece's picture if you hadn't asked for it.