The formative years

My 8 year old grand daughter.

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nice shot, the only thing i would say would be to ps out the hair by her bottom lip. Looks nice.

Great shot, agree with TNP on the hair by her lip!

The lighting looks really flat. Hot spots on her cheek and harsh shadows, looks like you used direct flash. Have to tried using a bounce card or diffuser?

Your subject is very cute and photogenic.

Using a flash in this manner is bound to create the hot spots and the flat, harsh lighting. So, you may want to consider more room lighting and more diffuse lighting so as to allow you to work without flash. Bouncing the flash or triggering remote flash units is another obvious solution.

Using ISO 100, as here, is another way to punish yourself. If need be, go right up to your top ISO and shoot RAW and plan on noise removal during processing.

I usually base any of my critiques on the following ...
1. Focus and detail
2. Exposure
3. composition
4. subject

If any one of these four factors is exceptional, it will often be acceptable even with minor short comings in the remaining 3 factors.

Some of these 4 factors are spot on. In fact, the overall image more than compensates for the hot spots which can be corected effortlessly. I'm not a fan of over-cropping, but I think it works this time.

Did I forget to mention that I like this capture?