A Little Shy

She is a cutie (I love the expression) and I AM jealous of that hair. 

Oddly enough I don't think this image NEEDS the hairlight like the last one did.  The last one was good without it but it just would have been killer with it. 

Hand placement:  I would have had her put one hand on top of the other one in a more formal fashion.  I think the whole image would benefit from a little more contrast and maybe a little brightening.  I had to look at it from two different monitors before I said that. 
Otherwise I like the pose, the lighting seems fine (but others here are much more educated about studio lights than I am).  I like the crop and the whole tone of the image.

Travis, compared to some of your early work I think you are improving by leaps and bounds.  Good job.

Monte Zucker used to say ESP, Expression Sells Portraits. This one ought to sell!

Critique. I know how hard it can be to deal with shy children so I think you have done an admirable job here.  I think I would have added about 1/2 stop more light to the fill light to lighten up the shadows in the folds of her dress and generally brighten up the whole image. This can be done in Photoshop but it usually makes the image look a little strange. 

I would have shot this one and several more like it making slight changes in head tilt etc (I call these shots insurance shots in case she rebels or starts crying when you attempt to pose her for the rest of the session) then I tell her I want to change her hands a little and I repose them. If she doesn't balk I will continue to refine the pose.

Benji

Hey Travis-  Thanks for posting!

Y'all know my computer and screen are "sick" and needs to be replaced, however, compared to other images on this board. this one seem a bit muddy due to underexposure and lacks somewhat in shadow detail.  The tilt is too much- she is listing.  Camera or post production tilts work better in head and shoulders and thigh close up portraits because there is no vertical frame of reference.  Tilts can be very dynamic as long as the effect does not call attention to itself. 

The "darkness of the images seem to exaggerate the slightly darker pigmentation under here eyes- that makes here look tired. 

When there is a lack of shadow detail in the hair and it tends to blend into the background- a hair light will not necessarily remedy the situation.  Accent lights will not put detail in where it does not exist in the first place- in fact the addition of a hair light to such an image will only create a light trap which will distract from the subject's face. 

Hands-  It is hard to get kids to pose their hands- it will usually "stiffen" the up. Sometimes I provide a prop such as the back of a classic or rustic char where the can rest their hands in a more natural way.  Sometimes a subtle prop like a little teddy bear (in a dark color) will help define the hands.  Props, however have to be use subtlety so that the do not inject distraction into the scene.

Hope this helps.  Ed 

Hi Travis!

I put your image in Photoshop and simply brightened it.  The shadow detail is there aalthough the image which I origenally appeard on my screen is dark.That can be my faulty screed or an indication that you posted an image that ended up too dark.  My screen is out of callibration so it is probably my fault.

Anyway- When the image was brighter, many of the compositional elements fell into place the thair- the leaning and so fourth- all better.

The imageg could have used a bit morr space around it- the cropping was a little bit off but everything else, as I said, fell into place-  GOOD JOB! Thanks for the heads up!