First Child Portrait

[cincypaul]

I'm new here and this is my first post. Please be brutally honest as this is the best feedback.

This is my first attempt at a child portrait. This is my step daughter's three year old.

I don't like "stiff" portraits and was trying to get some personality into the portraits. Does it bother you that her arms are kind of out of the frame? I like portraits in tight and was therefore shooting that way. Also wondering about the background not being as bright as some portraits I've seen. Doesn't bother me, just wondering what other may think.

Thanks in advance for your time.

Info:
Nikon D-90
Nikkor 18-105 at 105mm
ISO 200
f/5.6
1/125 shutter speed
White Balance 4000K
I shot this using two monolights. Used a gold umbrella on one of them and shot through a white umbrella on the other.

[Maycool]

Hi there cincypaul! I love your close up shot of sweet child in red. I think I have to say the subject looks tightly framed that you not able to see much of what was posed. Maybe try landscape shot of her where more of her arms are revealed which creates more space and movement. The rule of third will play beautiful on subject's sweet face. Just my point of view, thank you.

[mmeyer]

I also like tightly cropped portraits but in this case I would like to see all of her arms. I think it's looks like a fun pose and it should allowed to show. I think the background looks fine, you don't want the background to be brighter than you subject for the most part.

[cincypaul]

I agree with both of you. I think I need to be a little less aggressive with in-camera cropping and leave some room to fine tune it in PP. This little girl has more energy than three kids need. The upside is it produced some very personality rich shots, the downside is you have to be fast on the shutter.