Child Portrait would love some feedback please

[btafly]

I would love some critique on Composition. Lighting on this photograph. This was taken in natural light no reflector. Info is as follows

OLYMPUS E520
Shutter Speed: 1/160s
F Stop : 7.1
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 42mm

Feel free to edit my photograph just let me know what you did :-) I would love to turn my hobby into a business so all advice is welcomed

[Eduard]

Nice pose and color. Distracting that her fingers are missing - too many cookie jars? Framing is IMHO weak because of the fingers and right edge.

[zona5101]

Great picture, the exposure is nice, the expression is great... but the arm is throwing off the image. It would be better to either crop it tighter so we don't see the arm or re-shoot it where she isn't leaning over on her arm It is too prevelent in the picture.

[PamEli]

I'm really liking the exposure, composition, and especially her expression. I guess I was so drawn to her face that I didn't really feel stood out, but since reading the other posts, I have to agree that is a bit distracting, A tight crop would save it, leaving that great expression in a tight, highly focused frame.

Good shot though...a re-do might miss the expression.

[RLucas]

Here is how I handled it.
1. Cropped tighter to get more of her face in the shot, and off the center of the frame. Also tried to get her eyes closer to the top horizontal thirds line. Also for some reason her arm looked like it was bent backward. It was a little distracting.

2. Used curves tool to adjust the contrast in local areas such as highlights and shadows.

3. Adjusted color balance. Her skin was a little to red for my taste.

4. Desaturated the the image about 20%.

5. Did a very slight unsharp mask. A radius of .8 pixels, and the amount was about 50%.

6. Added a very slight vignette to darken the corners just a tad.

Hope you like it! She is very beautiful! Thanks for the opportunity to do some adjustments. I love the practice.
Regards, Luke

[pbdweeeebie]

To add to the good advice you have been offered, I suggest shooting from a lower angle so that the background [grass] is far less solid, especially if you wish to use an aperture of around f/7.

Nice capture.