Beautiful Age
Photographing formal portraits of children can be a challenge for any photographer. They often do not want to cooperate or they are stiff and unnatural. I have heard of photographers that will shoot a number of shots, without film in their cameras, so the children get used to the camera and relax.
This young lady appears to be at a dance studio where she was asked to pose for the camera. I like the subject placed off center to the right. The unusual posing against the large mirror gives a feeling of two girls standing back to back. The lighting is soft and very flattering to this young subject. Her eyes are beautiful, so expressive. The catch light is perfect.
As I said earlier it is difficult to get young children to relax. Her smile, though nice, appears to be a little forced. I don’t know what the secret is or how they get the young professional models to relax and be natural.
This is a lovely portrait of a beautiful young lady that will be treasured by her family.
Click on Image 
February 26th, 2008 at 7:56 am
Jim,
Thanks for the review. Your assumption that the image was taken in a dance studio is correct. The assumption that I asked her to pose is incorrect, it was a candid shot. She was siting against the mirror and I pointed the camera at her and popped off three shots as she looked over at me. The other two, one of which I do like her smile better has distracting elements that came into the mirror reflection.
Al
February 26th, 2008 at 10:14 am
Even as the smile may not be perfect, but the look in her eyes capture the viewer. In the upper left, this maybe only from the revise here on the page, is some noise. I would suggest to give this are just a little more blur. This would help to make the gradient look more smoothly. Overall a very nice shut!
February 26th, 2008 at 11:15 pm
It’s nice but there’s something unsettling about the image, it makes me want to reach for cardboard 3-D glasses.