The pose and the expressions on the kids' faces are great. The highlights are a bit too blown out, however - they pull my eye away from the faces. I'd recommend straightening the horizon, also.

These kids have a great expression, and I really like the toning you've used. I do have a few complaints though. Firstly, for this category the description was to show us the character of an individual person. Here we have two subjects, which is just a minor problem. However, where it becomes more of a problem is that one girl is more forward, so I want her to play the lead in the photo, but the focus is off on her. The focus is on the girl further back, and this creates some tension.

I think you should have either used a smaller apeture (higher f-stop number) to increase the depth of field, or as large as possible to try and throw the leading girl completely out of focus.

I can appreciate the high key effect you were going for with the lighting, and think this would have worked well if the hair of the girls had slightly more detail. If this was something done with post processing, try using masking to bring back some detail in the hair.

If the lighting was from the actual exposure you could have used your on camera flash to help soften the light and allow a faster shutter speed, so the highlights wouldn't be so blown out. As an aside, it is easier to lighten shadows post processing - once highlights are lost, they can't be recovered.

Sweet kids....

Yes, great composition, but the highlights are too distracting, and I'm guessing too far gone to fix in PS. I wonder what it would look like if you transfered to b&w and added a bit of grain for texture, to cool down the hot spots?

I have found that the blown highlights and lack of detail in the background have always brought my attention back to the eyes and made me wonder what are these two thinking. Just my two cents.

By the way I over processed the photo on purpose. I'm guessing you could already tell that.

The two different look in the kids faces is a great touch!

I personally wouldn't worry about the horizon - it looks like they're on a bit of a slope anyway. I looked straight at their faces so didn't notice the blown-out highlights immediately, but now everyone else has mentioned them...

I really enjoy how you've "blown" out the highlights since to me, it really makes me focus on their faces. I'm constantly drawn to what is (after much concentration) the left girls shoe in the air. It's distracting and looks a little out of place with the processing.

Kim, Thanks for the comment. I never really paid that much attention to the shoe but I think you have a good point.

Great shot - even with the blown highlights! Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Jon

the expressions are very intriuging..very nice shot!