Exposure?

[Speckles]

Wrong framing format. It should have been made/cropped as a vertical. The negative space on the left adds nothing but distraction.

The exposure is good. It looks like the child was in open shade. What was lighting the childs face there from camera right?

I prefer it landscape and feel that the close crop is enough to keep my attention on the baby. Could be that it's MY baby, though. lol Thanks for your thoughts! The shot was made in the setting sun. No additional lighting. What is shadowing his face from the left a little is the shade from the neighboring houses as the sun was going down.

 

[Speckles]

Exposure is fine, background is fine (oof enough to not be annoying at all), drool is fine (it's a baby), focus is fine, the expression is great. Looks like great portrait material to me.

And not all portraits have to portrait oriented with nothing in the background. This one works fine as a horizontal and is way more interesting than the average portrait studio portrait.

^^^^^^^^
What he said. Rules are made to be broken and not every portrait has to be made in portrait orientation.

Thanks, guys! I wanted to portray what was going on in the photo by keeping it landscape. We were just enjoying some of this kick ass weather we have been having by chilling in the front yard. I got some cute shots of him eating leaves, too. lol Anyhow, I appreciate all the comments, good or bad. I am desperate to get better!

 

[c.cloudwalker]

I am desperate to get better!

No need to be. If the rest of your work is equal to this, you're doing quite good.

 

[sbakewell0508]

i think you did a great job on the exposure. the color of his skin is pleasing as well as the rest of the colors.. but really the skin look great. i agree with a vertical crop...however the horizontal crop could allow you more room for stroyboards, collages etc so no need keep shooting!!