Can't You See I'm On The Phone???by
beautyqn25Comment by e301: from the lee shore of the Critique Club
OK, so this is really not the kind of shot that's up my street at all - just so you know where I'm coming from is this crit. We have an evidently young girl, evidently well-off (cell phone), and a title that screams out that kind of precious anger that seems to me so typical of that type - that type, that is, in our collective sterotyping imagination.
However, the light provides an alternate view: a moderately soft wash from the left, and very even - against that black background, however caused, it can speak of nothing except a studio set-up. Of course, it may not be - may simply be a coincidence of a situation - but to anyone with a moderate experience of looking at photos it's going to shout out 'studio!'. Also, the child lacks an intensity of expression that might have made the image appeal more generally: had she really screwed her face up into a mask of exasperation and rage, that contrast betweeen the situation and the presentation might have crossed the barrier of child-photo-phobia around here.
There is nothing much to criticise technically about the shot - your choices seem securely executed and sensibly thought out; the light is even and effective, as is the position of the model in frame (you might, perhaps, have gone for something more extreme, but this is more safe, certainly). One could perhaps argue that the contrast in the figure is a little lacking, but that is more a matter of taste simply. Certainly your black point is well achieved. All the sharpness one could want is there, so you're evidently in control of your stuff.
The feeling - and with no information from you, it can only be a feeling - is that this is a set-up shot: the neatness of the black background leads to that, as much as anything. And I would say you played too safe to score very well here: such technically sound photography, allied to a not over-inspiring subject, and a lack of extremes of emotion (or anything), has surely plonked this right into the average bracket for most voters.
Photographer found comment helpful.