First shot with my new 50mm lens!

That's a fantastic shot, great smile and good bw.

Love this pic Tracy.  It keeps showing up on the Daily Sampling and it grabs my eye each time.  Love the black and white, nice lighting, an obvious sincere smile, and a beautiful child.  Really nice capture.

Best Regards,
John

not sure that I can add anything to the last comment other than to say that it deserves better rates than it has received.  cb  :-)

Thanks all!  I appreciate the feedback.  

Wonderful portrait, well done!

Tracy, 

Absolutely wonderful picture: soft lighting, great and genuine expression, striking BW conversion. 

In the spirit of providing constructive feedback (that's how I learn and improve, so I hope to pass it forward), the focus seems to be slightly off. Ideally, you would want the eyes (the nearest one at least) to be the sharpest part of a portrait. 

There is a very sharp strand of hair on the left side of the photo (her right) and it seems sharper than the eyelashes. 

But absolutely lovely portrait nonetheless. A definite keeper. 

Cesar, thank you for the feedback - it's appreciated!  I do struggle with the focus on this camera.  I always use MF and I struggle with getting the eyes completely in focus for close-ups.  It's a learning process...as with everything else about photography.  :) 

Stay free!

Be careful getting bogged down with tech stuff. Pay attention to it, but use this image as a reference point. It's a very nice picture.

Tracy, 

my apologies for taking so long to answer you.

I am not a big fan of MF for close portraits with wide aperture. You're fighting 3 battes at once: getting the initial focus right, making sure the subject doesn't move and making sure you don't move. 

I tried a few times with a lens I really love (Nikon 105 Ais f/2.5) but at some point it became too frustrating and I stopped. 

With AF, I always use AF-C (continuous) so that the camera corrects for last-second movements. Obviously with the focus point on the near eye (in this case).

Take care