well, this is my first real attempt at a portrait. I have taken some other pics of him, but this one I tried harder on. Let me know where I can make improvements...the thing I don't like, but wasn't going to do it over, was how the black 'ground' folded up on his arm. Other than that, let me know, I ask my wife and family, but they say it looks great, but I want to be in the same ballpark as some of the other pics I see on this forum.

Hi beengel. Welcome to RetouchPRO.

Wow... for a first time portrait, you socked a home run. A completely adorable shot. I can see why mom and family liked it. Well done.

A few things to consider...
* Those bright yellowish-green figures in the foreground are attention grabbers. If you can, I'd digitally zap them. That would leave his face as the immediate thing one would look at... and that's what you want. [What program are you using?]
* See how dark the eyes and areas around his eyes are? I'd open up the shadows in these areas to give the eyes some visibility.

...Other than that, keep shootin' and havin' fun! :)

I can see what you mean about the eyes, especially his right eye. I use CS3 for my editing. Thanks for the compliment.

Easy fix on the eyes...
* Add a Levels adjustment layer to the top of the layer stack
* Move middle slider quite a ways left until eye detail is visible and click OK to close the dialog
* Ctrl + I [Mac: cmd + I] to invert the mask from white to black
* Press D followed by X keys to set Foreground color = white
* Choose Brush tool
* Select a soft-edged brush of appropriate diameter
* Airbrush opton on, flow ~30%, opacity ~30%
* Paint on mask to open up the shadow areas
* Zoom out to see if you over did it

If overdone
* Zoom in
* Press X to eXchange colors
* Airbrush black on the Levels area to tone down the effect

Some people prefer to use the Dodge and Burn tools to compensate for exposure, but generally speaking I prefer the above method. It's "non-destructive" (no pixels changed) and easier to make corrections than when using the Dodge or Burn tools.

Ya, I prefer the seperate layers as well, I tried with the dodge/burn tools but found it harder to get what I wanted.