A lot of good suggestions here... but some take planning... changing b.g., wardrobe and lighting. You should think about them all and adjust accordingly... but sometimes you can't. So in a situation where you have no control and you have a minute to take a shot... here are a couple of tips. Cant the camera... angle it a little to make the shot not quite so straight on. Also, while she's a sweet as she can be, you need to capture a moment... she seems in the shot rather lethargic. There's another shot you posted where she has an expression on her face and it's a MUCH better shot. More story. Don't be afraid to wait for it. My 2.

Hi Bonnie,

Really don't see much wrong with this 'straight' shot except the yellow ribbons distract from a cute baby. It might not win any prizes, but it's a good shot--I'm new here but have used a camera many years. I use Picasa, mainly because it's free and does about all I can do to improve pics. Don

Good suggestions - all. Good pics but, yes, a bit dark. Post=processing might fix. Are you shooting RAW?

To get a good smile for this age tyke, I use a small stuffed, blue bear or their fav soft toy in my left hand, remote trigger in my right. I stand to left of the baby and playfully shake the bear in his/her face tickling just a little until he/she starts to laugh and reach for the bear. I then as fast as possible move out of the shot and fire the shutter making sure I am not masking any important light source. If necessary to avoid masking lighting, I move to the other side and do the same thing. Sometimes I have to "warm up" the baby a bit before hand to get the smile, laugh I am looking for.

a white or light colored background will cause your camera meter to over expose . your meter will try to make everything come out in a gray 18% tone. get a gray card or take a meter reading from the baby (set spot metering) use exposure lock and re compose your photo and shoot. or you can use exposure compensation. The same result in the opposite direction occurs when trying to shoot in a black background, you wind up underexposed. you are trying to master a difficult subject. your compisition is good. may i suggest the book "understanding exposure" by bryan peterson (available at amazon.com new and used) in plain english and with lots of awesome photos he will explain everything you need to know to get not only a correct exposure but also the most creative exposure. i highly recomend his work.