Thank you, Debi.

A lovely portrait and you have a very lovely family

The little girl and this little boy are cousins and thanks for the compliment. I have two fully adjustable strobes. They aren't professional quality but they do the job. They have a built in modeling light as well as adjustable flash strength. The modeling light feature is not near strong enough to use as continuos lighting but they aren't intended to be used as such.

Doug, do you have flashes or strobes. I don't remember you buying strobes.

Is he the bro of the little girl you showed us sometime ago. You have cute kids in your family, God bless.

Thanks Tom. I don't have nearly enough patience to be the child whisperer I would have to be in order to do this successfully.

Nice work Doug especially under family pressures (nothing worse). Keep at it and maybe have a second profession to fall back on. There is an unforced absolutely honest quality about this portrait that draws us in as viewers as it demonstrates the struggle between the artist and subject. The stage is set but the subject won't quite cooperate. The fact that it shows this tension adds empathy that grabs and won't easily let go.

Thanks Rod.

Agree wiv the others this does look great because there's some spontaneity in the shot. The bottom button on his shirt being undone & his jeans being too long covering up his feet gives this an urchin sort of look. This would look great as a B&W too. Fantastic work Dougy mate.

Thanks to all for the comments. This guy is very difficult to photograph. He is always on the move and only smiles when he wants to, you can't force a smile out of him. Thankfully, he loved playing on this "just my size" stool. For formals I set up a studio in my living room. I have a limited number of real backdrops like this one and only two strobes. You can tell by his eyes where one light is, above and off right, and on full power. The other is down low directly to the left and set at only 1/8th power to reduce strong shadows. Both are diffused with umbrellas.

My wife and I both come from large families so I was getting requests to shoot several nieces and nephews. They don't understand that I can't just step outside at noon and rip off a decent formal so I needed to be able to control the light. I still MUCH prefer to work outside with natural backdrops and natural light when it's there.

I can see he's done. But you weren't. Excellent job of capturing the sweetness of childhood.
If this came out so well, I can imagine how pleased your sister must be with what else you took!!

Outstanding portrait Doug!. I like everything: sharpness, colors, background...This shot fits many song titles, for example "Be good Johnny - Man at work", or "Sweet child of mine - Gun's Roses".

Delightful, these are special moments...he even has a glint of amusement in his eyes. Wonderful peaches & cream complection and great capture all around.

Very cute little boy! It's impressive the he had the patience to pose for several shots. A future fashion model? He already knows how to strike the pose and make a serious face :-) Well done, especially with the light. Did you use any strobes? -Ivan