Hello to all, I’m first time poster and new in photography and still trying to figure things out. Would love to hear your critique and comments. Thanks, I appreciate your help.

Nice smile, is she about to rip the camera away from you? =D
Welcome to FM, and thanks for sharing. (reminds me to go and take some pictures)

Seems a little soft. And quite red. Not sure if she was going for a snarl or a smile.
But pretty model and the bokeh in the background is nice

If you backed up and zoomed in she wouldn't be so soft, because of shallow depth of field. The wide open lens didn't help either.

Victor, don't let pilles upset you. Paul is the resident grump. He never says anything nice about anybody or any picture. It's safe to just ignore him.

I messed with your picture a little. Maybe one of the others would take it and do a better job.

Larry

Is that what you wanted? A rescue job? Or did you want to learn how to take it in the first place?

Quick thoughts:

*Pic has a bad magenta cast to it. Look at calibrating and white balance.
*Exif shows 1/3200, 3.2 and ISO 1000. Keeping aperture where it is, dial down your ISO (you had ALOT of room) and get rid of that noise.
*Ignoring color issues and noise, good snapshot

I like it much better without the hand there. I'd just crop it to a headshot. As above, drop the ISO. Looks sharp enough on the eyes for me. Nice shot, color could use a little work, but nothin major.