Or you could try it like this ...

Mary,

What I'm about to say may not be relevant to the way you work from your photographs, but, I'll mention it just in case.

This image below has been framed so wide that it can cause problems for you getting the detail you need in face, hands etc.

The good thing about having so much information is that you have more possibilities when composing the image. The downside is that if you don't also zoom in closer for individual detail shots there may not be enough resolution left when you try and enlarge those details.

The last image is a crop of just the face. I think you can see how the crispness fades away even though it was cropped from your largest file.

When I'm thinking clearly (I have a tendency to do the opposite, I crop so closely that I often leave myself fewer compositional options) I will compose my shot, then back away about 25% and shoot. I will then, as quickly as I can, move / zoom in for close up shots of face, hands, whatever. This gives me the best resolution for details without having to crop down from the full composition.

Thanks for all of your help Mike.

I have gotten pretty far into the portrait using number 2. However, I DO NOT like the door/wall in there at all. Any thoughts on how I could leave that out? Like I said earlier, I really just wanted a non-descript background. Should I move this question to a different section of the forum?

I'm sure there are many ways to do the background. I think because she is leaning back, you would have to create something back there for her to lean on.

My first thought when I saw your four original images was to go with number three, exactly as Mike has cropped it, shown here.

Michelle, I liked three as much as number 2 for different reasons. Maybe I will keep it as a pracitce/portfolio piece to work on during down time. I went with number two mainly because of the big curl hanging down the front. That was the only request by the mother, to please capture the curls.

I see what you mean about that beautiful big curl. I'd go with number three in that case, too.