Tyger sketches

[Samszym]

Did you do any thumbnailing from imagination for this pose, or just start drawing from the photo? it looks like you grabbed the reference before deciding on what you wanted for the pose and I think that's where the emotional disconnect is coming from. Gotta tell the story before making it look pretty/accurate!
I'd definitely try giving her torso more of a tilt so she's leaning in to be close to the falcon, and maybe tilting her head up so she can look straight at it instead of looking up with her eyes, to me that seems like she's less interested