Too much guitar?

[framed]

I got the look I was going for - but is it too much guitar? Does it leave too much empty space?

[OsmosisStudios]

I think the bigger issue for me is separation from the background: there's no hair light, so no contrast between the hair and background, or between the black of the guitar and background.

I'd be more tempted to place the guitar lower, have the subject stand or hug it more.

[AoxoA]

The shirt throws me too. One sleeve down, one up and the resulting bare arm.

AoxoA

[B..]

Originally Posted by framed

I got the look I was going for - but is it too much guitar? Does it leave too much empty space?

I think, yes. The guitar is a strong vertical line, and the person is less strongly vertical but much more strong visually. It's confusing.

I tried to think of a composition with the person standing up and holding the guitar vertical, so that the person would be a primary vertical and the guitar would be a secondary vertical. But none of my ideas made any sense. So maybe a composition with the person standing, holding the guitar at a small angle ... ?

[wulf]

Compositionally (since this is the "Composition" section of the "Technique" area), I notice that you have the subject's head right in the centre of the image. I don't think that is the choice I would have made, not least since there seems too much space at the top and left and not enough at the bottom and right.

A very centred composition can work but this one appears unbalanced because of that uneven weighting.

Wulf