The Surreal "Fat Kid"

[Xtrah]

I shot this of a good friend the other night real late in his room just goofing around, but I think it turned out. I'm not too good with portraits and just really want some advice and critique. Would you change the coloring? Is the scheme alright? Does it set a tone? Are the highlights too blown out? Do you think I have captured the subject well?



Camera: Nikon D90
Exposure: 0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture: f/1.8
Focal Length: 50 mm
Focal Length: 50.4 mm
ISO Speed: 250
Exposure Bias: 0 EV

-KT

[ricklumpas]

Would you change the coloring? No
Are the highlights too blown out? Yes yes yes
Do you think I have captured the subject well? Yes.

[Alefeb07]

Personally i like this image. The highlights are obviously blown out and light lit some of the hair in a weird way. However i think this works for this particular image. I myself like to clean up things a bit like facial blemishes and hair lines but those are minor detail. I think its pretty cool.

[isfppoet]

Good composition, but I think the highlights are very overexposed, and the shadows are a little too dark. Both issues could be tweaked with post-processing, of course, to some extent. High contrast like this doesn't have to be a flaw, but when otherwise interesting details about the subject are lost or obscured, that's when you'll probably want to tone it down just a bit. I can see a picture much like this with slightly less contrast still looking really neat.

I would say you definitely captured the subject well, however. If you get to take another shot like it, take it from the same angle, but without the sunglasses! The eyes can convey so much emotion, even in a seemingly empty look, and they're what make a person unique.

I think a flash would probably have been in order, for such a high-contrast scene, assuming the contrast isn't artificial. If you don't like the "flat" look from an intense flash, you could always move the lamp or try putting something over the flash (white or even colored paper/cloth).

The coloring also turned out cool.

[Athas_orm]

Originally Posted by Xtrah

I shot this of a good friend the other night real late in his room just goofing around, but I think it turned out. I'm not too good with portraits and just really want some advice and critique. Would you change the coloring? Is the scheme alright? Does it set a tone? Are the highlights too blown out? Do you think I have captured the subject well?

Hi Xtrah,

I think the colouring has a good depth to its really got more of an intresting cast. However It really depends on what you wanted to convey with the image. Does that make any sense.

The colour does set a tone nicely. The hilights being too blown. I'm going to disagree with the others here and say no but only to an extent. Its a very personal style you have going on here. I think the highlights being blown give a more artistic feel to this. However If you are going to blow the highlights then I think perhaps you need to either lighten the shadows. Or do the opposite and give an abstract feel. Darken the shadows and the mid-tones. so your just playing with the direct light on the subject and his glasses. What I'm trying to say is either go the whole hog or tone back the highlights.

Yes I feel you captured the subject pretty well. He feels laid back to me casual in his attitude.

Anway I hope this helps.

Wes