portrait

[MrJones]

Hi all,
the weekend was great and I did a photo session with an emerging rock singer at my so called "studio" (aka my living room).
this is one of the photos after a bit of editing in photoshop RAW.
it feels to me like there is too much space, but I can't crop it and leave his shoes in the photo.
do you like it the way it is? any ideas how to improve it?
feel free to comment on anything, not just the cropping issue.

btw, I know I can crop it tighter with losing the proportions, but I still want to keep them intact.



EXIF:
1/125
f/9
ISO 100
24-105 f/4 L IS USM
40D

[edbayani]

i like the lighting but could stand a bit of hairlighting to separate him from the bg. i would also crop the bottom part, nearer the shoes.

[MrJones]

I was actually going for that dramatic look. I felt that using hair lightning would take away from that look.
might be wrong though...

[Niresangwa]

I agree with Ed that a little rim lighting would have helped, and probably would have increased the drama by adding a little depth and dimension to it. It would probably also have helped maintain his 'curves'... it leaves his right arm looking kinda skinny and disproportionate to his left arm. Overall the lighting pattern here would be really flattering for a girl, as it skinnied him down... I'm assuming he would want to look a little beefier however...

I don't mind the crop actually, if you go any tighter on the top and bottom (which is all you could do if you were keeping the shoes in there) you'd lose the proportions you're right in trying to maintain.

I think the red stool he's sitting on is a little out of place.. you have this really elegant desaturated tones and greys... then you have the red. I realise his laces are red but that accent doesn't work particularly well for me. I'd desaturate the red channel masking it off to bring it down some.. either that or try a hot little high contrast B&W conversion and play off of the nice lighting you have going on.

Overall a nice job, especially on his face.. what was your focal length? Pretty tight?

[Life in Motion]

ooohhh i like this image!!!!!!!! Maybe put a desaturated tone on it. like this.....

just an idea...

[MrJones]

thanks guys.
I'll give it a shot, I like what you did with it.
I'll try and change the stool color in PP, and I know I need to start getting some studio accessories

[BigFuzzy]

Originally Posted by Niresangwa

I agree with Ed that a little rim lighting would have helped, and probably would have increased the drama by adding a little depth and dimension to it. It would probably also have helped maintain his 'curves'... it leaves his right arm looking kinda skinny and disproportionate to his left arm. Overall the lighting pattern here would be really flattering for a girl, as it skinnied him down... I'm assuming he would want to look a little beefier however...

I don't mind the crop actually, if you go any tighter on the top and bottom (which is all you could do if you were keeping the shoes in there) you'd lose the proportions you're right in trying to maintain.

I think the red stool he's sitting on is a little out of place.. you have this really elegant desaturated tones and greys... then you have the red. I realise his laces are red but that accent doesn't work particularly well for me. I'd desaturate the red channel masking it off to bring it down some.. either that or try a hot little high contrast B&W conversion and play off of the nice lighting you have going on.

Overall a nice job, especially on his face.. what was your focal length? Pretty tight?

+1 about the rim/back light, I think it would have actually added drama. To me you can still have that dark sort of imagery without losing the subject in the background... just point the 2nd light directly at his back that way it doesn't affect the bg and I think it'd do some cool things with his hair.