Please help

[modgers]

I did these for a friend of mine from law school and was wondering if i could get a critique before i give them to him. I guess my main questions are on composition and lighting I know that's broad but any help would be great. Thank you in advance

Camera:	Canon EOS 40D
Exposure:	0.005 sec (1/200)
Aperture:	f/2.8
Focal Length:	70 mm
Exposure:	+0.65
ISO Speed:	100

Immaculate Imaging photography in San Diego

[naeno]

I like your b&w conversion. I would recommend a portrait crop, though. There's a bit too much going on in the background and it draws my eye away from your subject.

The key to good portrait photography is the eyes. Your friend's eyes in this particular portrait are very dark and shaded. A reflector or fill flash will help with that in the future. For this particular picture, I suggest you open it up, add a new transparent layer, and paint over his eyes with white in the new layer. Then apply a huge gaussian blur to the new layer around 200-300, and either set the layer mode to overlay or reduce the opacity in normal mode. This will brighten up the eyes a bit. This is a helpful tip for whenever you need to add some additional "light" in areas of your photos.

[irishmuth]

I really like it. There is a lot of background, but with the shallow DOF and the washed out feeling to the background, I thought it really helped draw attention to your subject. Adding naeno's eye trick could make this really spectacular. Looks like a shot you'd see if they were profiling him in a Forbes article.

[drummersteph]

I actually really like your background and would not crop. His appearance is such a stark contrast it looks quite sharp. I do agree with the need for a bit of a fill on the side of his face which could lighten up the eyes to. Bringing out a bit of his suit by dropping the black just a smidge might be nice. All in all I like it. Good job!

[modgers]

Thank you so much guys. Im going to give that eye trick a shot this afternoon and Ill repost my resuts, I really appreciate the help

[mandyatm]

I really like the composition. I would probably crop out that other chair on the right side, but that's it. Lightening the eyes will help too. Very nice!