Study of Selfby
CitadelComment by littlegett: At for notice this is an extremely solid image. The tones are nice and even and the clarity is good. Since this is a nice strong piece, I do not have much to say on 'fixing' anything. So I will talk about what I would do differently to make it pop a bit more.
One aspect to really make the portrait stand out from the rest would be to use a rear light at 45 degrees to form a nice highlight line. This line should catch the side of the head down the jaw just a little and follow through the shoulder and arm. This is just a thin line of light that allows the subject to really break out away from the background and add a touch of depth.
A hair light on the dark side high above the models head and narrowed to just highlight the hair on that side I believe would also pop the subject forward.
I am guessing the basement window is what 'aided' the dark side of your face from going completely dark? I nice bounce would work there as well. I think if you used something to bounce, foam core or reflector it would create another shadow line that would add more depth and character to the model.
Last item is the watch seems to have caught a bit of light and the glare really draws the viewers eye down. A slight more angle or even removal of the watch may help.
Even though my ideas are not 'classic' portrait lighting technicals I think they may be fun even just to try out and see what happens. Just do not forget to baffle the rear light from spill and camera flare.
Overall this is a strong classical portrait. There does not seem to be a lot of 'wow' or 'pop' but most classic portraits don't. Very nice work with the single light.
Andrew
Photographer found comment helpful.
