Old Man with Models and Studentsby
wehrmacherComment by littlegett: As I first looked at this image it is difficult to see who/what the subject is. Even though I enjoy the concept itself, I do not feel it worked well for a portrait type image.
My next impression is that there is not much focus to the image overall. Personally I would have really enjoyed a more narrow depth of field highlighting the main subject, the big'n with special attention to a sharp detailed lens. Also allowing for a slight blur of the bookshelf to allow the rest to take a back seat to the main subject.
Your lighting seems to be both natural from a window and also from a desk lamp. This is evident by the blue cast on one side and the yellow cast on the other. I am curious with this lighting what this image would have looked like as a b/w, maybe even with pushed contrast to give it an more edgy feel.
One aspect that may be picky, is the stagger of the heights of the books is a bit of a messy distraction. I think if they where cleaner organized by height it would have added a bit more. Or, maybe take the books out all together along with the statues, keep it all cameras for balance.
In a traditional 'class' portrait the 'students' are surrounding the 'teacher' if that was your concept here of students and teacher I would have rather enjoyed the main subject to take center stage with the others surrounding, which could have been done with this same setup, with a bit of reorganizing. To me, you seem to be more focused on everything going on and not enough on the main subject.
Andrew
Photographer found comment helpful.
