1st

straight out of fuji s5000
shutter speed---1/16
aperture---f/3.2
focal length---17 mm
exposure time---1/15
iso---200
metering mode---pattern

2nd
and photo shopped
changed background
cleaned up his face
neat image


thanks OoF

O-O-F
I'm a firm believer that they eyes are the most important thing in any head shot and the eyes need some punch. Try a little dodging on them or something. For such a macho guy, the eyes look weak.

Sharpness and retouch looks good on the skin. Contrast on the jacket looks too much to me (moving away from warm leather towards cold plastic) - maybe lessening that effect gradually from left to right with a mask and a big soft brush. Also the uniform shadow around the entire figure suggests he's sinking into the bg - I think it would look more natural if it was eliminated on the hi-lite side (major light source appears to be top left corner so shadow should start on the right side of hat just below where hat hi-lite disappears).

I don’t think the background fits with the image on the person portrayed. A studio backdrop if better suited for a soft calm person. A back alley or an urban renewal sight might make a more suitable. I remember the shot posted earlier on this site (sorry, forgot the poster). I removed part of the previous woman figure and overlaid your male image just to show the contrast from the studio background.

Original on the left, your retouch in the middle, my suggest on the right.

The original photo is quite strong, IMO. This could be a great image. If the background was swapped for, maybe, an old brick wall and the guy was retouched lightly it could look very good. The current retouch looks like a paper doll cutout - probably because the jacket is way overdone compared to the rest of the image, resulting in a white halo-ish edge, and because of the uniform drop shadow, which doesn't match the lighting on the figure.

I'd have to agree with the other comments. The background should contribute to the feel. A little PWL helps accent the drama. Perhaps something like this:

I am no expert by any meaning of the word but what i think the mood of the picture needs is to pop out at you. I didnt do anything with the background but did some selective contrast enhancement and a little sharpening.

I'm with you admirer. While I like Lonk's and duwayne's versions I think there's plenty of street in the kid already, and a plain, darkish bg works better to focus attention.

Perhaps some graffiti might work to emphasize the mood and intent.

Cheers,
Sherry

Sunfly - Nice - Really nice!

great work on the pic and good advice too.

thanks everyone

I also think the background steals a lot more attention than it should... Would a simple gradient work? a dark one maybe...

You should also add some punch to his face, try curves or levels.

Nice pic and suggestions ! :)