How can I improve this..?

[sreegraphy]

<p>I tried low key light photography I'd like to hear what pro's says and would like to improve.. I used 2<br />580EX- II flash one flash place next to the window pane (next to the wall) and another one placed at 45 deg to the left side of subject Any feedback is greatly appreciated. I am glad to hear the negative one's first.. Thanks in advace for your time.</p><div></div>

[peter_mounier]

<p>I think it would be an improvement to have the highlights much brighter. It is sunlight coming in the window after all. If it's digital, bump up the curve in the highlight regions a bit. That will slightly open up the blocked shadows as well. Then remove whatever that highlight is that appears to be draped over the back of the chair (I can't tell what it is, but it's distracting), and tone down the t-shirt. It's otherwise very nice the way it is.</p>

<p>Peter</p><div></div>

[JTG1]

<p>This is a great shot as is.<br>

The subject is in deep thought, so I went that direction with it.<br>

Darkened it up and tried to capture his emotion.</p>

<p>~Jack</p><div></div>

[umesh_bhayaraju]

<p>there should be some level of contrast i guess. anyways...try this my version.like jacks you can leave open space dark but i feel there should be features visible in the subject, otherwise cropping is better in my view.</p><div></div>

[sreegraphy]

<p>Thanks peter jack and umesh for your comments.. Actually I didn't like the pane shades on the wall and on the chair either.. I should have used lighting controls or modifiers to avoid the shades. I liked Jack's version and the cropped version of umesh is nice too..</p>

[tom_mann1]

<p>In general, I like using gobo-like shadows, but in this case, I think that having essentially only one, relatively wide, dark bar across his face is not visually appealing. IMHO, although it appears like you planned it, the single bar across his face looks almost like an accident because you don't see a suggestion of repetition or pattern on his face, whereas in Peter's tweak, one clearly sees what I consider to be the nice pattern of repetition of the light and dark bars on the wall.</p>

<p>Just my $0.02,</p>

<p>Tom M.</p>

[sreegraphy]

<p>Thanks tom for your comments and view..</p>

[garypeck]

<p>Ok, here's the deal - you are doing fine, you previsualized a fine image you simply lost confidence in the execution.<br>

Pose: watch the whites of the eyes, you've already got a turned head to further move the eyes over creates excessive 'whites' a minor deal but tough on a higher key image.<br>

Lighting: When you light, often you will want to emulate the angle of the sun. Here I get a strong horizontal feeling to the light - do you see it? What if the light was just a little higher?<br>

Were you using the right-hand light as a main source or is this sun through the window? If the main is indeed creating the highlights you handled it well. If not and window light is the main then your light is wasted - cause you don't need it.<br>

On low key shoots the ratio of highlight to shadow is critical. And the nature of the fill light can make or break a sensitive image like this. You will want to run tests and establish ratios for yourself and your equipment. You need this to confidently approach this kind of shot in the future.<br>

Well done.<br>

g</p>

[sreegraphy]

<p>Thanks Gary for your comments.. Yes I shot this pic in the evening time so it's basically the right hand light as the main source and no natural light.</p>

[errol young]

<p>I like yours better than the others. Just dark enough.</p>