*critique club*
Composition
I feel the composition works well, but could have possibly been cropped *slightly* less tightly at the bottom, where you’re cutting off the arm. The way the guy is facing is spot onâ€Â¦kind of towards the camera but not too intense.
The negative space on the right helps to balance the composition.
The two lines in the background are slightly distracting – I’d suggest trying to position the model further away from the wall or near a plainer background (not sure what was practical in terms of lighting) Outside of a challenge of course, you could clone these lines out perfectly easily.
Technical stuff (exposure, dof, lighting etcâ€Â¦)
The image is soft; it seems the focal plane is a little too close (around near underarm), making it out of focus. A bigger dof would minimize the effects of this, but I'm aware you were already shooting at 1/30 so this may have been difficult. The lighting is very atmospheric and thoughtfully done, but there are some slightly blown-out highlights on his far arm. The image is dark but this works well in creating the mood. However, I think I̢۪d like to see just a little more lighting on his face (or simply from a different angle) just to give a little more definition and a more aesthetically pleasing boundary between light and dark.
Post-processing
The tones produced by the lighting, particularly on his body shape work very well in black and white. Seeing as it was shot at ISO 400, I̢۪m assuming grain was mostly added in post-processing, which has been done effectively.
Message/atmosphere portrayed
The atmosphere created by the lighting and grain is very effective.
Meeting the challenge
The grain helps bring out the atmosphere you were aiming for, so the photo clearly meets the challenge. There is just the right amount of grain to enhance the photo without going over the top for the sake of the challenge.
My personal opinion
The lighting is very effective, but the lack of focus/sharpness does detract from the rest of the photo imho. I would love to see another attempt where the subject was more in focus, even with a slight softness from Gaussian blur or similar to retain the feel of the photo but with more clarity.
Kirsty
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