Harsh Critique Plz

[fokker]

So I don't normally shoot people, but I'd like to start doing it more. This is my buddy Zvi, he's a musician and he wanted some promo photos of himself. He's an interesting subject and doesn't mind being in front of the camera so he's a perfect guinea pig for me to practise on. We spend about an hour today shooting in a dark underpass, and plan on doing some more stuff later in the week. In the mean time I'd like to know what I could have done better so please don't hold back on the C&C.
I know this is a few photos, but feel free to just choose one to critique, or more if you wish. I'd also like to know which one(s) you feel are the strongest.

Canon 60d, Sigma 50mm 1.4
Speedlight in umbrella for fill light
Speedlight with grid for main light

TIA.

1.


2.


3.


4.


5.


6.


7.



My personal critique is that I should have used a hair light to separate his dark hat from the background a bit better. Also that some of the shadows across his face and chin aren't ideal in places, due no doubt to the small size of my main light (which I chose because I wanted an element of harshness to the lighting to suit his style).

Also, I'm not sure if the white balance is accurate. In all the shots it's set just slightly cooler and purpler then the default 'flash' value, even though he is lit almost solely with flashes. It could be a case of my monitor not being accurately calibrated, or else the very small amount of natural light falling on him has just affected things slightly.

 

[mmaria]

sorry I can't tell you more because they're all too dark for this crappy computer to handle

I could just say that my personal favorite is #5... and we'll see what others will tell

 

[binga63]

to me it seems as the lighting is the wrong way around, bright where it should be dark and dull where it should be bright... just my opinion....

 

[Braineack]

on the first 5, the light on camera right is much too bright and the key is much too dim.

the poses and composition are good throughout, I'm just really not a fan of how you lit these.

 

[D-B-J]

to me it seems as the lighting is the wrong way around, bright where it should be dark and dull where it should be bright... just my opinion....

I'm with Binga. The fill seems a full stop or more brighter than the key, and this makes no sense. The lighting placement doesn't seem bad, it just seems like the intensities are backwards.

Jake

 

[tirediron]

First and foremost, we need to know what sort of musician he is, and what he/you want to convey with the images (Power? Anger?). I think I see where you were trying to go with these, but I think that two speedlights aren't enough. Where were your lights placed relative to the camera and what were the power outputs?

 

[keyseddie]

to me it seems as the lighting is the wrong way around, bright where it should be dark and dull where it should be bright... just my opinion....

Just Binga's opinion, but one you should heed. Plus, look how mean he appears.

 

[DiskoJoe]

Harsh critque, These are boring and the lighting is bad.

Serious critque. I really dont like the lighting. Not liking that you shot on the shadow side, seems weird. Also some of the poses make your friend look fat. Dont think you used your angles well. Some untyipcal angles could give this the attitude it needs.

 

[fokker]

Okay, so I guess I got the lighting wrong. When I was looking at them in the camera I really liked how they were looking so I more or less stuck with what I was doing. Looking at them on the computer, and more so today with fresh eyes, they do seem overly dark in the areas where the key light should have lit.



Tirediron: I'd like to say we were trying to convey a particular theme, but honestly at this stage in our combined level of experience with this sort of thing, we were just trying to get some cool looking shots that will get likes on facebook. For most of these the main light (speedlight with umbrella) was to camera left, and the fill light was camera right, more like a side-light than a fill I suppose you could say. I can't recall what sort of power settings they were at. I guess the reason I chose to set it up with the fill/side light so much brighter is that it looks a bit different from what you'd usually see but maybe I missed the mark on that.

Diskojoe: He is a fairly big guy, which is neither something he tries to show off or hide. Looking at these and knowing how he looks in real life I'm happy enough with the representation. Can you explain a bit more by what you mean by 'untypical angles'?