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Harsh Critiques on this self portrait

Well, it has a brick wall in it, which is super cliche.

Looks like you tone-mapped it, which can be a little harsh on people and their skin tones and such.

The dark of your shirt is totally lost, which is a little unfortunate.

That said, the shadows are neat.

It's not really bad at all... you just asked for harsh, so I gave you direct.

I suppose I could have said "YOU SMELL I HATE YOU", but that seems far from constructive. :)
 
Yes, Constructive criticism is what I was after, and constructive criticism is what you gave, haha. Thanks a lot, man!
 
Profoundly unflattering angle of view and angle of light, light very harsh. There are conventions here, and the conventions are to place the camera level with the face or a little above, and the light both softened and somewhat above, so this photograph violates basically all the conventions of portrait photography. The colors are sort of popped a little as well, which is also a bit unflattering.

Does it work? Well. There's a slight horror-movie feel from the harsh, low, light. That makes it a little unsettling, which isn't a bad thing, per se.

The unsettling lighting doesn't seem to be working with the other elements, though. It's just some dude in a baseball cap looking like a dork standing against a wall. If you looked scared or scary or angry or.. anything much.. this might work better.

The shadows are kind of cool, which might be what you were going for? "Sort of cool" doesn't make for much of a photograph, though.

Think about what you were going for here, and think through how you can bring that out better. You might be on to something here, you might not, but if you are you haven't got enough stuff pulling together to make it work.
 
It is unusual. Before I get to my thoughts I'd ask you what your intent was in going with a non-standard portrait and how do you feel about it?







Okay, my thoughts on their own:
- I would like how you angled your main - I like the brightness of the front of your face versus the side and neck - except that you are so close to the wall that your main puts a very bright spot on the wall, Not only does this distract from your face, it seems out of place with the mood of the rest of the shot.
- I like the position and intensity of your fill.
- I like that you don't have any reflections in your glasses except for the side of your right lens, which helps define the glasses on that side.
- I'm don't particularly like that, because you've shot upwards at such an angle, so much of the frame is taken up with your dark jacket, which is out of the light and has little to no detail.
- Largely due to the close position of the camera and the shooting angle, the perspective distortion puts all the grout lines beside you at noticeable angles. You have a few grout lines on the very right side of the frame close to vertical, but the lines on the other side of you are so far off vertical (and horizontal) that you seem to be falling backwards. Rotate the shot a bit counter-clockwise, so that the grout lines behind you in the center of the frame are close to vertical and the shot will feel more stable.
 
Damn, you guys are going on and on, I love it!
I'm actually new to the portrait/self-portrait game so I'm actually surprised you're saying I did some things well or right.
I took this for a photo assignment on another forum and didn't have any creative ideas so I just went in my backyard, set up a couple flashes, and shot away somewhat recklessly.
 

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