Looking for critiques please.

[kylerpiercings]

I took this photo of one of our employee's yesterday and I'm quite happy with the result. But like all things, I'm sure it could be better. Any advice on that?

 

[tirediron]

Nicely done. I think I would be inclined to drop the highlights just a hair, and maybe try and black out the background altogether. The faint, white smudges visible are somewhat annoying.

 

[KmH]

If the photo was intended to show case his piercings I'd have to say you failed.
If the photo is of him and his piercings are incidental it's a good photo.

Here is the photo with the background exposure reduced a lot and the highlights reduced a little as John recommended.
With the background reduced to black I would make the watermark much smaller and crop away about 1/2 of the frame in front of his face.

 

[Designer]

I like KmH's edit.

I guess I'm just so darned old-fashioned that I don't understand why, if the subject is mostly vertical, you have chosen to frame his portrait horizontally. Yes, there are those portraits in which a horizontal format is best, but IMO this is not one of those times. Hair too close to the top edge. Neck not showing. WAY too much space in front of his face. (unless of course, you actually need that much room for your watermark, then sure.

The one thing I cannot overlook is the eye shot side-on. The reflection is doubled here as a result of the extreme side view of his eye. If only he were looking at the camera, it might have been much better. A bit of eye contact and this might have been wonderful.

 

[kylerpiercings]

I can agree with the background needing to be completely black, or see the appeal rather, I choose to leave the backdrop for a bit of texture. Originally I intended to make the background completely black.

I do not feel the photo would have the same effect with a vertical framing or eyes looking directly into the camera. Do you have an example of something along those lines?

 

[vintagesnaps]

I rather like the almost simplicity of the lighting somewhat outlining the face (if that makes sense). I agree about the background, maybe some adjustments to the technical aspects but I like the idea of it as a portrait. I don't think it's the horizontal framing so much as maybe a bit more space than needed to the left of him.