Low key portrait C&C

[teishu]

Good morning all,

Last week I experimented with some low key portrait photography. I'm fairly happy with the outcome although I did have to use masks to drop the exposure slightly to remove all the detail in the blacks.

These were achieved with one off camera flash (Sigma EF-530 DG Super) on the left side of the frame around 4ft from the subject, with either a silver reflective umbrella or a white shoot through. I then varied the power in order to get the correct exposure. Somewhere around 1/8 to 1/2 was used. Any comments or feedback for improvement would be greatly appreciated.

#1 1/200th f/8.0 ISO 200 35mm (D5300 + Nikon 35mm f/1.8)

#2 1/200th f/8.0 ISO 200 35mm (D5300 + Nikon 35mm f/1.8)

#3 1/200th f/8.0 ISO 100 38mm (D5300 + Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8)

 

[kdthomas]

For me, there seems a bit too much negative space ... I'd crop/get in closer. I like the texture & pattern on the woman's shirt. I would maybe try shopping out the the little sprig of hair behind her head , little distracting to me ... For the man I might consider shopping out the nipple indentation in the shirt, and some fluff up by the shoulder. But the bigger problem for me is that it seems the tones in the shirt too closely match those in his face