[R.W.G.]

A very interesting (in my mind) dark/light effect and very sharp portrait. I shot this picture hand held without knowing this would be the result! Other pictures shot at a slightly different angle looked nothing like this. Please, comment and crit!

Important: this picture was not photoshopped it came out of my camera looking like this.

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[Na Horuk]

I think its pretty great, but I would pp it to make the bright parts slightly brighter, which would increase overall contrast. But it is sharp, captures an expression, cool

[jbinpg]

Reminiscent of the Rembrandt/chiaroscura school of lighting. I maybe would have edged the lighting up just a tad but I love this image.

[jido]

As you said, a sharp portrait with interesting light.

However, I think it is lacking a subject. There is no real theme, just a portrait in the dark. Was he doing something with his hands? Was this photo taken at a particular place?

More context would have made the picture more special, I think.

This said, it is already good. Definitely a keeper.

[wildman]

Basically a good low key shot but a bit over the top.

As it is it is so lacking in shadow detail that it is almost an abstraction - the person could be almost anyone. I'm assuming, of course, you wanted to take a picture of a particular person and not just make an artsy abstract statement - which is all right if that was what was intended but I don't think so.

Anyway, with a bit more shadow detail you still preserve the drama and mystery of a low key shot without losing anything - its just a matter of how much shadow to include.

This is a subtle difference and I don't have a clue how this will look on other monitors but it looks OK on mine...

[jido]

Basically a good low key shot but a bit over the top.

As it is it is so lacking in shadow detail that it is almost an abstraction - the person could be almost anyone. I'm assuming, of course, you wanted to take a picture of a particular person and not just make an artsy abstract statement - which is all right if that was what was intended but I don't think so.

Anyway, with a bit more shadow detail you still preserve the drama and mystery of a low key shot without losing anything - its just a matter of how much shadow to include.

This is a subtle difference and I don't have a clue how this will look on other monitors but it looks OK on mine...

Looks good to me. But the OP liked the original so I suppose more interested in the artistic statement.

[R.W.G.]

Hey, thanks you all for those insights! Frankly, I don't see this picture as a portrait even if it is one it's the "jumping out of the dark" effect on the side of the face that I liked about it. Bringing the detail out of the shadow, as wildman did, certainly goes to show more, perhaps I would like this picture to be a way in between the original and the edited one. I think it captures expression even if the subject is vague and there is no action, and it lets you wonder why this friend of mine has the expression he has in this picture (which is totally unexpected). All of this said, considering the replies, I believe this picture of mine to be a success

[bdery]

Maybe in B&W ? As it is, while understanding your concept, I still feel it's an underexposed image where more than half the subject is black.

[Kerrowdown]

Artistic it maybe, but I still prefer leaning to towards the wildman approach. In fact I was away to do that myself, just to see and as I scrolled down the thread he'd already done it.

It's amazing what can be pulled out of the shadow details especially in the latest version camera raw 7.3 used in both LR and PS.

[southlander]

I like the wildman edit also. In the original there is just too much dark feature-less expanse in the RHS of the image that makes it very unbalanced compositionally, IMHO.