Portrait shot for a friend (Raffles Hotel)

[szejiamin]

My friend wanted to shave his hair for Hair for HOPE, so I thought I would take some photos for him before he goes bald for the next two months or so.

Initially, I wasn't sure what mood I wanted to achieve with my photo series, but after talking to him and understanding why he wanted to shave his hair (tribute to his grandmother who died of cancer), I wanted to show a serious and more mature side of him through the photo series.

I like this photo because I like his gaze in this shot. This is my first time shooting portrait and I hope for some constructive feedback for what did I do right or wrong for this photo. Thanks!

 

[HTCahHTC]

there's no right or wrong in photography.
he doesn't looked serious to me. he looked calm instead.
he did gave some intimacy feeling to me (maybe not to others)
but i feel that his left hand should not have been 'cut off'.
just my 2 cents worth.

 

[madmacs]

the photo look just fine to me. his left hand is in the darker area and can't really see that its chopped off so it doesn't distract. if anything the triangular blown out highlights over his shoulder is more distracting. perhaps that could have been avoided if you had rotated the pose a little to the right.

 

[szejiamin]

Hmmmm... maybe i din direct him properly. Cos i told him to look cool hahaha.
Yeah I always have problem with too tight shots. Will take note of that. thanks!

 

[flipfreak]

just a thought. if u were able to get some light to rim his hair, it might look great.

 

[catchlights]

the light is coming from the right, it would be good you pose him facing the light, so the jaw line not so distinct..

other than the blown highlight on the right, the rest looks fine with me.

 

[omegacs]

It's a pretty decent photo I would say, maybe a nicer background would be better.

Although I'm also guilty of just "bluring" the background, the black patch on the right is a little distracting, causing me to focus on the spot instead of the person.