One Light Portrait

[Tyson L. Sparks]

I shot this today playing with my new radio, no crop no PP nothing at all. But I feel it is some what blah what can I do to make it better. All C&C welcome, bring it on.

[Greg McCary]

Well I think he is just to centered in the shot and your dealing with to much negative space. A nice crop and maybe repose him standing more at an angle than straight on. Is his eyes sharp in the full size image as they seem a little off here?
I think the lighting is ok as long as deep shadows is what you were after.

[AgingEyes]

For anyone who is interested in portraits, here's something that you may want to watch:

The Grid: Episode 57 – Blind Critiques with Joe McNally | The Grid

It's Joe McNally critiquing portrait shots.

[Photo-John]

You might have also posted this on the Studio & Lighting forum since I think we're talking more about lighting technique and strategy than content or composition. The photo looks pretty much like what I'd expect from a first experiment with radio slaves. I have no doubt that my first PocketWizard photos looked pretty much the same

So, lighting strategy...

I think the main issue with this photo is there's no ambient light to speak of. One light is always tough and usually you'll want a bit of ambient exposure as a second light source. That will open up the shadows on your subject a bit and show your background. The best way to do this is to start with your ambient exposure and then set up your flash exposure. Does that make sense?