Picture of one of my best friends.

[andymartin]

Just a sneaky picture i took of a friend that i actually thought turned out well.

[andymartin]

i would really appreciate some critique..

[gahspidy]

I think it turned out fine. good lighting on the face and eyes, the sharpness looks adequate and the background is not too distracting from the subject.
Did you convert to black and white because the colors looked off? Indoor shots that are lit with either tungsten or flourescent lighting ,if not balanced will look oddly tinted with unatural looking color casts.

From your description "a sneaky picture of a friend" i take it this was a quick grab...if you had to do this shot again could you? In other words, knowing why the light was right and appropriately balanced for the background just by seeing and being attentive to the lighting conditions as well as seeing it in the camera is important to consistently getting a nicely lit portrait in many variety of situations.
Looks to me you done good here, thanks for sharing with us.

[Flipkitty]

Nice. I like it.

[n8]

I think it's a tad soft, but when making an impromptu grab, not everything can be perfect. I would crop a bit off the right and the bottom to de-center it and remove the door handles and (desktop?)

[hminx]

A bit of unsharp mask around the eyes teeth and hair might help.