The intensity on your friend Matt face in fantastic. You did a real good job in contrasting, making this photo very exciting to look at. Well done.
I often relied on a soft back ground bokeh effect, when I do snap shots on the run of people, (in my case often my grand kids), but often the back ground takes away the intensity of the subject. I do not have PS, only LR, so I did send this photo to my mate to see if he can put a black back ground layer into the shot and I love the result. I better start learning the Art of Layers....LOL.
My Test Girl
IMG_2198 Anya by bouwy1, on Flickr