Self portrait

[Rocco]

I have a shot in my head that I want you to try. It's a shot I've done a few times and it usually turns out well

Sean, thanks! That was a lot of fun. It took way too long to work out, but I came up with something close. I positioned my head a little different so I could see just a bit more of my face (I have the most awkward looking profile ever, I'm an egg head). I see what you mean about the main light having to be just right. And just about every time I had to adjust it I was fighting with the reflector to get the back of my head illuminated again. I would have killed for another light for that part. I ended up having the flash super close to my head *just outside of the frame. Closer than I would have thought I needed. Learned a ton this time around.





I couldn't figure out how to fix the awkward looking shadow cutting across my neck though.

[Jayson]

I like the first one, but you might want to crop it a little moe so there isn't so much negative space on the right side of the frame. You could also try a high contrast technique Kelby uses. Duplicates the layer 2 times, make the one in the middle B+W, make the top layer either soft light or overlay, then mask out the eyes in the two layers to get your natural eye color. It looks pretty cool when done.

[Jayson]

I like the first one, but you might want to crop it a little moe so there isn't so much negative space on the right side of the frame. You could also try a high contrast technique Kelby uses. Duplicates the layer 2 times, make the one in the middle B+W, make the top layer either soft light or overlay, then mask out the eyes in the two layers to get your natural eye color. It looks pretty cool when done.

Hope you didn't mind but I did a quit touch of what I was referring to...I'll take it down in a bit

[Sean Setters]

I like them both, but for different occasions. While they are similar, the facial expression and head tilt give two completely different looks. I guess I do like the first one a bit more, though, now that I've looked at them both about 3 times now. I agree that there needs to be less negative space on the right side of the first image. And as far as the shadow across the neck goes, it doesn't bother me.

Overall, I like these attempts better than your previous self-portraits. And honestly, I go for a more natural toned down look, so I actually like yours better than Jayson's edit (his looses a lot of detail in the shadows).