Opinions on BW portraits...?

[Simone]

Hi all, Seeking opinions here, for those of ya that like B&W portrait stuff....

I like shooting people/faces and attempting portrait-type techniques, alot of which I've learned here, in the tut's, books etc. I love the BW look, kind of a contemporary feel, which maybe you can pick up from some of my gallery images. (eg. the sepia closeup of the little girl, the 2 close ups of the men.)

Now the question! Here's a new image I just added to my gallery.



What do y'all think of the levels and contrast? And, improvement suggestions generally? Started as a color indoor snap of 2 people in an office; cropped it alot, removed bkgr, converted to bw, fiddled w. levels, layer blend modes, contrast. Maybe there's a tip I don't know about to make this one better..

I know the final "look" is sorta a personal thing, but still seeking opinions. I'm relatively new so feedback is valuable for me... :0
Thanks so much!

[AngelicKim]

Simone, I would have to change........ummmm...... nothing. Great job.

[Jodi Frye]

Hey you did a great job at taking him out into the spotlight and out of his former place ! I found the white bg to be a little too white tho...that's just perhaps
my wicked tired eyes's fault....but i added a radial gradient adjustment layer to the bg to calm it down a bit....I didn't touch him in any way.

[AngelicKim]

I like both.

[Sissy]

Simone, you really did a good job extracting and fixing this photograph. But I have to tell you, I like what Jodi did to the background much better than the stark white. I've copied and pasted this thread for future reference. Thanks for posting your question. I learned so much.

[Simone]

Kim, Sissy, Jodi - thanks for the quick input! Glad you like what I did to him (himself).
Jodi, I really like the new bkgr! Great suggestion, it needed that, I think. To be honest, the bkgr was on my list to see about improving (seemed boring and eye killing) but I got lazy after the extraction and doing other stuff to him. And I've done so much scrapping that without bought background papers I'm at a loss (looser!)

Your image with the screen shot is perfect. I'll try it, update my gall, and let you know if I have q's! This place is daaa best!

[Simone]

All done! Here he is. I haven't done alot with gradients and this was a learning. That's what it's about... Thanks so much!

[Jodi Frye]

Oh Much... !!

Great Job Simone ! You should feel very proud of this one.

[Cmcburnett]

Simone, great job. I love the gradient. Thanks for the tip Jodi, I'll be sure to use it.

[AngelicKim]

Oh that does look better. After seeing it again I do like Jodi's way better. Great job Simone.