Friday Photo Critique #74

Friday Photo Critique is our weekly community project, where we publish a photograph submitted by one of our wonderful readers, then ask you all to offer constructive feedback on the image. It's a great way to learn more about photography, express your viewpoint, and have your own image critiqued!

Quick Ground Rules

Play nice! We've deliberately chosen photographs that aren't perfect, so please be constructive with any criticism.
Feel free to offer any type of advice - composition, lighting, post-processing etc.
You can also link to photographs that you feel offer a great example of this type of image shot exceptionally well.

Without further ado, here is this week's candidate for Friday Photo Critique!

The Photograph

Photo Details & Inspiration

Camera Model: Nikon D90
F/4.5
Shutter Speed: 1/60s
Exposure Program: Manual
ISO: 400

Flash SB-900 triggered in a manual mode with Cactus Wireless Trigger/Receiver V4 used with a shoot through umbrella. Flash was positioned just above the camera. What is behind the subject/model is actually a silver light reflector.

This photo was taken when testing a new shoot through umbrella. A silver light reflector is behind the model. This picture is a pure coincidence to some extent. However, I tried to capture the other side of a personality of the model, showing a very powerful person, even a rigorous person, using as little interference from the outside world (background, camera position, model posture, etc.) as possible and to use lighting as the main source of showing this power.

I decided for a monochrome picture as it seems to give much better results for producing such a 'powerful' personality.

Photographer: Konrad Dwojak

Please let us know what you think in the comments - how would you have approached the scene or taken the photo differently? A massive thank you to everyone who commented last week.

The most constructive and helpful comments will be featured on the site. Interested in submitting your own photo? You can do so here!