Trying out high key

My attempt, critiques certainly appreciated!

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/sethdubois/7005​020762/

Not high key, but a couple of things to think about. People in the background = distracting, Dirty feet (muddy) and dirty legs. Subject is backlit, but looks a little oof?

i like the color (yellow shorts, yellowed grass) but the dirt and people are a big distraction

Haha yea I know it's certainly not perfect with those aspects. I'm not sure why subject seems OOF, it seemed fine when I was editing. So, what exactly makes high key? I just figured it was backlighting and lightened processing/

Hi-key plus levitation - I love it! Don't ask about what makes hi-key or this thread will elongate to relativistic proportions. There's just no consensus. Basically if most of it is bright and there are no dark shadows it's hi-key to me. So I'd say get rid of the dark shadows by the strangers (and get rid of them too) and you've got hi=key. But it is not well executed. You need some fill flash to light your subject.

Ok shot but some people might think it’s overexposed. I usually shoot high key shots racked out wide open , and they’re usually headshots or up to the shoulder.
You need to know how to nail a nice high key. It’s not that easy sometimes.