Priest in temple. BW. CC needed for improvement!

Post-processing : Done in PS CS3

Comments and criticism welcome...

Thanks,
-Reef

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I think the lighting on the subject is not bad, and the exposure is about as good as you can do under the circumstances - at least the burned out areas are very small and can be ignored. I think the tonal range in the face is good, but the lack of detail in the deepest blacks is damaging. I am also questioning the composition. This is a hard one to get right, because there is no recipe for success here. The best thing you can do is to avoid things like trying to split the face exactly down the middle. It is always better to make a split far enough off center that we know you were not trying to get it exactly down the center.

Thanks a lot for the detailed comment!

while shooting, I was careless and chipped a piece off the man's right ear... and so thought the crop straight down the middle would be artistic. I do understand what u mean here, though.

Maybe this image isn't a keeper?

I tried to bring a bit more detail out of the deep blacks.. this has been my best attempt:
(no crop)

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I like this far better than the crop - warts and all.

Thanks a lot!

-Reef