Which works best?

[Mike V]

Hi guys and gals. Which portrait do you prefer. I used an umbrella to reflect light onto the subject and used natural window light as fill light.

All photos are in RAw so I could edit them further if necesary.
I need to show good use of light control. The bright side is f8 and the shadow side is f4, so I shot at 5.6. Is this correct?

1

2

3

4

 

[Zaphod]

no 1 for me i think

 

[Mike V]

no 1 for me i think

Thanks for your input.

I am having a hard time deciding because they are self portraits and my conscience keeps getting in the way!

 

[Zaphod]

i'm kind of torn between 1 and 2. maybe number 2 is less cluttered, thinking about it again.

number 3 looks like your trying to fix something, it almost looks like a plumber checking under a sink, it looses the idea of a fridge (IMO)
I think your hand in No4 is too dominant.

 

[bbb]

Number 2 is better compositionally, number 1 shows better lighting contol

 

[Tessy]

2 is best. 4 is freaky...

Interesting ideas...

 

[Mike V]

I just wanted to bump this to the top, because I am going to reshoot it this afternoon. If anyone has any tips on improvement please share.

Out of those I now realise that 1 and 3 are the best. The others have highlight areas where highlight information is lost. So I will be correcting that. If you have any info please share!

 

[philipfirth1983]

I Like no 3

 

[Bokeh]

I like no. 2, #4 looks creepy the big hand in front of the frame is just to much.