Lighting portraits

As we were discussing Lighting and portraits on another thread.. Thought I'd show one. This is Graham, who asked me to take his picture... Still not quite worked out why me. As he undertakes paid shoots as a model every week... He must have heard "I don't pay models".….lol

I didn't quite get the processing right, but I feel it nearly has the Peaky Blinders look....!!

For those interested. One light with beauty dish 30 degrees right. One 20 degree gridded to provide a background separation.

I'm only looking at this on my ph. But from what I can see, really like it.
I like the lighting the pose the whole shebang.
That's a face full of character, love it 👏👏👏

I'm not sure I'm liking the super sharpness of some areas, vs the soft skin look right next to it?

And I don't think the clothing at the bottom needs the enhancement/sharpness of the stubble hair either?

Point noted thanks Richard...!

The strong directional light really enhances the textures, and having the light fairly forwards brings interest onto the 'off side" also (like around the bottom of the chin). It all suits the gritty style.

I like the effect from the 2nd light also ..... Is it pointing only at the background, or does it also touch the subject a bit?

I have no doubt your client there would be very pleased. You do have many choices regarding the processing, there's other ways you could take it if you wanted.

Oh he wasn't a client Nigel.. Just a fun shoot. Graham likes to dress up.. lol I'm certainly not in client territory with my studio work...

I was going for a mean rugged gangster type look.. To match the outfit.. Didn't quite get it I feel. Then tried to process my way out of it..
The background was a plain black. So looked a bit boring. The subjects shadows then seem to blend. So the second flash as I remember was just at the background to separate and distance the subject. But didn't want to light the whole background so tried to shape it with a reflector and grid.. Just two flash gun's give it a go...

Nice, I like the pose and the lighting. I agree that the sharpening on the stubble could be toned down. It is the first thing that grabs my attention rather than the eyes.

Hey, if you were the newspaper reporter in a Superman movie, then it's all about the stubble!

I wasn't quite thinking late last night. When posting I did a quick turn to black n white of the image. Then sharpened. Forgetting I had already sharpened the original.. But i'll take the flack, for my non observance....lol

Looking at it on the pc now, and I can see what everyone is saying around the sharpness, but, I still like it, I think it works in this type of look, there seems to be some haloing around his right ear that spoils it a little.
Still great shooting.

There's plenty of ways to process it, and everyone will think differently. It doesn't detract from the effective lighting however ..... I would quite like to see a straight version with basic processing, just to see the effect of the lighting more clearly.