I've been practicing a different kinds of editing styles and I wanted to my photos to pop even more from the hair to the eyes and so on, should I stick to dodge and burn or is there something better, any suggestions? From lighting to actual post production.
I think this image doesn't pop because your BW conversion looks flat. Try messing with different color channels to pull out facial features.
My first thought as well. I have the issue myself sometimes, getting those (what should be) whites, whiter.
Thank you, I will mess around with it!
It's way to dark. Falls really flat because of that. Bring the exposure up by 2-3 stops and add some contrast and it will look a lot nicer. It will add some grain if the shot was underexposed, but worry not. It will look better that way.