To me Low key just means mainly dark tones. This is low key but still it is under exposed.
What's the difference, you ask? Well highlights and specular reflections should not be muddy and shaddows and most blacks should have detail, generally. True-blacks of course, should be black without detail. In this image the detail in the hair and beard and on his chest left of the necklace is gone, a dead giveaway for an under exposed image especially as your image is very muddy, another dead giveaway for under exposure. The hair looks black but the background is also absent detail, even though it is no where near as dark as the hair, and this makes it look like a poorly executed composite, especially becasue of the synthetic halo around the hair.
If you don't agree, beleive or understand my explanation just do it or something similar again shooting exposures as per this image and others one, two and three stops brighter. Low key is about the tones of the subject matter and the lighting design, in that order. It has nothing to do with exposure.
Nice try but underexposed, quite a bit.
It's low key, but ok
To me Low key just means mainly dark tones. This is low key but still it is under exposed.
What's the difference, you ask? Well highlights and specular reflections should not be muddy and shaddows and most blacks should have detail, generally. True-blacks of course, should be black without detail. In this image the detail in the hair and beard and on his chest left of the necklace is gone, a dead giveaway for an under exposed image especially as your image is very muddy, another dead giveaway for under exposure. The hair looks black but the background is also absent detail, even though it is no where near as dark as the hair, and this makes it look like a poorly executed composite, especially becasue of the synthetic halo around the hair.
If you don't agree, beleive or understand my explanation just do it or something similar again shooting exposures as per this image and others one, two and three stops brighter. Low key is about the tones of the subject matter and the lighting design, in that order. It has nothing to do with exposure.
i like your contributions. i would like to know you better so that you can share some professional ideas with me, am a photographer from nigeria.