I say this "assignment" last week when I was perusing the forum. I had a young man volunteer to model for me to try out some new lighting and did this shot with this assignment in mind.

Originally Posted by Bryce Wilson I say this "assignment" last week when I was perusing the forum. I had a young man volunteer to model for me to try out some new lighting and did this shot with this assignment in mind.

Uhm, Bryce, I do no't see a single pixel of specular highlights in this image...
Am I missing something?

Maybe it is me that does not understand the meaning of specular highlights. As I understand it, it is lighting that "blows out" and causes a heavy "shine" on a particular part of a portrait. That being the case, areas of this subjects head as well as shirt are lit in this manner.

Now, being a novice and all, I may have a misunderstanding of the terminology. If so, your explanation of what a specular highligt truly is would be most welcome and enlightening.

Originally Posted by Bryce Wilson Maybe it is me that does not understand the meaning of specular highlights. As I understand it, it is lighting that "blows out" and causes a heavy "shine" on a particular part of a portrait. That being the case, areas of this subjects head as well as shirt are lit in this manner. Now, being a novice and all, I may have a misunderstanding of the terminology. If so, your explanation of what a specular highligt truly is would be most welcome and enlightening.

Bryce, the nature of specular highlights is such that even if, for instance, you draw the exposure slider in ACR all the way down, they will still remain pure white. They are not just "blown out", the are "blown out of the park". I have a feeling that the areas you have mentioned can be easily brought down via restore highlights option.
Besides, if you re-read the lead post, I was asking for the specular highlights that a essential part of the image context (sun stars and such), not just some subtle side effects. I mean, if you would go for a "line silhouette" (both subject and background are dark/100% black, and only the subject's borderline is highlighted) that would be more along the lines of this particular assignment.
Don't get me wrong - it s a very nice image. I'm sure you'll get tons of compliments if you repost it in "People" or on your FB page. But for this class it misses the mark.
HTH
Nikolai

Thank you for the detailed explanation!!!

...and the learning continues!

Hi, it's me again. These photos are supposed to be failures as the moon was too overwhelmingly bright. I didn't get enough ideas of how to improve yet so I would like to post them here.
And... The roof went to I took them is locked, so I won't be able to retake for a long long long time. T^T

P.S: I also have some zoom burst photos. The genre might b used wrong coz the subject is an admin building, but I chose the technique coz the background wasn't supportive. I wonder where I can post them for critiques, Nik. Thx

You got specular highlights here, for sure. However, technically those are failures, you are correct. We're looking more for technically correct images in which specular highlights are present and play important enough role...