Exercise: an active portrait

I was asked by a friend to photograph two young magicians, this I thought was a great opportunity to gather some portrait images for this course, especially as the young men didn't really know what they wanted.

On the day though it was very chaotic due to photographing a live event. Although I was happy with these images it did not fulfil the remit if this exercise in producing a portrait and not a series of images of reportage. The day was also a very sunny autumn day that made the lighting too harsh....

The first couple of images did not involve me in any staging, just trying to catch a natural moment....these didn't really work for this exercise...

The next two were staged, but I much prefer the second image in which I took one of the magicians aside got the right light and told him exactly what to do. I think this image has more intrigue into what the young chap is doing whilst making a nice portrait. In processing the final image I dodged the face a little to bring out the light, almost as if I had a reflector. Moral of this lesson is to plan more and have staged ideas for shots, they seem to work much better!