Exercise 6: A Portrait Sequence

The first shot of the session.  The model is alert, unsure of what's to come.  It's up to the photographer to put him at his ease.  This is something I need to practice

Six shots and some conversation later, the model is more relaxed - so is the photographer.  This sequence shows slight rotation of the head to light the model's left cheek.  It's not easy for a model to move so little.

The next three shots; the model looking up left.  I can't remember what I said, but it seems to have worked.  With his face turned the other way, it's much lighter.

The next three; I asked him to look serious, turning slightly left, then look back with his eyes.  I think that the oblique look in the third frame makes him look suspicious - of me, or simply in general.  I was startled when I saw this in the session. 

What a difference a smile makes!  But he's not smiling with his eyes...  I saw this at the time and pointed it out; maybe this is what gave me the expression in the next image...

I knew this was the one.  Not smiling, but looking alert and engaged.  I'd print this.  It's the only one I've done any explicit processing on.  I increased exposure by 2/3 of a stop, cropped it and did a little blemish removal.  The other photographs show how little work there was to do.

Laughter at last!  I like the middle one best; it's the point at which laughter is about to break out.  There's a pleasant tension in the anticipation.

The last exposure.  I was concerned that he might be needed on stage for the play rehearsal I'd borrowed him from.  He was quite prepared to carry on.  But I was tired; I'd made over 100 exposures in the evening, 27 of them with this model, and thought I'd got the one I wanted.  Though I'm not sure he won't prefer this one.
Technical:
Key light with softbox is on model's right; fill light with umbrella to his left.
ISO200, 1/200, f14, White Balance=Flash, about 80mm on 1.6 factor sensor, say 105mm in old money. Camera hand-held. I intend to try a session with it on the tripod, using a remote, but can see a problem straight away: getting the model to look into the camera when required.