Exercise 4: An active portrait

For this exercise I had to ask my model to perform some kind of activity for me to shoot.  It was advised that fast-moving activity should be avoided to prevent the exercise becoming too difficult.  Instead I had to look at a more sedentary activity and what better than reading...

I also had to concentrate on the person's face rather than trying to show the activity they were carrying out.

I chose to convert the image into black and white so the focus would be more on the person without the distracting colours of the sofa cushions and bookshelves in the background.

The subject is edge lit and this lighting draws the viewer into the shot and onto the subject.  You can see that he is engrossed in his book, deep in though and very relaxed.  And very much oblivious of the camera which I feel makes the image even more realistic.

The colour version for reference.