I'm not portrait guru, but to me #1 looks overexposed (forehead, cheek, and beard).

For the merged photos, they turned out well. I likely wouldn't have noticed if you haven't said you took two photos, but since you did... it does look a bit odd to have the hand/gun in focus, the arm slightly blurred, then the face back in focus again.

Aside from that, your brother looks sharp. The background is sufficiently blurred. You gave him some space to look into. I'd say it's a decent job, aside from the harsh sun.

If you were to try this again, find open shade (under a tree (that gives SOLID shade, not speckled!), near a building, on a porch, under a patio umbrella). Somewhere where you're shaded, to avoid the harsh mid-day sun, but the eyes can still catch some bright reflections. Or... try to fix the sun. If you have one of those 4 in 1 or 5 in 1 reflector kits, they often have a diffusion disc inside. Unzip, remove the disc, and use it to soften the sunlight. It won't be large enough to work for a full body shot (unless you have a very big reflector kit!), but it should manage a head/shoulders shot.