Environmental portraits

An environmental portrait can be any photograph of a person in their natural surroundings, whether at work, home or play. It’s an opportunity for a photographer to go out into an unknown (and sometimes challenging) environment and take an interesting portrait of a person on their home turf. The idea of an environmental portrait is to include things that tell us something about the person. The background becomes their back story, so it’s important to show details and objects that help to explain who they are and what they do.

To include these details, it might be necessary to set up a wider shot than you’d use for a standard portrait, and to set a narrower aperture to extend the depth of field, so that objects in the background are recorded sharply. Of course, it helps if you’ve got an interesting environment to shoot in, like a grungy workshop or a rugged landscape. Keep in mind thatthere’s a temptation to focus too much on the props and background, particularly with stimulating environments. As with any other type of portrait, the person is always the most important thing in the frame.

Before deciding what to include in or exclude from the shot, take the time to learn a little about the subject. Before shooting the

“An environmental portrait includes things that tell us about the person. The background becomes their back story”

glassblower in his workshop here, we began by observing his work while taking a few candids to get used to the lighting and figure out interesting angles. It became clear that most of the work was done on the bench, so we asked him to sit there, framing him with the furnace in the back. Look for good spots of light, such as next to a window or door. If the light isn’t right, add some of your own. But don’t shoot with the flash on-camera, as this destroys the mood. If shooting in a dim interior like the glassblower workshop, you might need to complement the existing light with a burst of flash from a speedlight.

Knowing how to balance flash and ambient light is a useful skill. If possible, take the speedlight off the camera. Set it up on a stand and trigger it remotely, by using either your SLR’s pop-up flash in commander mode or a wireless trigger. This way, you can light the subject from any direction and you won’t get the flat, boring light on-camera flash can produce. Balancing flash and ambient light within your scene can get a little complicated. You could try using

Above Include objects and details that give an insight into where the person is and what they are doing.