An environmental portrait is an image of someone in the place where they work, play, live or spend time. I want to try to capture them in a natural setting that helps tell the story of who they are. When it comes to capturing an environmental portrait, a little preparation will pay off. From inspiration and pre-planning, remixing ideas, being flexible and reflecting, there are some simple things you can do that will greatly improve your images.
Finding Inspiration
The first part of finding inspiration is finding a subject. You can capture an environmental portrait of literally anyone. It could be a merchant at a market, a painter in their workshop, a farmer in a field, or, in my case, a basketball player on a court. The key thing is that you want to capture someone in an environment that is natural to them.
A great place to get started is with people that you know. Maybe you have a friend or a relative that does something that you find interesting and that would make a nice portrait. These are great opportunities to capture an environmental portrait and tell the story of this person.
Approaching People
I have talked about approaching strangers and asking to capture their portrait. Some of the same techniques like showing your subject the images and talking to them while you capture images can be applied to environmental portraits. The big difference between the environmental portrait and asking to capture someone’s portrait is a portrait on the street may take a few minutes while an environmental portrait will take more time.
If you are working with a friend or a relative, they already know you and are more likely to give up their time for you. They will also be more patient with you as you explore various ideas and possibilities for images.
An environmental portrait captures someone in their environment.
Possibilities
Once you have a subject, it is time to look for inspiration and possibilities. Look on the internet for portrait ideas for people in the same situation as your subject. Every situation is unique so you aren’t trying to recreate someone else’s image. You are just trying to collect possible ideas.
Pinterest is a great place to collect and organize ideas for environmental portraits. Sometimes I collect ideas of poses that might work for my subject. Or I might collect ideas that have particular lighting or juxtaposition of elements of a scene. These ideas can all come together in my own remix of what my environmental portrait might look like for my subject.
Pre-Planning
Once you have found a subject and gotten some ideas and inspiration, it is time to plan out the actual images that you will capture. How will your subject pose? Where will they be in the scene? What lens or lenses will you use to capture the image? Will you use any external lighting sources like speed lights or strobes? Do you need other equipment like reflectors? Do you want any props?
Sketching Ideas
If you can, I highly recommend visiting the location of the shoot beforehand. Bring along a camera so you can try out some possible compositions and options. This is your opportunity to sketch with your camera and come up with new ideas. It is incredibly helpful if you can go at the same time of day as the actual shoot because you can see what is happening with the light and environment.
When it comes to preplanning, I take a page out of Joe McNally’s book and sketch out my ideas. This includes the overall scene with the placement of the subject, camera, lights and any props. For this challenge, I had three separate ideas which I have sketched in the images below. My equipment for the shoot was simple. A Nikon 35mm f1.4 & 85mm f1.4 along with a Nikon SB 5000 speedlight on a softbox and a Nikon SU 800 to trigger the flash (although I did switch to a Nikon SB 910 part way through the shoot).
Three drawings of my plans for my basketball environmental photo shoot
Once I have an idea for a composition or lighting setup, I always try a number of different poses to go along with that setup. So it is a great idea to have a few options for poses that can provide inspiration. You don’t want to spend a lot of time setting up a shot and then only have your subject give you one pose.
Organizing Equipment
Another important aspect of preplanning means getting all your equipment together prior to the actual shoot. I like to lay everything out the day before. There is nothing worse than getting to the shoot and realizing that you have forgotten something. Or that your batteries aren’t fully charged.
I often do a quick test and set things up and make sure I have the right modifiers and cables. I clean my camera’s sensor so that I don’t have dust on every image. Even with fully charged batteries, I always bring extra batteries for everything that needs a battery.
If you are a list person, then make a list based on your preplanned drawings. That kind of checklist can be incredibly helpful.
I don’t like to get everything ready the day of the shoot because I often forget something. Or I leave things too late and it creates a lot of stress when getting ready. One of the benefits of preparing everything the day before is that I often think of other possible images or options that I could try out.
Be Flexible
Sometimes the best laid plans can go awry. But in the case of an environmental photoshoot, the best laid plans are the template for even better images. There will be times when you have an image in your head and execute that image perfectly. And then a different image or option presents itself. Just make sure that you aren’t so focused on your plan that you are inflexible to other opportunities.
I had three ideas which I sketched out for images that I wanted to capture for my environmental portrait challenge. My plan for the series of images was to underexpose the background of the image and use a single softbox to light my subject.
One example of me being flexible was with my second idea. The plan was to shoot along the length of the wall with a flash at a 45 degree angle to the subject. However, I didn’t really like the light from that position so I tried two other options. The first was behind my subject and the second was at a 90 degree angle to my subject.
My original idea for where to put the flash can be seen in my first image. Looking at the results, I thought the light was a bit flat. I moved the flash around back for the second image and at a 90 degree angle for the third image. I liked the light at a 90 degree angle and that was the setup for the 4th photo which was one of my favourites from this setup.
Another example of being flexible was when I organizing the third setup. The plan was to put the camera low to the ground to capture a reflection. As I set up, I noticed that the natural light hitting my subject was beautiful. (You can see the moment I saw this light in the environmental portrait video I made for this challenge towards the bottom of this post). I decided to adapt the original image and capture some extra images without using a flash. These images ended up being some of my favourite from the shoot.
Reflect
The last bit of effort that will make your environmental portraits is to reflect after you have finished your session. What went well? What could you do better next time? What do you wish you could have done? What else would you like to try?
Reflecting after a shoot will make you a better photographer. It can lead to new thinking and ideas. You may try something different next time. There is always a next time and you will be better next time. I always say that the first time is the worst time. I get better every time I capture images. Especially when I try to think of new possibilities.
What was my reflection for this environmental portrait? I was somewhat limited by the power of a small speedlight in a softbox. While it did provide some beautiful light, I would love to have more power so I could try some other creative options with light. Maybe next time I would like try either a multiple speedlight setup or use a more powerful strobe light. Maybe I could use some coloured gels on the lights.
Here are some other images from my environmental portrait challenge. Check out the video below to see the actual placement of the lights and the process of capturing the images.
