Assignment #2 - Due November 5th, 2011

Environmental Portraits

Take pictures of a friend or family member in an "environmental" setting. Environment doesn't mean "nature" as you might imagine it, but it means taking the portrait within some sort of context - which could be nature as in an outdoor park or so, but also includes buildings, offices or dance studio, the home, school, etc. Obviously you need a subject, and possibly an assistant to hold a reflector if needed (ask me about reflectors).

The "environment" should be meaningful, related to the person's talents, interests, culture, or the like. That means the environment is a crucial part of the image and not to be blurred out with a shallow depth of field, but you also don't want the background to completely overwhelm your subject. This often means creating some kind of distance between subject and background (see above), using tonal contrasts (subject wears white against a darker background, for instance), or using lighting to draw attention to the subject, or some combination of the these techniques. The picture above could have been improved with a little "fill flash" to overcome the shadows under the eyes.

As always, take at least 20 shots, adjust settings and situations - not 20 shots of the same person in the same position with the same lighting and same camera settings - what would be the point in that?  Experiment!