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Environmental Portraits by Russ Burden Portraits are much more than just taking a snapshot of someone's face.  Here's some tips from Russ Burden about how to get the most out of your environmental portraits. Article rating: 8.06

As I was growing up, my definition of a portrait, was based on personal experiences from school photos. Simple - a portrait is a chest to head shot of a person smiling at the camera. A ten cent comb is used to rake the hair so the subject looks his or her best. Light is blasted from all directions and artificial backgrounds are added that either don’t harmonize with what clothing is worn or it’s made to have you think you are somewhere on a Caribbean island - very fake looking. It wasn’t until I started to pursue photography that I realized there are many different facets of portraiture.

The magnitude of portrait styles makes it practical to concentrate on just one for this article - environmental portraiture. This style differs from others as the purpose is to create a photo of a living being showing both the environment in which it exists for that moment along with the subject. In essence, there is a blending of two subjects - the person or animal and the habitat. This makes the task at hand of creating a great shot all the more difficult as both the subject and environment have to be prime subjects, lit well, and strategically composed.

When making an environmental portrait, there should be a connection between the subject and where it’s photographed. When photographing animals, this is not a problem in that where it’s photographed is where it lives. It can be an issue if you’re into photographing bugs and you unknowingly place an insect on a plant that is poisonous to the species. With people it becomes more of an issue as the story as to why a person is photographed in a specific location needs to be logical. If the person and the setting conflict, chances are the image won’t work. Look to create a story that completes the reason why the person is photographed in a given area.

In the images that accompany this article, each has a sense of place and reason for being. The shot of the mountain goats was made while leading a one day workshop up to Mount Evans. We encountered the mom and baby precariously perched on the rocks above timberline with the mountains in the distance. The moment lasted only a short while and really gave a sense of place to the habitat of the goats. The shot of the young man on the seastack was made while on my Oregon Coast tour. The sunset light was beginning to get warm and I asked him to stand on the rock as if he was enjoying the view. In the autumn image of the lady in the shawl, it was made while on my Vermont in Autumn Tour and it’s actually one of the participants. The feeling that’s evoked is one of tranquility and peacefulness as it gives the impression of an elderly person contemplating her thoughts on a quiet New England morning. Notice that in all three compositions, the Rule Of Thirds is heavily used in the compositions.

To learn more about this topic, join me on one of my Photographic Nature Tours. Visit www.russburdenphotography.com and click on the NATURE TOURS button for more information. Also, pick up a copy of my new book, Amphoto’s Complete Book of Photography. You can purchase a signed copy directly from me or visit your local book store or Amazon. Contact me at rburden@ecentral.com to order your signed copy.

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