Environmental Portraiture: Tell Your Subject’s Story and Create Dynamic Portraits with One Bag of Gear

Capture Emotion

Emotion can be the basis of the story as well—if you can catch it. A tear falling down a cheek or a sports-induced scream for the winning touchdown tells a story. In my experience photographing people, emotion is something that is not often readily shown. No one wants to come off as vulnerable, whether that’s with joy or sadness. Most people are not going to just start revealing the emotion you want to convey in your photo. But conversing and listening to your subjects can help to bring out that emotion. If their story indicates drama or loss, catching that sadness on a person’s face is key. Of course, you can add to the effect with light and the environment, but pure emotion on someone’s face captured in-camera is pretty powerful. ...