Category Storytelling

Five Tips For Better Outdoor Portraits

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well-dressed motorcycle rider © Brian Fitzgerald

Outdoor environmental portraits offer a blend of human emotion and natural beauty and can elevate a simple portrait into a compelling visual story. Whether you’re a pro photographer looking to refine your craft—or you’re in a position to hire one—understanding the dynamics of outdoor portrait photography is key. Here are five things I try to keep in mind:

 

1. Don’t Fight the Sun (Unless You Know You Can Win)

There’s no way around it: photographing outside in full sun is a big challenge, especially for natural-light photographers. Harsh direct sunlight can cause unflattering shadows, squinting, and overexposure. A classic solution is shooting during the ‘golden hour’ – the time just after sunrise or just before sunset when the light is softer and warmer, which can help to create a magical mood.

Choosing the time of day isn’t always an option, so if you’re planning on doing battle under the blazing noon sun, you’ll have to bring plenty of backup in the form of off-camera flash and reflectors. For example, you might position your subject with their back to the sun, using it as a hair light, and fill in their face with a reflector or flash. You’ll need a firm grasp on balancing ambient and artificial light, but if done correctly, you can create dramatic portraits with impact. 

 

2. Show The Environment

The outdoors provides background options that can complement your subject and tell a deeper story. Storytelling details might also help tell the story of your subject. 

Watch out for distracting elements in the frame that may draw attention away from your subject. Use depth of field to your advantage, blurring out the background to keep focus on your subject when necessary.

 

3. Use Motivated Lighting

Just like in filmmaking, motivated lighting plays a crucial role in photography. The concept refers to lighting that appears to come from a natural source within the scene, like the sun, a lamp, or a fire. This kind of lighting not only looks more natural, but it also helps to tell a story and create a certain mood or atmosphere.

 

4. Create Rapport

Creating a genuine connection with your subject is vital in any kind of portrait photography, but it’s even more crucial outdoors where there are more variables at play. It’s easy to get caught up in your gear, or dealing with changing light and variables like wind, and to forget about connecting with your subject. Good rapport can help your subject feel comfortable and relaxed, leading to more authentic expressions and poses.

 

5. Mix It Up

Finally, add variety to your outdoor portraits by mixing up poses, locations, angles, and focal lengths. You might start with wide, non-portrait lens and then work up to a tight headshot with a portrait-length lens. Have your subject look away from the camera as well as towards it. You’re not just after a well-composed portrait; you’re looking to create a mood.

The key to a successful outdoor portrait shoot is adaptability. The natural environment is ever-changing, and so should your approach. The sun might not always cooperate, and your environment will present unexpected challenges or distractions. But with these five tips in mind you’ll be better prepared to capture stunning outdoor portraits that truly tell a story. 

Capturing Reality with Scientist and Innovator Sarah Martinez Roth

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Sarah Martinez Roth, at Vertex Pharmaceuticals in Boston, MA ©Brian Fitzgerald

A few months ago, Colby College commissioned me to photograph one of their distinguished alumni, Sarah Martinez Roth. A 2011 Biology graduate, Martinez Roth went on to earn her master’s degree and Ph.D. in tumor biology at Georgetown University.

As a senior scientist at Vertex Pharmaceuticals in Boston, Martinez Roth develops treatments for sickle cell disease and has received the Ainslie Alumni Achievement Award from the Posse Foundation for her work.

My challenge was to capture Martinez Roth immersed in her work within a bustling laboratory. I aimed to reveal that even when working at the forefront of technology, being a scientist still involves hands-on tasks in small labs filled with well-used equipment. I appreciate that the labs she works in are clearly spaces where work happens – far from the pristine, symmetrically gleaming, and unrealistic labs depicted in TV and film. My goal was to integrate as much of that authenticity as possible into her environmental portraits.

Scientist Sarah Martinez Roth
Sarah Martinez Roth, at Vertex Pharmaceuticals in Boston, MA ©Brian Fitzgerald

The magic of creative constraints

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portrait
Parivash Rohani, @Brian Fitzgerald

 

One of the best ways to engage one’s creativity is to first strip away options.   Constraint, not necessity, is the mother of creativity.   

For portrait photographers, the focus of the image is the subject.  Yet background elements and interesting locations help to tell a story and can result in a more compelling portrait.   They can also be a crutch.   One piece of advice I give to aspiring portrait photographers:  learn to shoot portraits with no background. 

The artist Platon is famous for his high-key white seamless black and white portraits.  They are so simple—just the subject, often shot with a very simple lighting setup—but each one tells a story and compels the viewer to linger over every portion of the frame.   

When you strip away all of the choices, you focus on the essential.  When you strip away the excess background elements,  the focus is solely on the subject.  

The photographer is forced to focus on connecting with the person being photographed and helping them to carry the weight of the image through expression and mood, captured in fleeting moments. 

Environmental Portraits: Take it Outside

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Female Lobsterman
© Brian Fitzgerald
 
 
This June, after several months of working remotely (almost entirely indoors), I’ve been fortunate to be able to get back to creating new images for my clients.   Now that the days are growing warm it’s been the perfect time for my clients to take advantage of the short but beautiful summer season here in Maine by having their commercial portraits done outside. 
 
There are two primary types of portraits I’ve been making.  One is an editorial-style environmental portrait, where the setting is an important storytelling aspect of the final image.   Context is an important part of this type of portrait, since the background ends up being a secondary subject in the image. 
 
The other portrait type is more of a cinematic headshot portrait, where there is an environmental feel but the focus is entirely on the subject–it’s a great way to photograph a doctor, lawyer or financial professional far from their normal work environs and still make it seem professional and natural to do so.  
 
 
 
Businessman outside

© Brian Fitzgerald
 
I’m finding myself taking my studio on the road more and more often, photographing my clients outdoors and on location where conditions may be more changeable and unpredicatable but the results are often more striking.   It brings me back to my roots as an Arizona photojournalist, hauling out my Norman 200B flash heads to compete with the sun to make a memorable portrait.   
 
So consider outdoor portraits as an option that could work for your business or brand.  
 
Businesswoman outside
© Brian Fitzgerald
 
 
 
 
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Outtakes: the Portrait Moments that Weren’t

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Portrait Outtakes

In the photo editing world, outtakes are those images that don’t survive the multiple rounds of editing that allows the cream of your shoot to rise to the top.    The first images to go are the obvious mess-ups: closed eyes, hair issues, equipment elbowing its way into a shot, poor exposure.   The next rounds of editing then refine the selections further until a handful of images remain that I feel proud to submit to my clients:  technically strong, of course, but also appropriate for their brand and their unique story.

Of these, only a small percentage make it to print or screen, meant for public consumption.  In this digital version of the Hunger Games, the rest are discarded and are usually never seen again.  It’s a ruthless, never-ending process.

That’s why I like to go through my past shoots regularly, pulling images that I like that weren’t used.  They may not fit the purpose at hand, but out of context they still are interesting and strong images.

Here are a few from the first couple of months of this year.  I like them because in each case there’s moment that strikes a chord in me.  The lighting, the environment and body language all work together to tell a story of sorts.    I hope you enjoy them as much as I like seeing them again.

Portait Outtakes

 

Portrait Outtakes

 

 

Portrait Outtakes

Why Story Matters More Than Ever

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brand stories
Alex Bessler, a young Mason at the Triangle Lodge No. 1 in Portland, Maine. These portraits of Maine Masons help tell the story of an evolving and dynamic fraternal organization with a deep sense of tradition and history.

What makes a good image a great image?

Conventional wisdom is that great images should be perfectly formed, flawless, masterpieces of technical expertise combined with a singular artistic sensibility.

If that were true, Robert Capa’s blurry, darkroom-damaged images taken during the Allied landing on Omaha Beach on D-Day would have never seen the light of day.

Instead, they are considered among the most iconic images of the 20th century. Once seen, the haunting images are never forgotten.

Capa’s images are compelling not because they are perfect, but because they tell a story of the hardships, danger and drama of war.

Brands looking to create connection with fans should keep in mind that when it comes to great imagery, ‘story’ is Job One.

Visual content—whether still images or video—should reflect a unique brand story.

All the rest of it—technical aspects like framing, layering, rule of thirds—are just icing on the cake. For some brands, where refinement and elegance is part of their ‘story’, such precise technicality becomes a critical part of their story. For other brands, images that are too highly polished and contrived would be out of place.

So when you think about your brand and the images you’d choose to represent it, think first about what your brand story is and approach your content creation with that story in mind.

brand stories