What opportunities does a city block have for creating street portraits? This presentation contains the images and information covered in a two-hour photography workshop by Street Photography University in Dallas, Texas

1. Notes on August 6, 2019 Photo Walk with Kimberly O’Bryant
Environmental Portraits

2. Notes on August 6, 2019 Photo Walk with Kimberly O’Bryant

3. What does the photographer need to create
an Environmental Portrait?
1. take advantage of what is in the setting
2. understanding of sunset light and timing
3. strategies for night portraits
4. build rapport with model

4. WORKING WITH LIGHT
The photographer needs to:
1. see light as intensity, color and direction
2. make light priority above background or
the model.
3. move the model to be in the best light
4. move your feet to line up the background,
only after light is considered.
5. use fill flash, once natural light is mastered.

5. The photographer needs to:
1. see the setting as interactive
2. see the world as graphic design: color,
shape, texture, pattern
3. see light as shape (as well as exposure)
4. create tension within the frame
DYNAMIC COMPOSITION

6. BUILD RAPPORT
The photographer needs to:
1. ask the model what they see in the
environment
2. let the model interact and praise their
ideas. This builds a sense of collaboration.
3. remember to communicate with the model,
even when dealing with technical issues.

7. Take advantage of what is in the setting.

8. In our world of phones and social media, we see hundreds,
possibly thousands, of images everyday.
How long do you spend looking at any given image?
How do you make the viewer slow down and engage?
WHY USE FOREGROUND TO OBSCURE THE PORTRAIT?

9. WHY USE FOREGROUND TO OBSCURE THE PORTRAIT?
I personally enjoy the fact that the
way to make someone slow down in
our hyper-attention-world is to make
it more difficult for the viewer.
Make’em work. Make them ask
questions. Our brains are chemically
wired to reward us for engaging in
mysteries and our brains give us a
reward of solving it. Advertisers
often use this technique.

12. Foreground:
is the portion of the frame that is closest to the camera. It can
be used to draw attention to a subject located further into the
frame, as leading lines, or to frame the subject.
It is a good idea not to neglect the foreground space in order to
add interest.
WHY USE FOREGROUND TO OBSCURE THE PORTRAIT?

14. UnderstandingSunsetLightandTiming

15. Ambient Light
• We schedule photo walks to
coincide with Magic Hour/
sunset.
• At dusk, light begins to come
from the side and is orange,
rather than during the day when
light comes from above and has
a blue cast from the sky.
• You can anticipate the light
changing every eight minutes
because of the rotation of the
earth.

17. On any given evening, with clear skies, you will get about 8
to 20 minutes of angular orange light.
You have two choices: Backlight the subject or Front-light.
Many photographers avoid using this light on the face
because it can be harsh and it creates strong shadows.
However, I use it as party of my style. I love the warm
tones, the deep shadows that give shape, and the intensity
of the light going into the subject’s iris.
UnderstandingSunsetLightandTiming

18. TIP:
Each time you set up an environment and
pose, get a variety of compositions before
moving on to the next set up.

21. Back Light:
is created when the subject is positioned between the light source (natural or
artificial) and the photographer. The low setting sun in this photograph provide a
soft but dramatic backlight for the model’s red hair. The thin outline created by
backlighting on a subject helps to separate the subject from the background and
emphasizes fine details, such as the woman’s mane of curls, that could easily be
lost with front-directed lighting. The subject (woman) and the background (brick
wall) do not compete for attention because of the effects of the rim light to
separate the background in this composition.
“Backlighting emphasizes the subject, but it also can overpower the composition to
become the subject itself. Sometimes this is intentional, notably in sunrise and
sunset compositions that tend to silhouette foreground landscapes. Backlighting is
challenging because the exposure must be calculated carefully to provide sufficient
lighting on the subject that faces the camera (away from the backlight sources) to
provide sufficient details, as in the horse in this photograph. A lens hood is helpful
for controlling lens flare from shooting directly toward the light source.”
The above quote is from this
excellent book.

23. Night Portraits

25. Night Tip:
Light from the city usually comes from directly above.
Here the model is directed to tilt her head back to
allow as much light on her face. This helps to eliminate
raccoon eye shadows from overhead light.

26. Night PORTRAITS:
The key is having light behind the subject to fill
the frame and give interest. Otherwise you might
as well be in a studio on a black wall.
You must set your exposure for the background
lights, then add or subtract light to the model.
You cannot control the intensity or color of the
city. You can modify the light on the model to
color balance and exposure balance with the
environment.

27. Night PORTRAITS:
I achieve bokeh by having the model stand close
to the camera and far from the lights in the
background.
The telephoto lens compresses the lights into
round colors that are great for filling negative
space.

28. Cinematic Headshot Notes:

30. Why is rapport so important to a good portrait?

33. Why is rapport so important to a good portrait?
raˈpôr:
a close and harmonious relationship in which the
people or groups concerned understand each
other's feelings or ideas and communicate well.
Photography is a means of communicating human
emotion. I am convinced that is why it thrives
today on social media and in art.
• Ask questions and actively listen
• Read their body language for signs of stress
• encourage them to find things in the setting to
interact with. This brings out their creativity and
leads to collaboration.
• Praise choices they make.

37. Your assignment:
*Plan a sunset shoot and use the
window of time when the sun is at a
low angle and solve the problem of
harsh orange light.
*Begin looking for light sources at
night. The city is full of them.
*Read a blog or watch a youtube video
on rapport.

38. Thank you for coming to the
Environmental Portrait Workshop.
We rotate different models and
locations to keep your experience
dynamic.