The client will enjoy seeing choices when you get hired to shoot an environmental portrait. Having options is even more important for designers.

Some of the variations you give to the client are only you moving to the left or right to compose the photo from a slightly different angle.

For this environmental portrait, I want to show the subject works at Chick-fil-A corporate headquarters in Atlanta, GA. So I am using this logo to help establish his employer.

When using a wide-angle lens like the Nikon 14-24mm ƒ/2.8 lens, you can do portraits with the lens, but you want to keep the face closer to the center than to the edges. Here you can see the hands a slightly distorted when they are on the photo’s edges.

What I like the most about the wide-angle lens is it brings the audience into the scene and gives you a more intimate look.

This photo was taken with the Nikon 85mm ƒ/1.4 lens. In this photo, I am shooting at ƒ/1.4 aperture. Now while it pops the subject out from the background, I am starting to lose the logo, which helps to establish the workplace.

I liked the effect of popping the subject out from the background, but I wouldn’t say I wanted the logo to be so blurred. I then closed the aperture down slightly to ƒ/2.8. Again, I like this the best of these two options.

Before you shoot–TEST.

Your subject will most likely not have the time for you to take all day running around trying different locations. The best thing to do is have an assistant or ask for a volunteer to stand in for your test shots. Work out your lighting with them. Find all the locations before the subject shows up.

I had an assistant stand in for the subject, and we worked on locations together. I would shoot and show the assistant and ask for his feedback. Sometimes you miss something, and having another set of eyes will help you catch any distractions.

Here are some of the test shots I did about an hour before the subject met me.