Lesson #9 People in their environments

Last week's lesson on photographing people focuesd on capturing the unique characteristics that define each person's 'distinctive character,' or personality. This week we'll look at another approach to shooting better people pictures: capturing people in their environments.

By showing a person interacting and relating in some way with the world around them, you give more depth and dimension to the image. The environment now becomes a second subject element in itself, which plays off of the obvious importance of the person. The nature of this interaction can be anything from someone hiking or running through an impressive landscape, working in a beautiful garden that they've created, or painting in their studio, or a buddhist monk walking past a row of prayer wheels; anything that you can imagine.

The key to making this work, though, is that environmental element of the shot must be shot in such a way that if the person where not present, it would still be an interesting picture. One way to help ensure this is to approach it backwards. Compose your shot as if you were trying to create a strong image of the space itself, and then think about where you want to place the person in order to portray the vision that you have of the scene. The most successful images of this type are as much about the environment as they are about the people in them, and since people are such prominent subjects, they don't necessarily have to be very large or close to carry impact.