What is portraits?

Portrait photography is a very well-known and popular style of photography. The style is all about trying to capture the personality, identity, soul, and emotions of a person by utilizing the background atmosphere, poses, and lighting.

There are many types of portrait styles such as; constructionist, candid, environmental, and creative. Looking more into the environmental portrait style, it usually depicts people in their working environments or environments they are typically found in giving insight to said persons life and surroundings.

Portrait photography was invented by a french artist and photographer, Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre in 1835. The style later became publicly available in 1839 leading to the first photographic portrait studio opening in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1842, which brought portraiture into widespread use across America and Europe.

Environmental portrait mood board

The mood board showcases the different ways environmental portraits can capture the subject in their surroundings. On some of these images we can see people facing the camera straight on as well as others who have not taken notice. Both styles of these photos are effective, however in my opinion when they do not take notice to the photographer the images become more authentic.

Mind map

The mind map gives some insight into possible photoshoot ideas.