Key features to consider with environmental portraiture:

LIGHTING: natural light or artificial light
< Outdoors > hard light > sunny weather creates hard contrast between light and shadows.
< soft light > overcast weather and clouds acts as soft box and diffuses the light.
< Indoors > use of window light > roof light > studio lights
< Direction of light > from the side > 45 degree angle > frontal > back light

ENVIRONMENT: location or setting that can add context to the portrait
< Tell a story about the sitter > lifestyle, social class, gender, ethnicity, age etc.
< Use of props > tools of the trade > personal items > clothing > fashion

FRAMING: arrangement of person(s)
< Full length body > three quarter length > half body
< Angle > low angle > deadpan > canted angle

APPROACH: formal (posed) > informal (natural, un-posed) > neutral pose and facial expression

GAZE: Eye contact > engagement with the camera
Averted gaze > looking away from camera

TECHNICAL (CAMERA SETTING):
< Focal length > standard lens (50mm) > wide-angle lens (35mm)
< Depth of field > aperture settings > f/8, a mid f-stop number
< Movement > shutter speed settings > no less than 1/60 hand held or use a tripod for slower shutter speeds.
< ISO > outdoors > crisp image > low ISO > 100-400 ISO
< indoors > grainy image > high ISO > 400-1600 ISO
< White balance > outside daylight < inside either daylight or tungsten, or tube light – depending on light conditions.