Location Photography: Choosing Portrait Shoot Locations

Posted on 1st November 2024 at 15:17

The location of your portrait or headshot photography session can make or break the shoot.

Your chosen location determines the crucial elements of your images, backgrounds (whether natural or a backdrop), foreground, lighting (whether relying on natural light or professional light setups) and many other factors. So you must choose your portrait photography location wisely.

But how can you make the correct choice and ensure your business portraits will be improved by the location rather than held back by it?

What Does a Portrait Photographer Look for in a Location?

As a commercial photographer in Reading with decades of experience shooting products, corporate headshots, in-action shots, architecture and personal portraits across many sectors (from construction and eCommerce to tech and engineering), Mike can offer you expert location and photography advice.

About Mike

5 essential tips to consider when choosing a location for a portrait photoshoot

1. Open Shade

Open shade refers to shaded areas that aren’t closed off completely. They’re ideal because they don’t feature harsh sunlight filtering directly onto the subject but provide sufficient soft light, creating depth without being full of contrast.

Some UK photographers savour the chance to shoot products or people when there aren’t many clouds and the sun is bright. That said, bright sunshine can create a surplus of shadows in location features and on the subjects. It can also cause subjects to squint, which isn’t always ideal.

Specifically, open shade photography locations are excellent even if there is some decent cloud cover in the sky, allowing evenly-lit portraits to be captured easily..

2. Layers

High-quality portraits have plenty of depth, with individual layers creating a sense of three-dimensionality.

Portrait images featuring a strong, vibrant background, foreground and midground, each of which engages viewers through the composition, are often the strongest.

Your portrait photo location should have enough features to create unique layers in all your shots. The subject could be the midground, supported by a strong background and a non-invasive foreground, as an example.

3. Beautiful Textures

Find photo locations that could potentially offer plenty of texture to your images. This could range from the walls inside a factory or colourful trees looming in the background. Texture can add intrigue and interest to the photos, which will only grow if your business photographer is happy to experiment with different aperture settings.

When your portrait photographer takes photos of your subject(s), ensure they’re positioned in front of the elements that provide the most texture.

4. Leading Lines

Leading lines are abstract ‘lines’ within locations that guide the viewers’ eyes into the mise-en-scene and central subject of your portrait imagery.

Landscape photography tends to capitalise on leading lines, but many commercial portrait photographers have found them helpful. Leading photo lines add a sense of movement and dynamism to each image.

“What constitutes a leading line?” you ask. The answer is it can be anything like pathways, gates, rails or fences, but lines can be created based on almost anything that indicates a direction of some sort.

5. Meaning

Most importantly of all, your location has to mean something.

Average portrait shots with subjects standing against a white background can look engaging, but you’ll take your portrait photography to the next level if your photos are shot somewhere meaningful and of value.

Locations that provide emotional and aesthetic meaning can positively affect how your portrait photography engages your audience.

Consider the places that have significance to your business or subject(s), and ask yourselves whether shooting in said location(s) would add to the story you’re trying to tell your customers.

Why Lighting is Important for Portrait Photography Locations

Lighting is crucial for creating successful winning imagery.

Lighting is more than just brightness, shade, darkness and reflection, and any other associated buzzwords.

Your portrait lighting determines the atmosphere, mood and tone of your portraits, so you should be able to control and manipulate light accordingly to get the best texture, colour and vibrancy on all subjects.

Headshots & Portrait Photography

Professional Portrait Photographer in Berkshire

If you’ve been considering ideal portrait photo locations and need the advice of a professional photographer, look no further than Mike Green.

Mike specialises in a wide range of commercial photography, helping his clients’ images stand out on any marketing or PR application, such as websites, social media profiles and printed material.

While Mike is a location photographer based in Reading, Berkshire, he can travel all across the country to conduct shoots. Mike covers Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Hampshire, and Greater London and also travels on shoots across the UK, Europe and the Middle East.

Contact Mike