the first thing to know about portraiture is that it’s all about intent. everything that is in the frame is there for a reason. the setting becomes an extension of your subject, and the subject matter defines what action or position will be chosen.
photographing a chef? the portraits could be captured in the kitchen if the subject matter is something that the chef cooks. or it could be standing in the dining room of their restaurant. or in front of the restaurant. are they cocky? arms crossed, with the photo taken at a slightly up-tilted angle. are they timid? one hand on their neck looking down and smiling with the other hand placed on the counter, with the fram captured straight on or even aimed ever so slightly downward.. wardrobe? probably their uniform, but that’s not a given since allowing and expressing personality is important. chef’s hat? again, that depends on their personality. the point here is that a lot of what happens in environmental portraiture will occur before the camera is even brought into the picture (sorry for the pun, i couldn’t help myself). the more meticulous the observation, evaluation and conversation about implementation prior to snapping the photo, the better.
and what about the lighting? again, it depends on the subject and the subject matter. but it also depends on what natural light is available to you. chances are you’re going to want to light the subject up with a soft box or similarly diffused light, but it’s just as important to make sure you’re lighting up key background elements in the scene as well. i saw a video on linkedin a while ago that illustrates this point brilliantly (another pun, forgive me). a photographer was taking a portrait of a beekeeper wearing his full beekeeping suit and the mask was making his face dark, so he had to light him accordingly. at the same time, the sun was just peeking over the trees in the background and giving nice ambient light, however the bee boxes, which were about 10-15 feet behind the subject, were in a pocket of shadow. so the photographer placed a remote flash just outside the frame. by adding this lighting at the time of the photo session, the photographer was able to draw out the elements he wanted to be focal points of the portrait in post without sacrificing quality.
in portraiture, quality is everything. iso must be low, and blurring should only happen if it is intentional. to achieve this, it might be necessary to utilize the exposure compensation on your camera - that is a separate lesson - and shoot on either aperture value or time value (shutter speed) priority mode with iso locked in to around 500 or lower (200 or less would be ideal if it’s at all possible). and just important is the quality of the edit. does the subject and subject matter call for a high-contrast, low-saturation, high-clarity edit, or would it be better communicated by a low-contrast, high-vibrancy edit? this is something to think about as you’re setting up the frame, because it will influence lighting placement.