How to Get Natural Results with Flash when Shooting Environmental Portraits on Location

A few months ago I had the pleasure of meeting poet Lydia to shoot some environmental portraits to support her personal brand.

Hailing from New York and now living in Yorkshire, Lydia’s debut pamphlet, A History of Walking, was published in 2019. Her poems have appeared in a variety of anthologies and magazines.

She got in touch looking for a new headshot to use for promotional purposes. I met Lydia at her home and after shooting a basic headshot we decided to set up some more relaxed, environmental portraits.

Creating natural lighting for environmental portraits with portable flash

When shooting portraits on location I use portable studio lighting for maximum control. My lighting kit consists of a pair of Godox AD300 Pros with a Softbox/Brollies. I also have a Godox V1C which I use mainly for events where I need on-camera flash but can be used seamlessly with my two larger lights for a more sophisticated three light setup. Paired with a Godox X-Pro C Trigger I can control all three lights remotely from my camera which allows me to work quickly.

I find this setup really powerful, particularly when shooting on location where sometimes space is tight. I can work with one, two or three lights as space and requirements allow.

Where possible, I try and use strobes to enhance the light that already exists. If a room has a clear key source of light such as a large window then I’ll use my lights to enhance that using additional lights to fill in shadows or bring in the background as needed. Sometimes the natural light source isn’t quite strong enough, or perhaps the conditions keep changing. The strobes offer a greater degree of control.

I try and keep lighting setups fairly simple as a general rule (unless you’re particularly looking for a specific stylistic look of course). In an ideal world I want the images to look natural. As I said for the most part with environmental portraits I’m looking to enhance the light that already exists rather than starting from scratch as you would in a studio environment for example.

My portable lighting kit for environmental portraits

For those who are interested, the key parts of my portable lighting kit are as follows:

• 2 x Godox AD300 Pro strobes
• Godox V1C Flashgun
• Godox X-Pro C Trigger
• Manfrotto 1004BAC Master Light Stands
• Godox AD-S85 Silver Octa Softbox
• Mixed Size White Shoot through umbrellas
• Godox CB-20 Backpack
• Manfrotto LBAG 110 Light Stand Bag

I have a few other bits but the above is my ‘core’ setup and I find having all my lighting gear in one backback (plus an additional bag for my light stands and brollies etc) really helpful.

I love this approach of crafting light

A lot of my work is generally very reactive – whether I’m chasing children during a family shoot or weaving in and out of an event I’m used to watching events unfold and responding accordingly, working fast to capture moments as they happen.

These kind of sessions offer a really nice change of pace and I really enjoy the freedom to take a bit of time to assess a room, think of the space and lighting and construct the shot. This was a really fun session and I’m looking forward to creating more environmental portraits in the year ahead.