Environmental portraits are typically made with natural and artificial light — using existing, ambient light, reflectors, and flash units or continuous light sources. While many think that natural light photography is easy, it actually requires greater skill to utilize multiple light sources and blend natural and artificial light to improve the quality of the portrait. Typically, to accomplish it, you have to operate your camera (and any flash units) in Manual mode, setting the aperture to control flash, and shutter speed to balance the ambient light at a level about one exposure below. This gives maximum control over the lighting and context of the shot.