In his photo that I took of Maria, we made her sit on a ledge outside. When I was taking this photo, I’ve made the background blurry and focus on her face and her upper body with AV. I use the flash that was attach to the camera and used the diffuser. The leaves on the tress was a way to use a great and natural shade on the left side of her face.
When shooting outdoor portraits, do not shoot with sunlight hitting the model’s face. It creates distracting patches of light and dark that take away from what we care most about in a portrait which is the person’s face.