Monday, January 26, 2009

A Guide to Shooting Self-Portraits for Those Who Are Afraid to Try
Last year I finished 365 days of continuous self-portraits. Although this is not unusual - a lot of photographers have done it - I found it a wonderful challenge that taught me a lot. Since completing it, I've had a number people ask me for tips and I'd like to encourage everyone to try it. After all, you will never find a more willing subject than yourself!

For your first attempt, try one that is easy: a mirror shot.
Get your reflection in focus and be aware of the background to make sure it is not distracting. Make sure you have enough light; an on camera flash will probably not work well here. You can get a little more creative with this idea by finding other reflective surfaces to use.

Next, try a shot without the reflective crutch. A tripod will be immensely helpful for this, but you can improvise with tables, beanbags, whatever is handy and will hold your camera still. The self-timer on your camera will be really helpful for this. If you have a wireless remote, even better. The remote will keep you from running back and forth to constantly take each shot. Set your camera for a narrow aperture to get more of you in focus. Wide open apertures can make wonderful self-portraits, but until you get comfortable with focusing, narrow will be more helpful at keeping things in focus. You may find yourself doing a lot of trial and error shots to begin with. It's not necessarily a bad thing. You will start finding out what works and what doesn't and soon you will find what steps you can eliminate.

One of the most difficult things to figure out is how to focus on yourself. You can set up a shot using something as a stand-in (a chair, a lamp, a lightstand, a teddy bear), set your timer and then take your stand-ins place. It can work, but not necessarily efficiently. Eventually, for close-ups, I would just chose the focal point I wanted on my camera, stand in front of the lens using my wireless remote, and push the button halfway, moving my body until my lens focused on me. There are other techniques such as using a flashlight in a dark room to get the camera's autofocus to focus on the thing it "sees", what your flashlight is highlighting.

If you are not comfortable in front of the camera (one of the reasons most of us are photographers), remember that you can act as foolish as you like. No one needs to see the outtakes but you. Try dancing, singing or listening to music to loosen up. Make silly faces, use a prop. As for smiling? Wulf said something once when we were all thinking about doing self portraits,

"Try chuckling to your self as you take the picture - I found it gives a more natural looking smile than actually trying to smile."

Oddly enough, it works.

Equipment you might need? Get a point and shoot camera and you're set. But if you have a DSLR and the aforementioned tripod and remote, you might want to add a 50mm lens. I used all my lenses at one time or another (except the 100mm macro, I didn't want to get THAT close), but the nifty fifty was my workhorse, giving me sharp headshots and dealing with often insufficient lighting.

Remember that self-portraits are not just facial shots. A shot of your hand playing a piano keyboard, your feet with swim fins, or your nose sniffing a flower can tell a great deal about you. Take silly shots, and ones that serious. Record important events and everyday ones. Analyze your images and decide what worked, what didn't and use what you learned.

Once you get the basics down, start getting creative. Try wide angle close-ups, ghetto lighting, high ISO, natural lighting, and, yes, intentionally out of focus shots. Go into your editing program and see what you can do to enhance the image. Cropping often saves a shot that didn't quite come out the way you hoped. A wonderful by-product of doing so many self-portraits was that my editing skills improved quite a bit, as well as my knowledge of lighting and camera settings.

So try some self-portraits and post them here on the forum or be brave and try a threesixtyfive or a fiftytwo. Stick with it and you will be surprised at how much you learn!

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