For any of you would-be self portrait photographers, I thought it might help you to put together these useful tips to help you get higher quality shots. There are some things you need to consider. For instance, how can you take decent images of yourself if you don't have anyone to assist you? Are there any techniques to put yourself exactly where you want to be in the frame? How can we ensure that the camera will focus at the right place?
Self portrait photos are becoming increasingly necessary in the modern world. Think about social media. Whatever platform you sign up for requires you to upload an avatar of some kind.
As you might have noticed with many of your friends' images, a lot of them are grainy and poor quality. A few of them are taken using a webcam, then there's the cheesy webcam Warhol effect, the self portrait in the bathroom mirror with the huge blur from the flash reflection, the images where your arm is outstretched to hold the camera, the list never ends!
Just follow these quick and easy tips below and you'll be miles ahead of the curve.
1. Get familiar with the self-timer on your camera. This can be very useful if you haven't got a remote control to activate the camera (although the best option would be to get a remote control). Set your drive mode to around a 10 second delay, so you can get to the point where you need to be before the camera takes the photo. This is the simplest way to do it but I'll let you know a better approach later on in this article.
2. Tape a focus target (that you downloaded from Google Images) to a wall or a reflector stand where you will be standing for the shot. As you will want to focus on your face, tape the focus target to the wall or stand at about head level. You could also stick a small piece of tape to the wall to mark the lowest point of the picture to help you line things up before you take the shot.
3. Use some tape to mark a point on the floor to know exactly where to stand. When you move the reflector stand with the focus target on it to one side, you can stand exactly on that spot.
4. You should be using manual focus for this. Manual focus will enable you to use your guides to work out the frame, then get the focus of your target worked out perfectly.
5. Work with an aperture of about F10, so that you have a little leeway in your depth of field, so that if you are off by a small amount, you won't lose focus.
6. If you have a small flatscreen TV, using this can be a better approach than using the timer delay that I mentioned in step 1. You basically just hook up the TV to your camera so that you know exactly where you are in the frame. This way you can get yourself lined up and make sure you are in focus before taking the shot. This would also require a remote control to activate the camera.
7. I can also tell you about an even better way than that to take self portrait shots, which involves the use of pocket wizards. You can hook up a pocket wizard transceiver to a pre-release cable, so that you can fix it to your camera and change your focus mode to continuous focus (called 'AI server mode' if you're using a Canon). The TV isn't required with this technique. On the free trigger cable, turn the switch on. This will be the equivalent of pushing the shutter release down half way. The camera will always be focusing if you are working with continuous focus. After this you can switch on a 2nd pocket wizard, and by doing this it is less important if you are standing exactly above the area you marked on the floor. You can step slightly forward or backward to mess around with different positions. This method can be a big advantage if you have some children or pet dogs for example and you aren't able to stand next to your camera. You can entertain the children and when they smile you can capture that image quickly and easily. You'll be able to get perfectly in focus images every time.
8. If you don't have any of the equipment described above (those techniques will work best in a home studio), you can come up with some pretty unique places around your home and neighbourhood to get some great shots. I am not suggesting that you risk injury by climbing up a tree or anything like that, but try finding original places to put your camera for the shot (not in the bathtub). You could put it in the fridge and take a shot of you peering into the fridge to grab a snack. Just an example.
9. It's a good idea to choose a camera that has a moveable screen such as the Canon PowerShot SX20IS or the G11. Cameras with this kind of design will allow you to see yourself in the frame while you are setting up the composition.
10.) Get a GorillaPod. These will allow you to fix your tripod around a climbing frame, branch of a tree and lots of other objects. You'll be able to get shots that you wouldn't even dream of, by attaching your camera to unusual objects in this way.
I hope you found this useful and you can implement some of these techniques, which are not too expensive if you want to spend a little money on getting the best self shots.
Self portrait photos are becoming increasingly necessary in the modern world. Think about social media. Whatever platform you sign up for requires you to upload an avatar of some kind.
As you might have noticed with many of your friends' images, a lot of them are grainy and poor quality. A few of them are taken using a webcam, then there's the cheesy webcam Warhol effect, the self portrait in the bathroom mirror with the huge blur from the flash reflection, the images where your arm is outstretched to hold the camera, the list never ends!
Just follow these quick and easy tips below and you'll be miles ahead of the curve.
1. Get familiar with the self-timer on your camera. This can be very useful if you haven't got a remote control to activate the camera (although the best option would be to get a remote control). Set your drive mode to around a 10 second delay, so you can get to the point where you need to be before the camera takes the photo. This is the simplest way to do it but I'll let you know a better approach later on in this article.
2. Tape a focus target (that you downloaded from Google Images) to a wall or a reflector stand where you will be standing for the shot. As you will want to focus on your face, tape the focus target to the wall or stand at about head level. You could also stick a small piece of tape to the wall to mark the lowest point of the picture to help you line things up before you take the shot.
3. Use some tape to mark a point on the floor to know exactly where to stand. When you move the reflector stand with the focus target on it to one side, you can stand exactly on that spot.
4. You should be using manual focus for this. Manual focus will enable you to use your guides to work out the frame, then get the focus of your target worked out perfectly.
5. Work with an aperture of about F10, so that you have a little leeway in your depth of field, so that if you are off by a small amount, you won't lose focus.
6. If you have a small flatscreen TV, using this can be a better approach than using the timer delay that I mentioned in step 1. You basically just hook up the TV to your camera so that you know exactly where you are in the frame. This way you can get yourself lined up and make sure you are in focus before taking the shot. This would also require a remote control to activate the camera.
7. I can also tell you about an even better way than that to take self portrait shots, which involves the use of pocket wizards. You can hook up a pocket wizard transceiver to a pre-release cable, so that you can fix it to your camera and change your focus mode to continuous focus (called 'AI server mode' if you're using a Canon). The TV isn't required with this technique. On the free trigger cable, turn the switch on. This will be the equivalent of pushing the shutter release down half way. The camera will always be focusing if you are working with continuous focus. After this you can switch on a 2nd pocket wizard, and by doing this it is less important if you are standing exactly above the area you marked on the floor. You can step slightly forward or backward to mess around with different positions. This method can be a big advantage if you have some children or pet dogs for example and you aren't able to stand next to your camera. You can entertain the children and when they smile you can capture that image quickly and easily. You'll be able to get perfectly in focus images every time.
8. If you don't have any of the equipment described above (those techniques will work best in a home studio), you can come up with some pretty unique places around your home and neighbourhood to get some great shots. I am not suggesting that you risk injury by climbing up a tree or anything like that, but try finding original places to put your camera for the shot (not in the bathtub). You could put it in the fridge and take a shot of you peering into the fridge to grab a snack. Just an example.
9. It's a good idea to choose a camera that has a moveable screen such as the Canon PowerShot SX20IS or the G11. Cameras with this kind of design will allow you to see yourself in the frame while you are setting up the composition.
10.) Get a GorillaPod. These will allow you to fix your tripod around a climbing frame, branch of a tree and lots of other objects. You'll be able to get shots that you wouldn't even dream of, by attaching your camera to unusual objects in this way.
I hope you found this useful and you can implement some of these techniques, which are not too expensive if you want to spend a little money on getting the best self shots.
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