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Self-Photography
Any models on here ever make attempts at self-photography? Any creative processes you use to get some original shots? ------------------------------------------ *Edit to post added on 1/12* Here is some work so far:  Don't agree with the cropping but was working in the 35mm range:   This has it's obvious errors, but we're getting there:  Jan 10 13 09:46 am Link A tripod, remote, and a good knowledge of photography kinda helps. Good locations that can be used for multiple works well too. Fields are my favorite. Jan 10 13 02:04 pm Link Jan 10 13 10:06 pm Link Tried and failed. The garage and an old sheet as a background didn't do justice...glad I hid behind some sunglasses! I would like to try my hand at photography, learning the ins and outs....so I can better understand and empathize with my fellow artists. Jan 10 13 10:10 pm Link Another good one to look at is Cindy Sherman (I believe most of her stuff is self portraits) http://www.cindysherman.com/ Jan 10 13 11:27 pm Link Daniel Pierce wrote: Learn how to set the Self Timer on the camera. Jan 11 13 01:02 am Link If you follow the tips above you should do well but don't just put up anything. Make sure you do as good a job as possible. Whatever you do resist the urge to hold the camera yourself or shoot your image in a mirror. Unless the results are very good, remove them as soon as you have some professional shots. Jan 11 13 04:13 am Link Mel Wolfe wrote: Awesome. You have some great work. Jan 11 13 08:05 am Link D-Light wrote: I could never imagine holding a camera to take a picture of myself (especially in the mirror with a DSLR) unless it was a joke. Jan 11 13 08:08 am Link Raoul Isidro Images wrote: Thanks for the suggestions. Jan 11 13 08:15 am Link Good general resource for newbies http://digital-photography-school.com/ Jan 11 13 08:27 am Link JD Liddil wrote: Thanks, JD. That's a solid resource. Jan 11 13 08:30 am Link All I can say is lots of practice. And if your camera has a spot to plug in a shutter release cable of some sort, you won't have to wait the ten seconds for the self-timer...which will eventually drive you crazy. lol. Those are well worth the small investment. Everyone has different types and quantities of equipment. Work with what you have. If your camera works best in bright light, then shoot outdoors. If you can get remote radio triggers and flashes, those are lots of fun too. Jan 11 13 09:39 am Link And for any models doing self-portraits, it's a good way to see how your poses look to the camera. You can do that without having to work on the perfect lighting. Jan 11 13 09:41 am Link your local library could get this to you via their inter-library loan:  Good to read once, not sure it's worth buying, though. Your short notes rather fit on a postmark. She is an awesome photographer, but not necessarily the best author. Jan 11 13 09:44 am Link You might look through Kiera Grant's blogs and twitter accounts. Not only is she a talented model, she is an accomplished photographer: https://www.modelmayhem.com/799498 http://keiragrant.blogspot.com/ http://keiragrant.tumblr.com/ Jan 11 13 10:00 am Link I have several cell phone pics in my port. Frankly they are better than many that were taken by professional photographers. I don't have a tripod, a remote, a flash or a timer. Do whatever makes you happy. Jan 11 13 12:18 pm Link Zoom out a little and crop later. It's pretty hard to photoshop in the top of your head:-) Using the self-timer is difficult. A remote control is worth the money. Manual focus is good. When you move around, the camera has a habit of autofocusing on the wrong thing:-) Exposure bracketing is also good, if you have it. Placing a large mirror behind the camera can help. Cover the viewfinder to prevent exposure/WB problems. Expect to take a lot of bad photos, have fun and learn! Jan 11 13 01:03 pm Link I have shot self portraits for about a year now. Here are some of photos I did (in order that they were shot, so the first are from early on): http://www.dekilah.com/self-portraits/ (newest are first) (18+) http://dekilah.tumblr.com/post/34536962 … -had-in-an (18+) http://dekilah.tumblr.com/post/29629744 … dekilah-me (18+) http://dekilah.tumblr.com/post/38399721 … otographer (18+) http://dekilah.tumblr.com/post/37419900 … dekilah-me (18+) I started out with an older camera, pretty much on auto, using the self timer (10 sec). Basically I was running back and forth all the time. Then I started using a better camera and a remote with the timer, so basically, I push the button, hide the remote, then have 10 sec. One tip I have is to work on one thing at a time. The first shoots may not be that good, but you have to learn the camera and frame. Then maybe you deal with lighting. And so on. For me, my self portraits are more about expressing myself versus creating phenomenal photos. Yes, I do my best to create the best photos I can, but my focus is on the posing, the expression, the make-up, and the outfits (in some cases). Jan 11 13 04:01 pm Link Ooh, Dekilah's pics are awesome. Jan 11 13 04:04 pm Link I take self-portraits. I actually have a separate folder here of my self-portraits, so feel free to take a look. :-) It helps me to practice my posing skills. Here's one that I did last year:  Jan 11 13 04:16 pm Link I taught myself photography through self portraits and do most of my own shots over at: https://www.modelmayhem.com/portfolio/3245/viewall The cordless remote certainly made my life amazing. Though i find there are limits to self portaits...cant do any cool shutter dragging or holding items up to the lens etc Jan 11 13 04:30 pm Link Lee Loo La wrote: That's pretty awesome. Jan 12 13 11:15 am Link Sand Angel Photography wrote: Completely concur Jan 12 13 04:32 pm Link Dekilah wrote: Your work really stands out. True artist with a deep search for speech in imagery. Jan 12 13 04:36 pm Link my_other_profile wrote: They are. She's good. Jan 12 13 04:37 pm Link Melodye Joy wrote: A remote would definitely be the best way to go. More wide open the aperture the more backgrounds you can get away with. Jan 12 13 09:42 pm Link Brian Scanlon wrote: Her work is very outside the norm. Beautiful material. Jan 12 13 09:42 pm Link I've done a decent amount of it. It's mostly in film, and I don't have digital copies at the moment. Zooming out and cropping later is a really helpful tip. Use a stand in for exposure and focus (I shot full manual on an 35mm, no auto anything). I didn't use a remote at all. I practiced a few times with the timer before releasing the shutter. It's just a manual one, so I can press it down and it will make a sound and click when it's done. Ten seconds is a lot longer than you'd think. It's a lot of walking back and forth, but it becomes sort of fun to get into the rhythm of it. I've also experimented with some bodyscapes in digital. I flipped the live preview screen around, laid on the ground and used a stack of books instead of a tripod. The camera was within reach to adjust while looking at myself in the screen. That was done fully manual, too. Jan 13 13 12:29 am Link Alabaster Crowley wrote: Very clever. Have done many of the same myself. You show some great work. Jan 13 13 09:08 am Link I was more interested in the photoshop side of it, so self portraits were done in the pursuit of having subject matter to play with. This is the only really successful one, and it was when I was much younger. https://photos.modelmayhem.com/photos/0 … 001914.jpg Jan 13 13 10:05 am Link Samantha Emme wrote: That's really well done, Samantha. Leads me to do some tattoo post work on myself. Jan 13 13 10:49 am Link I have several self portrait projects that I've done just for fun. I did one with my cell phone camera, that I did no post on. I wanted to do all SOOC. Just to see how creative a person could get with a cell phone camera. And this was back in 2008 when cell phone pictures were still super grainy. Then I did some with a point & shoot Nikon that were mostly arm length and self timer shots. I got pretty good at setting the camera on a stack of books and running and posing in 10 seconds! I have one that a lot of people have asked for a print of which I am still pretty proud of. Its basically me wearing a 50's style dress with Marilyn Monroe style, curly hair and I'm holding a big knife behind my back in the kitchen. Beside me on the oven is an empty bottle of wine and the label says Mad Housewife. Its a real brand of wine. Its a little cliche but I still think it was cute. Then I started using my Nikon DSLR to do them with a remote and a tripod. I shot almost all of my maternity pictures that way and since then have had people begging me to do their maternity portraits. Honestly, the best (most creative) work was with my cell phone and point and shoot. Because they were so small and light I could fit them into tiny places and do lots of fun things with them. The picture quality sucks, but I think the image is more interesting. My tips (definitely take with a grain of salt because I am sooo not a professional, but I have gotten a lot of very positive feedback from my self portraits) - Try with a point and shoot camera until you feel like you've gotten the hang of it, then use the DSLR to get a higher quality. The lighter weight of it and the ease of use makes it better because you can tote it around and whip it out whenever inspiration strikes. - Get a remote. I got mine for waaaaay cheap on Amazon.com. Check and re-check and then triple check that you are getting one that works with your camera model! The first one I bought said it worked with my model in the product description, and then when I got it in the mail the user guide said it didn't work, so check more than one source before buying. - Use what you've learned in your modeling gigs to help you create images. Pay close attention to what the photographers are doing to create light and shadow. - Go out in the woods, very early in the morning, with a tripod, a sheet, and some props. (Bug repellent too probably lol) Shoot until you are so exhausted you can barely move. Do as many wacky and wild poses as you can think of. - Sometimes placing a mirror behind the tripod can help you line yourself up with the camera and learn your angles. Don't do this all the time though because then you will get lazy (start to feel like you need the mirror) and professional photographers don't carry full length mirrors with them. (Although I have had a photographer put a mirror behind him before because he didn't have his stylist at the shoot, but it was so I could check myself and make sure no bra straps etc were peeking out and I could make the corrections myself and he didn't have to worry about it. It was nice but soooo rare.) Jan 13 13 10:58 am Link i do self portraits all the time. whenever i get some free time i like try some ideas      Jan 13 13 11:08 am Link Sand Angel Photography wrote: THIS! When we have free time I go out to a field, behind some shops, the beach, whatever and make my husband shoot me with our DSLR so I can practice. I've actually gotten a lot of really good pictures this way to share with friends and family. I keep trying to get my husband to take up photography as a hobby! Jan 13 13 11:34 am Link Dan OMell wrote: I checked it out from the library, and it inspired me to incorporate this into a shoot: Jan 17 13 12:21 pm Link Lee Loo La wrote: I've got some creative ideas/poses that are just short enough I'm wanting to do it myself. What do you do for lighting? Do you just the timer? Jan 17 13 12:39 pm Link Almost all of my photos are self shoots...J have never been on a shoot with a photographer.. Jan 18 13 12:11 pm Link Lee Loo La wrote: This is beautiful!!! good work! Jan 18 13 03:02 pm Link Here is an article from the Strobist website written by Sara Lando about how to use yourself as the llama. She has a lot of good advice on self photography. Lots of good tips. Editor's Note: Need a willing victim for photos? Today, Sara Lando wraps up her series on portraiture, with an idea-filled look at how to turn the lens on the most available subject there is: yourself. http://strobist.blogspot.com/2012/11/se … -ugly.html Jan 18 13 03:54 pm Link |
