Welcome to the first Click. Saturday in 2013! I wanted to talk a little about taking photos of ourselves.
Self portraits can be a little intimidating and I know I try to hide from the camera alot. But I have found that with my iPhone capturing selfies are a bit easier than with my DSLR. What about you?
In our latest gallery Note to self I counted to 9 layouts featuring a selfportrait! That is awesome! I asked the other team members if they had any tips and tricks for taking selfportraits and here is what they said:
Christine: "I think if you have an iphone or ipad, you can easily turn the camera to the front camera and take a selfie! Also, timers and tripods are great for self portraits. Oh and it doesn't even have to be just your head shot. My husband and I take jumping photos a lot, with just a tripod and self timer."
Francine: "My tip is to get a shutter remote. It's a huge help and they are very affordable (e.g. on Amazon). Also take lots and lots of shots!"
Christa: " I have my resident (nearly) 8 year old take photos for me because she's actually quite good and knows to "look for the red dots on the inside" before she takes it!!
If no one is around I normally set up a lamp or something to focus on then plant myself where the lamp was so I'm not out of focus. It normally takes 100 photos to get one mediocre one!"
Amy: The turn feature is also on Android phones! (or...at least it is on mine.) My tip is to have a teenaged daughter who has taken approx. 2,281,972 self portraits. She will train you right!
I totally agree with all of the above and especially with Amy´s comment :) I have a teenaged daughter that has absolutely filled her Instagram feed with selfportraits! Ofcourse you should ask them for tips!
I found this layout that I made a few years ago where she (my daughter) had used her DSLR to take hundreds of photos of herself! And that is one of the tips really, take lots and lots of photos, it is so easy since we have the technology for it now. Practise makes perfect!
Here are some hands on tips!
1. Practise holding your camera/phone at arms length. If you have a phone that allows you to switch to the camera infront (so that you can see yourself when you look at the display) you can more easily try different angles. Try not to use your flash, it creates such a harsh light.
2. Take photos in a mirror. Practise holding your camera so that you don´t hide behind it.
When you take a photo in a reflecting object remember to look into the lense of the camera, otherwise your eyes will be focused out in space.
Also pratise on holding your camera steadily when you take mirror shots where you zoom in alot.
3. A selfportrait doesn´t always have to show just your face. Perhaps you want to capture where you are or who you are with, like in this layout
But there is also more parts of you that represent you. It all depends on what you want to capture. Here are a few examples
I have a passion for gardening. I love to get my hands dirty. That is what I wanted to capture in this photo. For this I simply layed my camera on the ground and prefocused on the plants and used my other hand to press the shutter.
Me and my dog Melvin were having a snuggle session in the grass and I wanted to try to get a few photos of it. As you can tell I layed my camera in the grass and zoomed in quite a bit, pushing the shutter with one hand.
Here I wanted the "feet-photo" effect, but didn´t want to just point my camera down. I wanted to capture where I was at the time. For these I used my timer.
Here are a few bonus ones that I found on my daughters memorycard :)
Is she the daughter of a photographer or what?!
Before I end this post, I just want to clarify that although I am comfortable laying my camera on different surfaces like the ground or something else in nature you should be careful. If you feel like it would be a risk for your camera, don´t do it! Perhaps a tripod would be a great thing to put on your wishlist?! I am hoping for one for my iPhone!
Have fun snapping picture of yourself!
