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?
So let's look at some great ways to take self portrait shots, which you can use on all of your social networking sites. Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Myspace, you name it - they all require an avatar or self portrait picture for your main profile page.
Perhaps you are tired of seeing those same old poor quality photos that your friends upload to their Facebook profiles - you know what kind of photos I'm talking about right? The magnified forearm holding the camera, the reflection of the flash in the bathroom mirror. Not exactly professional photography by any means. That's why it is so easy to stand out from the crowd by using high quality images and knowing a few simple tricks to get the best shots. This will make your friends like you more too (just kidding).
So below are my top ten tips for getting the very best photos of yourself possible.
1. Have you ever used the timer on your camera? If you don't have a remote control, this is the next best option. Of course I would recommend getting a remote control eventually. They are not too expensive. If you set your camera's timer to have a delay of around 5 to 15 seconds, you'll have enough time to get in the frame, strike a pose and let the magic happen.
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 can get your frame worked out and your focus worked out nicely if you work with manual focus. Using auto focus won't work as well for this task.
5. One thing you don't want to do is have a load of blurred shots. No matter how hard you try to get your body in the right place, it will always be different to the time when you set up the manual focus. So you want to allow for some slight changes in the depth of field. The easiest way to do this is to use the right aperture setting. I would recommend an F-stop of something like f/10.
6. One alternative way to check yourself before you shoot the picture rather than using the 10 second timer delay is to use fairly cheap TV and hook it up to the video out jack of your camera. You will now be able to see what you are doing in front of the camera. Most modern digital SLR cameras come with a video out. A lot of them also feature live view, so you can enable that and the TV will allow you to see if you are standing in the frame or not. After that you can use a remote control to take the shot.
7. What if you want to take photos of yourself with your children or a pet? They move around a lot and so the timer delay probably won't work well. Have you ever heard of a pocket wizard? They can be extremely useful tools. This approach is even better than the TV and remote technique. Wire up a pocket wizard transceiver with a pre-release cable, and then hook that up to your camera and set your focus mode to continuous focus. You won't need a TV set for this. Turn on the trigger cable switch (which is the same as pressing your shutter button half way), with the camera set to continuous focus. Once your kids are smiling or looking at the camera, you can quickly capture the shot.
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 or a tripod with bendy legs. This will enable you to fix your tripod around a climbing frame, branch of a tree and all kinds of places. It can go pretty much anywhere, which will allow you to get images that you wouldn't otherwise be able to take.
So there are my top ten tips on how to do self portrait photos. Many of the tips I've laid out for you in this article can be done at a reasonable price, so do some research into how much it will cost to get yourself set up with any devices you might want to use.
So let's look at some great ways to take self portrait shots, which you can use on all of your social networking sites. Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Myspace, you name it - they all require an avatar or self portrait picture for your main profile page.
Perhaps you are tired of seeing those same old poor quality photos that your friends upload to their Facebook profiles - you know what kind of photos I'm talking about right? The magnified forearm holding the camera, the reflection of the flash in the bathroom mirror. Not exactly professional photography by any means. That's why it is so easy to stand out from the crowd by using high quality images and knowing a few simple tricks to get the best shots. This will make your friends like you more too (just kidding).
So below are my top ten tips for getting the very best photos of yourself possible.
1. Have you ever used the timer on your camera? If you don't have a remote control, this is the next best option. Of course I would recommend getting a remote control eventually. They are not too expensive. If you set your camera's timer to have a delay of around 5 to 15 seconds, you'll have enough time to get in the frame, strike a pose and let the magic happen.
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 can get your frame worked out and your focus worked out nicely if you work with manual focus. Using auto focus won't work as well for this task.
5. One thing you don't want to do is have a load of blurred shots. No matter how hard you try to get your body in the right place, it will always be different to the time when you set up the manual focus. So you want to allow for some slight changes in the depth of field. The easiest way to do this is to use the right aperture setting. I would recommend an F-stop of something like f/10.
6. One alternative way to check yourself before you shoot the picture rather than using the 10 second timer delay is to use fairly cheap TV and hook it up to the video out jack of your camera. You will now be able to see what you are doing in front of the camera. Most modern digital SLR cameras come with a video out. A lot of them also feature live view, so you can enable that and the TV will allow you to see if you are standing in the frame or not. After that you can use a remote control to take the shot.
7. What if you want to take photos of yourself with your children or a pet? They move around a lot and so the timer delay probably won't work well. Have you ever heard of a pocket wizard? They can be extremely useful tools. This approach is even better than the TV and remote technique. Wire up a pocket wizard transceiver with a pre-release cable, and then hook that up to your camera and set your focus mode to continuous focus. You won't need a TV set for this. Turn on the trigger cable switch (which is the same as pressing your shutter button half way), with the camera set to continuous focus. Once your kids are smiling or looking at the camera, you can quickly capture the shot.
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 or a tripod with bendy legs. This will enable you to fix your tripod around a climbing frame, branch of a tree and all kinds of places. It can go pretty much anywhere, which will allow you to get images that you wouldn't otherwise be able to take.
So there are my top ten tips on how to do self portrait photos. Many of the tips I've laid out for you in this article can be done at a reasonable price, so do some research into how much it will cost to get yourself set up with any devices you might want to use.
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