Perfect your technique for better self portraits.
If hiring a professional portrait photographer isn't in your budget, you can take high quality, attractive pictures of yourself. Whether you want to share a recent picture with family and friends or are embarking on a "portrait-a-day" themed project for a photography class, turning the camera on yourself is a great way to cut costs and become familiar with your equipment. Once you master the art of self-portraiture, you'll be able to use your skills when photographing others.
Instructions
1. Arrange your backdrop. If you will be performing an indoor shoot, hang a solid-colored sheet or piece of paper on a wall using thumbtacks or strong tape. If you want to shoot outdoors, select an attractive shady area to avoid squinty eyes and excess reflection.
2. Extend the legs of your tripod so that they are all the same length. Stand the tripod and point it toward your backdrop. Attach the camera to the top of the tripod using the threaded mount screw.
3. Prepare the lighting. Aim a household lamp toward your backdrop or let in light from a nearby window if you are shooting indoors. Most outdoor shoots will not require any additional lighting.
4. Decide on your standing location. If you're using a lens with a focal length of 50mm, position the tripod roughly three to four feet away from your backdrop for a head and shoulders portrait. Move the tripod further back for a full-body portrait.
5. Tape a sheet of newspaper to an item that is near your standing location, such as a tree or a chair. This will serve as a focusing aid.
6. Turn on your camera and set it to aperture priority (Av) shooting mode. Use your camera's control dials and LCD screen to select a wide aperture, such as f/2, f/2.8 or f/4. This will blur the background while keeping the foreground sharply focused. The camera selects the shutter speed for proper exposure.
7. Switch your camera's lens from autofocus (AF) to manual focus (MF) mode. Look through the viewfinder window and rotate the lens' focus ring until the newspaper's text appears sharp. Remove the newspaper once you have focused the lens.
8. Ensure your camera is in self-timer mode. Press the shutter button to activate the timer and stand in front of the backdrop. To ensure proper focus and composition, stand exactly where the newspaper was when you focused the camera.
9. Look at the camera and pose if desired. Wait until you hear the shutter fire before moving. If you are using a shutter remote instead of a self-timer, trip the shutter whenever you are ready.
10. Review your results using the camera's LCD screen. Make any necessary adjustments and reshoot if desired.
Tags: your backdrop, your camera, focused camera, standing location, This will, toward your
