For any aspiring self portrait photographers, I thought it would be useful to write up these helpful tips to help you get much better pictures. There are several important things to think about. The first thing that comes to mind is how how to take great shots of yourself if you don't have another person to help out.
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.
Whenever you go online and look at photos of your friends on Facebook, Google Plus or some other social network, you constantly see poor quality shots that often look clichd and cheesy.
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. One way that you could easily go wrong with this is to not know precisely where you were standing, which could cause you to stand slightly too close or too far away from the camera after you set the focus in the first place. The simplest solution to this is to mark another spot, this time on the floor, to know exactly where your feet will be. You don't have to do anything too fancy here - just a spot where the front of your feet will be for example. That should be fine.
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. It is best to allow for slight variations in your depth of field. You can do this easily by using an aperture of around f/10, which will mean that your face ail still be in focus even if your distance from the camera is slightly off from when you set up the manual 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. Another option for you if you don't have the home studio equipment is to use a camera with a screen that can rotate and flip. This way you can see yourself on the small screen before you take the shot (I would still recommend using a small TV set if you have one).
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.
Many of the tips I've laid out for you in this article can be done at a reasonable price. I hope you found this useful and enjoyed learning my top ten tips on how to get better self portrait shots.
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.
Whenever you go online and look at photos of your friends on Facebook, Google Plus or some other social network, you constantly see poor quality shots that often look clichd and cheesy.
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. One way that you could easily go wrong with this is to not know precisely where you were standing, which could cause you to stand slightly too close or too far away from the camera after you set the focus in the first place. The simplest solution to this is to mark another spot, this time on the floor, to know exactly where your feet will be. You don't have to do anything too fancy here - just a spot where the front of your feet will be for example. That should be fine.
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. It is best to allow for slight variations in your depth of field. You can do this easily by using an aperture of around f/10, which will mean that your face ail still be in focus even if your distance from the camera is slightly off from when you set up the manual 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. Another option for you if you don't have the home studio equipment is to use a camera with a screen that can rotate and flip. This way you can see yourself on the small screen before you take the shot (I would still recommend using a small TV set if you have one).
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.
Many of the tips I've laid out for you in this article can be done at a reasonable price. I hope you found this useful and enjoyed learning my top ten tips on how to get better self portrait shots.
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