I'm looking for ideas for taking a self portrait with my digital camera. I admit, it's not the best camera, but I've had some good results in the past with it (and happen to be a skilled photoshopper for things such as color contrast and such.)
So, my question is: what are some tips on things such as posing ideas, ideas for homemade light sources, maybe ideas for a homemade tripod? If it's possible.
Maybe someone can point me in the direction of a website that has some good tips on taking self-portraits with your digital? For cheap lighting buy these:
Clamp light - has a (roughly) 8" reflector, clamps on anything.
Lights bulbs to match the room you're photographing in - fluorescent if fluorescent, tungsten if tungsten. Same brand and style if possible.
Several sheets of white foam board
You can tape two sheets of foam board in a "T" if you need them to stand up on their own. Clamp the lights to the foam board, or better yet on a stand or something a foot or so in front of it. Aim AT the foam board, reflect the light back to you. You can set up two of these if you want.
Put them off to each side of the camera, about a 45掳 angle.
Your posing should also be at an angle to the camera, not straight on.
Make sure to illuminate your face the most. You might have to double stack the foam boards or set it on top of something to get the right lighting.
Homemade tripod: well, find anything to set it on for now, until you can afford a real tripod. Make sure to zoom WIDER than you think you need, so you can crop it to whatever dimension you need. There's nothing worse than getting your "perfect" picture, then realizing the very top of your head is accidentally cut off! just prop the thing up on a conveniert shelf, table, television set, pile of books, whatever. Make sure it's stable and won't slide off. Look through the viewfinder so you know what area of the room is in the image. Use the button with the couple of seconds delay, run into image and smile.
If you are skilled in photoshop holding the camera next to you and take an image of you in the mirror is another option. don't use any flash. Remove camera with photoshop.
Homemade light sources any table lamp. If you want a stronger light source, you can get the halogen work lamps under $20. They usually come with a tripod, so if you clamp the lamp somewhere else you have your tripod.
If you want a real tripod, I doubt making one is very efficient, given that you can buy cheap ones in thriftstores or yardsales for $10. the material for building one yourself is probably more.
And for ideas how to pose, why don't you look up the work of cindy sherman |
