Still stuck at home, wondering what you can photograph? Self portraits are great practice to photograph and not as difficult to do as you think. The biggest challenge is how to make it look more like a portrait and less like a selfie. The good thing about self portraits is that you only need a camera. Having a tripod, remote, and some lighting will help but aren’t necessary. Keep reading for some tips to shooting self portraits while you’re stuck at home during the current pandemic.
How to shoot a self portrait
I wouldn’t be wrong to say you shoot a self portrait by point the camera at yourself and taking a picture, but there are ways you can improve on it. First, let me point out that your camera can be your smartphone. There’s no need to feel like you need any expensive DSLR to take a good self portrait. No matter what camera you’re shooting with, use a tripod if possible. If you don’t have a tripod, place the camera on something sturdy like a bookshelf or table. Also, if possible, have someone stand/sit in your place while you compose the shot and get focus. If you don’t have someone to stand in your place, use another object like a stuffed animal or put a hat on a mop/broom stick - get creative. Set focus as close to where your face will be as possible or use face detect for the auto focus if available (though, even this may not work how you want it to). But once you get focus, switch the camera to manual focus before taking your self portrait. This way, the camera doesn’t try to refocus when taking the shot. Finally, either set the camera to a remote (many cameras with WiFi or Bluetooth can be controlled from your phone) or set a timer. Then get in position and let the camera take the shot.
Improving your self portraits
There are several ways you can improve your self portraits including how you pose yourself, setting the scene, and lighting.
How to pose
Most of the time, what sets a family photo a selfie apart from a portrait is how you’re posed. Before we talk about posing for portraits, take a moment to think about your own selfies and family photos. What do you think makes them look less like a portrait and more like a candid family photos?
With portraits, it’s OK to smile, but you don’t have to. Sometimes, not smiling can make for a more moody portrait, if the other elements contribute to the moody style. Try either looking like your normal, everyday self if you want to show the real you. If you’re generally happy, go ahead and smile, but try not to over do it either. If you want to express an emotion or mood you’re experiencing, which can help your mental health, try to convey that in your expression as well. It can also look more authentic to look off to the side or past the camera rather than directly at the lens.
Self portrait from phone in Chicago. I turned my phone so the rear camera faced me and pointed it towards myself and my environment. The rear camera is generally less wide vs. the front camera and creates less distortion. I looked past the camera to give a look of finding my way with a documentary style.
The angle of the camera can make a difference too. The camera doesn’t have to be straight on at head-height. Sometimes holding the camera down below and looking up, while capturing some context of your scene can be interesting. Or place the camera on the ground, looking up at you. Try using a prop to add depth by attaching it to the lens and pulling it towards you. Tilt the camera to add some chaos to the shot. Get creative.
If you’re self-conscious about your appearance, leaning slightly forward with straight posture and raising your head slightly can help your appearance. The focal length (that’s the mm on the lens) can affect how you appear too. Wider focal lengths, such as 18mm, can cause perspective distortion. Basically, facial features can become more rounded and narrow. Think of the fisheye effect, but not so pronounced. Telephoto focal lengths, or longer focal lengths, like 50mm, will produce more natural-looking facial features. This is why the camera adds ten pounds to you - using too wide of a lens makes you look more round.
Let me elaborate a little more on perspective distortion It’s not so much the lens that is causing the distortion. Instead, it’s the distance between the camera and the subject. With a wider lens, you tend to get closer to your subject. Being closer tends to exaggerate the size of anything closer to the lens than objects further away. In fact, Stepping back with a wide lens, then cropping to match a longer lens produces the same looking image. I don’t want to turn this into a lesson about perspective distortion, but wanted to make you aware of it. For more information on the subject, I highly recommend the blog post and included video from fstoppers.com - https://fstoppers.com/architecture/how-lens-compression-and-perspective-distortion-work-251737.
On a side note, smartphones tend to use very wide lenses because we’re usually holding them so close to our face. This causes our selfies to suffer from perspective distortion. Next time you take a selfie, compare the image what what you see in the mirror. Does the photo make your face look like some of the examples fstoppers shared compared to what you see in the mirror? Sadly, this effect has caused a lot of negative effects for young people. I remember being in a forum discussion within the past year where a photographer took portraits of a high school senior. That senior complained about the photos not looking like her selfies and hated the photos. This shows a sign that our young people are beginning to see themselves in this more distorted way. I also read a study perhaps a year prior that indicated in some areas, there’s an increase in cosmetic surgery among young people. They linked the surgeries to young people either wanting to fix how they appear in their selfies or wanting to match what they look like in a mirror to their selfies.
Setting the scene
Now let’s get back on topic. Another way to make a portrait look less like a selfie or family photo is to set your scene. This could include props and arranging the room specifically for the shot or it could be using a simple backdrop. If you think you don’t have props, explore your home. Anything is a prop. No backdrop? Hang a blanket or sheet or use curtains. Ultimately, the scene should compliment your look and the style of the photo. Finally, your outfit should match the scene because it’s part of the scene. The scene (except for your outfit) shouldn’t be the main focus of your portrait, but should compliment what you’re going for. One of my favorite examples is of a 1920’s Film Noir style photo shoot tutorial I once saw. The model dressed in a trench coat with a cliche 1920’s had. The photographer hung some blinds to the side and stood up some glass next to the blinds to simulate a window. Then he sprayed water on the glass to give the appearance of rain. Finally, he placed a light outside of the “window,” as well as a couple inside the scene to act as ambient light. This caused the blinds to cast shadows across the model’s face and simulated the Film Noir style very well. There wasn’t much to the rest of the scene because it wasn’t going to be visible in the shot.
Lighting
Self portrait with phone. Again, I pointed the rear camera of my phone towards me. I intentionally moved my position so the shadow cut across half of my eyes to add mood and I didn’t look at the camera to give a more “documentary” feel to the image.
This brings me to the next key way to improve your portraits, lighting. In fact, if you ask any experienced photographer, most will tell you lighting is the most important thing about any photo. With lighting, you can create any mood or style. Do you need studio lights? No. You can use flashlights, lamps, natural light, anything you have access to.
There are numerous lighting techniques you can study, but one of the most common is called Three-Point Lighting. This is where you use a lighting source, which could be the sun if necessary, as the key light. The key light is the brightest, main light that lights the subject. It’s usually high above and slightly off to one side. Then there’s a fill light, which is similar to the key light, but not as bright and off to the other side of the key light. The fill light helps fill in shadows cast by the key light. Finally, there’s a Back Light, which is placed behind the subject, usually low to the ground so it’s out of sight from the camera. The back light helps separate the subject from the background.
You don’t have to use three point lighting, but it can be fun to play with. Single point lighting can also be effective, which can still be the sun. Ultimately, you want the light to highlight your subject and shadows to give a pleasing level of contrast without losing important details.
Low key lighting portrait of my son Noah. He wouldn’t let me take his picture, so I held my camera in one hand, flash in the other, held them under the table until he wasn’t paying attention. Then I held the flash and camera up, quickly snapped my pic, and hoped for the best. Fortunately, I set exposure ahead of time.
One of the most interesting techniques of lighting is called low key lighting. Low key lighting is more of an advanced technique. This produces an effect of the background turning black with the subject being the only thing lit. This effect can even be achieved outside on a bright, sunny day.
To summarize the technique, you set your camera’s exposure manually until the camera only takes black photos. You will probably have to use the histogram and take lots of practice shots to get it right. Then you set a light or flash to give the desired lighting effect, but the key is to use a single light so you don’t illuminate the rest of the scene. Then snap the photo.