Do you need a fresh, professional-looking portrait for social media, work… or your LinkedIn or Tinder profile?
Why not do it yourself!
Here are four gorgeous self-portrait styles that you can achieve with ease, today, at home!
First impressions are everything in this modern era of instant communications, so you want your self portrait to reflect your skills as a photographer.
This often calls for an image much more impressive than what you can take on your smartphone… A shot taken on the go with a cellphone is what I call a selfie. A self-portrait, on the other hand, is often created using a camera (DSLR or mirrorless) with a lens that is ideally suited for portraiture. It’s a creative process to create professional-looking images. (The only use of the cellphone is as a remote control for the camera.)
Equipment
It doesn’t take much, honestly. All you need is a camera, a tripod (or anything sturdy to place your camera on), a window and a way to remote trigger the camera shutter. You may be able to use an app on your cellphone as a remote trigger (download the app for your camera brand – they all have one – and sync it to your gear with Bluetooth or Wi-Fi.)
A prime or zoom lens with a wider aperture (like Tamron’s 45mm f/1.8 or 28-75mm f/2.8) works wonders for self-portraits.
To discover a fascinating new world of photo techniques, you can explore the many photo techniques available through the use of a device like the Hähnel Captur Pro system, that lets you trigger the camera shutter using one of four sensors: light, sound, laser, and infra red. You can add third-party sensors such as pressure plates, humidity, and temperature sensors, as well as experiment with fully programmable timed sequences including delay, interval timer, exposure, and exposure length settings – but that’s something we will discuss in a future article… in the meantime, check out the web page for the Captur Pro: https://www.hahnel.ca/product/captur-module-pro/
Let’s get back to portraiture.
Here are my suggestions for the four basic techniques.
1. Corporate style
Sony a9 + 55mm f/1.8 @ f/1.8, 1/500 second, ISO 100.
I suggest using a very plain background – either light or dark. It can be a backdrop, a curtain, a sheet of cardboard or, as in this example, a wall. (For those asking: yes, my wall really is painted green!) No need for fancy lighting: get close to a natural light source! A large window or a patio door works just fine.
2. Creative style
Sony a9 + 55mm f/1.8 @ f/5, 1/30 second, ISO 100.
You can explore bright colours, shutter speeds, accessories, funky post-processing… Anything that comes to your mind. For this shot, I sat in front of a turquoise wall and used a slower shutter speed (1/30 second) to create the motion blur effect. I then added some splashes and brushes using the effect menus in Photoshop.
3. Dramatic style
Sony a9 + 55mm f/1.8 @ f/1.8, 1/160 second, ISO 100.
Drama is created with bright highlights and deep shadows. Direct sunlight (from a window or outdoors) or any hard light will do the trick. I picked my Ring Light, went into my bathroom, sat on the edge of my tub, and brought the single light source very close to my face. This is what allowed me to create this very contrasty effect.
* Note: The background won’t really show up in a dark room. Just make sure to stay away from white walls or furniture to avoid light bouncing off it.
4. Classic style
Sony a9 + 55mm f/1.8 @ f/1.8, 1/160 second, ISO 100.
The setup for this style is the exact same as the dramatic one – the only difference is that the light source (Ring Light) is farther away to decrease the intensity!
It’s really that easy!
All you need is a little vision, a window, and maybe some patience… If you’d like to learn more on how I created these 4 self-portraits, follow me behind the scene in this video! (In French)
Until next time, have fun with self-portraits!
About the Author
Michèle Grenier is a sports photographer who specializes in BADASS action portraiture. She’s also a Photofocus author, a Skylum Software ambassador and a photography coach. You can find her at www.michelegrenierphoto.com
You are very beautiful