Some time ago I was talking to a friend about my self-portraits. Much to my surprise, my friend was assuming that someone else is taking my portraits. After assuring that no one else is involved in my self-portraits-making, she was wondering: “How does this work? How do you take your own pictures?”
Before giving the rundown of my process, let me tell you the whys.
I was constantly looking for models, asking and begging friends and family members to pose for me in order to practice my portrait photography, expand my portfolio, and explore new photography styles and techniques. It was always a hassle because either no one had the time or they stalled because of insecurities and waited for their perfect weight or look. To me, they’re all perfect, beautiful, and interesting, but that, unfortunately, did not change their minds. I also did not have the budget for professional models. So I make use of myself as a subject.
I started by putting up my camera on a stack of books or a desk, setting the focus manually and running in front of the camera, and posing. After years of practice and technological evolution, I ended up finding an easier and less stressful way through proper research. I’m gladly passing it on to you in case you are curious and need it for your own experiments, portraits, headshots or solo-travels, and so on.
Here’s a hassle-free one by one rundown of how to take proper self-portraits:
Get a solid tripod and make sure it can hold your camera weight. Trust me, it’s a game-changer! A good tripod allows you to set up your camera for any angle and perspective. I got myself a sturdy but light travel tripod, so I can also take it with me on my travels without breaking my back.
Check how to activate your camera’s WIFI connection - all new cameras have this feature. Download your camera app and connect it to your camera. If you do not have a WIFI option in your camera, then you could get a specific remote control. For the purpose of this post though, I assume that you have a wifi connected camera in hand.
Use your phone as a remote for live shooting. I am shooting with the Fujifilm. The app lets me see what the camera is seeing. From the app, I can adjust almost all settings like the f-stop, shutter speed, ISO, shooting mode, and various other settings. It also allows me to set a timer, which comes in very handy - see the following steps.
Choose your settings according to the photo you want to shoot.
Set the timer - 2 or 10 seconds.
Click on the live view on the phone screen to choose your focus point.
Hit ‘shoot’.
Put away/hide the phone, while the timer is running.
Smile! Or not.
This way I don’t have to spend too much time finding a good spot to put my camera on or steadying it. This is a game-changer. Especially when you are traveling alone, or you want to take a group picture. You can focus more on creativity: How do I want to shoot? Blurry with a shallow depth of field? How do I want to look, what kind of make-up, hairstyle? Any props I can use? Is the sun out? Outside, inside? Color or black & white?
I know it seems super narcissistic to take photos of oneself. I get it. I felt weird at the beginning. But then I noticed: I felt mostly weird because I didn’t know the person I was shooting as much as I thought I would. I didn’t know how to pose, how my face looks like when I do this or that expression, or, simply, how my body works visually. The picture of myself in my head was different than the one I saw on the screen. Have you ever really looked at yourself, for real? Who are you when no one is around?
Slowly but surely I began taking self-portraits as a means to (re-)discover myself - as a physical form and as a soul. I started exploring different creative styles and photography methods. I learn about light - natural and artificial -, which is so crucial for my all in all photographic capabilities. The educational benefits of this experience overweigh the narcissistic touch of this project, so I quickly ended up taking portraits every week, sometimes even every day. The journey of taking self-portraits turned out to be therapeutic and evolved into a form of self-expression. It became my immediate outlet when I can’t place my creativity anywhere else.