Self Portrait

spiralout · Dec 3, 2004

This is a self portrait of sorts. A painful one at that

. It's me where I'm happiest. One day I just felt like driving away from anything resembling the city, and I just stopped off at a point by the railroad tracks. The shot isn't as sharp as I had hoped, and it was a crappy overcast day, but I liked the idea. What do you guys think?

JonMikal · Dec 3, 2004

it looks like you've already been hit! :shock:

Big Mike · Dec 3, 2004

I like the idea but I'd like to see your feet in sharper focus.

b.t.w. I love your signature line...I chuckle every time I see it. :lol:

spiralout · Dec 3, 2004

I only had my 50mm that day and it was impossible to get enough depth of field to include my feet and infinity. I shot another one with my feet in focus and the tracks blurred, but it just didn't work for me. I wanted to put more emphasis on the location anyway. It was kinda what it was like from my point of view. I wasn't looking at my feet, I was just enjoying my surroundings; my feet were just there to show my presence. Perhaps it's not really as much a self portrait as a means of recording my feelings for the country. I'm gonna stop it here before I start sounding even more pretentious.

Big Mike · Dec 3, 2004

I get ya...

To me, the photo is more meaningfully than just showing you & your surroundings. It a thinker...a body (you) laying on the tracks out in the middle of nowhere...

Interesting anyway.

PreludeX · Dec 3, 2004

what was your fstop? if you had a tripod and cable release im sure you coulda pulled your feet in focus a lil...

Nikon Fan · Dec 3, 2004

If it were possible to photoshop in a train, that would make it even better! Pretty interesting idea tho.

santino · Dec 3, 2004

I love it the way it is, perfect shot IMO!!!

santino · Dec 3, 2004

oh.. and btw.

... the out off focus feet work pretty good

spiralout · Dec 3, 2004

I believe it was shot at f/8+. It was an overcast day and I had nothing to rest the camera on (no way I could've gotten a tripod low enough!), so I was pretty shaky. I had to shoot it at 1/125. I probably could've gotten a bit more DOF, but I still don't trust my DOF scale... it's failed me before.

Hehe, Photoshopping a train in there would certainly put a different spin on the picture. :wink:

mygrain · Dec 3, 2004

eromallagadnama said:
If it were possible to photoshop in a train, that would make it even better! Pretty interesting idea tho.

Photoshop nothing. Be brave and ride it like mad man!!! :lol:

PreludeX · Dec 3, 2004

get a tripod that can go that low, have someone model for you, set the aperture to f16-f22, then set the exposure, and grab a remote or cable release and snap. make sure tho you focus where you did

thats how i would have done it

aggiezach · Dec 3, 2004

interesting idea! I like the out of focus feet as well, but I'd also like to see it with your feet more in focus. Welcome to the forum though! Thanks for sharing!

Zach

PreludeX · Dec 3, 2004

aggiezach said:
interesting idea! I like the out of focus feet as well, but I'd also like to see it with your feet more in focus. Welcome to the forum though! Thanks for sharing!

Zach

its like what we did in my class for a DOF assignment, we did one with the closer and farther subject out of focus at like f4 or 3.5 or lower depending on the lense, then we had to shoot the same subjects in the same position at a higher aperture and it pulled the closer and farther into a good amount of focus