A shot at a self portrait...c&c please

Arun Gaur · Mar 5, 2010

The edited version is good but a little waxen. I prefer the original, though softer.

Arun Gaur
http://tripolia-indianlandscapeimages.com

AnthonyS · Mar 5, 2010

I think its a good shot, self portrait work isn't easy. You can try shooting tethered to a laptop so you can at least see you shots without moving too much.

julia4480 · Mar 5, 2010

Thank you so much. The idea with the laptop is quite good, actually, but I am not really sure how to go about that...??

DerekSalem · Mar 5, 2010

BKMOOD said:
Lighting is a bit flat for my tastes. The edit makes her look like one of those robots on "I Robot."

That's exactly the same thing I thought of. I'm not a fan of "over-softening" portraits. It makes them look dull to me. I mean the very essence of softening is taking away definition. In this case, she was still and the shutter speed was fast enough that the definition caught every movement of the skin.

What you essentially did was take away what made her "her". I'm not saying you're old or anything Julia, but the definition of your skin in the original picture shows character IMO.

Same thing that Dove's been trying to do with the "Real People" commercials (the ones where non-models are doing the entire things). It makes it ever more beautiful.

DerekSalem · Mar 5, 2010

julia4480 said:
Thank you so much. The idea with the laptop is quite good, actually, but I am not really sure how to go about that...??

Although I've never done it with a Nikon it should be pretty much the same deal. Canon has the EOS Utility, basically you plug in the camera and it pops up connected. Hit the right button (don't remember the name but it's like Live View) and all the camera controls pop up on screen. Hit the Live View button again and now you have a live picture (same you'd see in the LCD). You can adjust *EVERYTHING* from here and take the picture as well.

Try using this to adjust focus manually (yes, you can adjust focus exactly as you want it step-by-step from within the program -- at least Canon lets you. Nikon should do the same). It's fantastic.