First attempt at a self portrait

[tomso]

Title pretty much says it all. Had some free time when I got back from my interview this morning and figured since I was looking spiffy I'd give a self portrait a shot. I feel like my pose is a little awkward, but let me know what you guys think! Also, when I resized the image, I got weird lines through my lapel (as you can see below) and as I made it smaller, they became more and more pronounced, presumably from loss of detail. Can somebody give me pointers on a way around this?

 

[tirediron]

The main issue I see with the image is the background; especially the window image right. That really breaks up the image visually. Your lighting is fine, albeit less than exciting, and your pose, well, I guess everyone needs to keep their tire-iron somewhere... Seriously, a different background and slightly more relaxed look, you'd have a really good shot.

 

[tomso]

The main issue I see with the image is the background; especially the window image right. That really breaks up the image visually. Your lighting is fine, albeit less than exciting, and your pose, well, I guess everyone needs to keep their tire-iron somewhere... Seriously, a different background and slightly more relaxed look, you'd have a really good shot.

Thanks! I was going to take the shot with just the slatted wall as the background but thought the window would make it a little more interesting. Didn't really think about it from that angle though! As for the lighting, I'm not thrilled either. It's a gloomy day here today and my speedlite was on-camera and bounced using a DIY flash card (i.e., security envelope secured with my girlfriend's hair tie). I'm currently looking at getting a remote speedlite so I can start using an off camera flash.

 

[MLeeK]

Not bad!!! Choose a better background. The window is a major detraction.
I think if you look at your suit those lines are in there, they're just very very subtle. You can upload a much larger size at flickr and we can take a look there to see what's happening if you think they REALLY are NOT there.

 

[tomso]

Not bad!!! Choose a better background. The window is a major detraction.
I think if you look at your suit those lines are in there, they're just very very subtle. You can upload a much larger size at flickr and we can take a look there to see what's happening if you think they REALLY are NOT there.

The lines are there, just much more subtle, even when blown up to 100% at the original size, barely noticeable really. I thought it was a little weird that they became so much more pronounced in the smaller size.

I have to agree with both of you about the window now that it's been pointed out. Don't know what I was thinking!

 

[MLeeK]

Not bad!!! Choose a better background. The window is a major detraction.
I think if you look at your suit those lines are in there, they're just very very subtle. You can upload a much larger size at flickr and we can take a look there to see what's happening if you think they REALLY are NOT there.

The lines are there, just much more subtle, even when blown up to 100% at the original size, barely noticeable really. I thought it was a little weird that they became so much more pronounced in the smaller size.

I have to agree with both of you about the window now that it's been pointed out. Don't know what I was thinking!

That comes from compressing the pixels together.
If you were to take the same pattern cloth and shrink it down in size the stripes would be closer together and more noticeable.