How do you focus your self portraits?

Samriel · May 7, 2008

O|||||||O said:
Do you measure from the lens, or from the film/sensor plane? (I thought you were supposed to measure from the film plane.)

That's a good question!

I measured from the lens and got very sharp results. However, it could be that I measured wrong, but also accidentally positioned myself a bit closer, and therefore got good results. I was shooting at 50mm f5.6, so even if I missed the measuring point, the lens is rather short, so f5.6 might have compensated for the mistake.

Josh66 · May 7, 2008

Yeah, with a 50mm lens the difference would only be a few inches, so with enough DOF it should still be "close enough".

JerryPH · May 7, 2008

This is not rocket science... lol.

Lean something against chair. Make sure that it is leaned back since you do not typically sit on the edge of a chair but the middle.

Use an aperture that is F/5.6 or greater. F/8 is very good.

Use autofocus to get the lens focused where you want, now press shutter 1/2 way to focus on your object... next, turn OFF the autofocus so it doesn't change.

Set timer for 3-5 seconds.

Now the most important part... sit, down and don't forget to say "cheese". If cheese doesn't work, "sex" usually does. :lol:

There was a huge thread on this a couple of months ago.

kundalini · May 7, 2008

My method is not much different. I have light stands for my flash units and position one of the adjusting knobs to where my eyes will be. I will place a wide brimmed hat on top of the stand to get an idea of composition and how it will fill the frame and where the top of my head will be, then autofocus on the knob, (eye position), then turn autofocus off. As mentioned, set aperture between f/5.6 to f/11 depending on how I want the background to appear. Set the self-timer to ten seconds or whatever and put on a face. If you have a remote shutter release (wired or wireless) it makes it a bit easier because you can just fire off several without repositioning yourself.

BTW, the self portrait you posted looks good. If you can get some side lighting, it will help to create shadows and give a more pleasing result (IMO).

Rachelsne · May 8, 2008

This is all so useful, next time I smarten my self up Ill have to try again

Thanks

christopher walrath · May 8, 2008

Tape measure from the film plane to my eyes and calculate what space in front of the camera will be in focus at that aperture and distance and then position myself into that space.

thirrouard · May 19, 2008

I cheat. I hold the camera with my hand, and shot myself with autofocus

But I agree, with the 50mm it's kinda hard haha. It's already tricky with my 30mm

For some reason, I never got nice result with my 19-35mm on my minolta, but with my 30D + 30mm f1.4, I really got nice shot. I think it's because of the place I took the shot though, my room used to have messy background, now it's white walls

Anyway, I really gota get some remote haha

wildfl0wer · Dec 18, 2011

I work with ur photo last night, I don't know u may like or not I am newbie

Overread · Dec 18, 2011

wildfl0wer - it would be better to take the photo and host it on an image host such as flickr, photobucket or the image gallery attached to the forums. Members here are not going to download and open up random .RAR files (furthermore I'm confused why an image would need to be put into such a compression in the first place since they are not that large).

DiskoJoe · Dec 19, 2011

Get a trigger.

wildfl0wer · Dec 19, 2011

ok boss

enzodm · Dec 19, 2011

I addition to some focus control as mentioned by others, I use tethering. In the Canon software suite there is an utility for controlling the camera from the computer. I just put the laptop towards me, and typically I set to shoot 5 pictures automatically, some second delay betwen them. Then I browse & trash most of them

Derrel · Dec 19, 2011

Focus lens at a marked distance. Get string. Tie string to camera. Run string to focused distance. Almost as if by magic, there is now a string attached to camera, and it correlates perfectly with a marked focusing distance on the lens! ( I know--it's like frickin' rocket science, ain't it!!!) Advanced users may be allowed to tie KNOTS IN STRING for as many as three additional focusing distances, with parents' permission. Offer not valid in Ohio, Georgia, Missouri, Nebraska, or Illinois. Some settling may occur during shipping. Advice is offered by weight, not by volume. Kids, ask your parents before going on-line. No refunds. No exchanges.