Self C&C

Bitter Jeweler · Sep 14, 2009

I have been working so hard trying to get my business going (jewelery) that I haven't had time for photography. I took some time and tried my hand at self portraits. It's pretty hard to get the focus right.

Anybody have any tips for self portraiture?

chammer · Sep 14, 2009

you look like a dude not to be messed with.

love the colors though, and how the left side (especially the eye) is hidden. adds some mystery. great shot!

mooimeisie · Sep 14, 2009

I saw this series on Flickr today. Very nice work.

MikeBookPro · Sep 14, 2009

I think this shot is awesome! I can't think of anything I would want to change.

ocular · Sep 14, 2009

Do u keep the beard so people remember u as the large dwarf ? I mean it's very fitting

xmaxonx · Sep 15, 2009

I don't have anything negative to say about this. One of these days, I will have a beard like this :er: Nice work man.

Jon0807 · Sep 15, 2009

Are your nails french manicured? lol

ok before you find out where I live, let me just say I like it. The only thing I would've done different is maybe center you a bit more and/or showed more darkness on your left side. The crack in the background is a bit distracting as well.

EleanorW · Sep 15, 2009

Just a thought but.. if you have trouble setting the focus since it's a self portrait, can you get someone to stand in your place and focus on them and then take your shot of yourself?

Sensayshun · Sep 15, 2009

Don't think I'd change anything, looks awesome. I agree with the crack possibly being distracting. But at the same time I love the texture of the wall, and I'm not sure if I'd like the picture as much if the crack wasn't there. Odd how such a small detail can change things.

Error · Sep 15, 2009

It would be nice if you turned your face to the right a little bit so that you can get a bit detail to your left face... besides if you want to be like that position you should need to give more space to your left side instead of the right side.

camz · Sep 15, 2009

Bitter I know what your saying. It's especially difficult to do a self portrait if you want to shoot on a very shallow DOF and have it focused on a specific area. On this particular resolution it looks pretty focused from what I see. It get's a little bit soft starting the back of the ear but everything else looks pretty good.

EleanorW had the right idea but if you had someone available why bother do a self portrait. Maybe use a dummy or prop to help set you up as an initial marker of where you want to be in a shot. My old olympus E10 had a swinging LCD it was very useful for self portraits. Too bad Canon's aren't so.

c.cloudwalker · Sep 15, 2009

WOW!

What a nice shot. You don't look any scarier here than you do in your avatar. Or should I say: any more pi*sed?

Yes, there seems to be a line (crack?) in the background that needs to be fixed but that's it. The rest is great.

Big · Sep 15, 2009

Badass beard dude! :thumbup:

kundalini · Sep 15, 2009

I think it's a nice effort, but I'm not feeling it...... yet.

I think the focus is off a tad on your eye. But it's not that so much as I think it's the DoF...... a bit too shallow. Being so shallow and in combination with a slightly hot main light, you have lost detail with the top of your ear, which features prominent. The earrings also have gone by the wayside in detail (blurry) and I don't think they should be. The shallow DoF has also made the skull look a bit nappy, rather than crisp (it's subjective and hard to put into words), but perhaps have a clean shaved skull next time. What was your aperture? I've found f/4 (min) to be quite pleasing with SP's.

In addition, I feel some bounce/fill/reflective light from the opposite side of the main flash would benefit to bring the beard (right side) in a more influential element of the image.

The fingers need to go. They just appear and have no added value to the image IMO.

I dig the mood you are trying to capture and can forego the general opposition to having the image weighted towards the right side. Your glance into the lens supercedes stereotypical "rules" of composition.

Well done. :thumbsup:

One thing I do when taking SP's is to have a lightstand (or anything that works) with a focused point on a knuckle (of said lightstand) where my eye will be. Focus on that point and turn AF off. "X" marks the spot to stand. Stop down the lens a bit.